10 Minute Warning
This Could Be Heaven - The Lost 1984 Recordings
10 Minute Warning is not a band that is typically mentioned when discussing the history of the Seattle rock in the 1980s and into the '90s. While short-lived, they were the band that bridged the transition between Seattle punk/hardcore scene in the early 1980s and the grunge explosion that eventually took the world by storm. Their earliest beginnings started as a name-change for the Fartz, but that was little more than a preliminary transition: Paul Solger and Blaine Cook (from the aforementioned Fartz) joined forces with Duff McKagan (later of Guns 'n' Roses) and Greg Gilmore (later of Mother Love Bone) from the 1982 punk band the Living and brought in a new bass player, David Garrigues to flesh out what would become the true first iteration of the band. A few months into 1983, 10 Minute Warning gave Cook the boot and brought in a new singerSteve Verwolfto better fit the direction that the band was consciously trying to move toward, a sound that was darker, more innovative and less punk rock. Late in 1983, both McKagan and Garrigues quit 10 Minute Warning and the band decided to continue but would not be looking to replace McKagan. They would find a new bass player and continue as a four-piece instead of a five-piece band. They enlisted Daniel House, whose Pacific Northwest influence would later be cemented as the co-founder, primary songwriter and bassist for Skin Yard, a band that was active from 1985-1991. Between March and September of 1984, 10 Minute Warning recorded an album's worth of material, but as the record was being finished, everything fell apart and the band broke up. The recording however, captured beautifully the moment and the essence of the band in that final iteration. In 2020, over three decades had passed since the album had been recorded, and it had never seen the light of day. So, during the course of the COVID lockdown, producer extraordinaire, Jack Endino painstakingly remixed and mastered the recordings from the original multitrack tapes, and his efforts shine.