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Season to Risk
Season to Risk
Origin	Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Genres	Post-punk, noise rock, alternative rock
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Sony Music Entertainment; Owned & Operated Records; Columbia Records
Members	Steve Tulipana ; Duane Trower ; Billy Smith ; David Silver ; Wade Williamson
Website	http://robotswin.com

Season to Risk are an American noise rock/indie rock band hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, United States.

History

Season to Risk formed in late 1989 from Kansas City, Missouri punk bands Nine Lives and Curious George, who played together at the Outhouse, a Kansas hardcore venue. Although Season to Risk have had several line-up changes, two founding members have remained constant: Steve Tulipana (lead vocals, guitar) and Duane Trower (lead guitar, keyboards, and vocals). Drummer David Silver joined the band in 1994. Billy Smith (bass) and Wade Williamson (rhythm guitar and keyboards) joined in 1999, both coming from the band Dirtnap.

Founding bass player Paul Malinowski played from 1989 - 1995, until he left to join the Kansas City band Shiner. He was replaced on bass in 1995 by Josh Newton, who also plays guitar in Shiner.^[1]

The band's genre-bending sound has been defined as post-rock, post-hardcore, math rock, and indie rock. Their constantly changing music has challenged audiences and the record labels they have worked with, with one CMJ reviewer calling it "metal for recovering indie rockers".

The band were signed to Red Decibel records in Minneapolis, who then partnered with Columbia Records / Sony, who released their first two albums, during the early 90s post-Nirvana alternative rock band-signing frenzy. Season to Risk toured constantly, being booked as a young band on shows with Killdozer, Killing Joke, Prong, Fugazi, and Unsane. They performed in the nightclub scene in the 1994 film Strange Days, while living in a trailer on set in Hollywood for two weeks.

The master tapes for the band's first two albums were destroyed in the 2008 Universal Studios fire, along with an estimated 150,000 other master tapes.

Recording sessions

The self-titled debut Season To Risk (1993) features the songs "Snakes" and "Mine Eyes", with a cover designed by Frank Kozik,^[2] and was released on Columbia/Sony. The band wanted a darker sound that reflected their live performance, and recorded In A Perfect World (1995) with Martin Bisi (Sonic Youth, Foetus, Swans).^[3] The album had a cover designed by Derek Hess. Men Are Monkeys, Robots Win (1998) was produced in their own studio Trainwreck Recording, and released on Thick Records. The Shattering (2001) was produced by Bill Stevenson and Jason Livermore, released on Descendents' label Owned and Operated Records. "1-800-MELTDOWN", a collection of B-sides, covers, and experimental music was released in 2021. Both Hess and Kozik produced limited-edition silkscreen posters of their cover art.^[4]

Later years

Band members became involved with side projects in the early 2000s, including Roman Numerals and Overstep, while Season to Risk decided to slow down. Still based in Kansas City, the band tours occasionally and plays regionally, including shows with No Means No (2006), Helmet (2009), Iron Rite Mangle / Moly McGuire (2012), the Medicine Theory (2016), Descendents (2017). Singer Steve Tulipana is the owner/operator of two venues in KCMO, the RecordBar and MiniBar where they often play.

In 2018, Season to Risk began releasing a remastered vinyl reissue series on their Bandcamp page^[5] and toured, playing SxSW South By Southwest in Texas and Valley of the Vapors fest in Arkansas, sharing the stage with side project band Sie Lieben Maschinen. In 2019, the band toured the midwest, playing shows at Riot Fest in Chicago and with Porcupine in Minneapolis, supporting a new vinyl release of the album ”The Shattering”, remastered for vinyl by Jason Livermore at Blasting Room studio, Ft. Collins, CO, on limited-edition orange vinyl.

In 2020, Season to Risk re-issued their seminal 1998 album ”Men Are Monkeys. Robots Win.“ remastered by Duane Trower at his studio, Weights and Measures Soundlab, on limited-edition green vinyl. A 2020 tour was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Their website stated: "Ironically, mentions of the album title are often incorrectly flagged as hate speech by the algorithm on many platforms. Robot wins."

The band released a collection of singles, B-sides, and experiments on cassette / digital including covers of Bauhaus, The Go-Go's, Killdozer, and others in 2021 titled 1-800-MELTDOWN and played a release show with Descendents and The Menzingers. Season to Risk began recording new music with Duane Trower at his studio Weights and Measures Soundlab in 2022, while they were reunited for shows with Cheer Accident. Shows followed in 2023 with Man or Astroman and in 2024 with Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and Cherubs.

The album "1-800-MELTDOWN" will be released on vinyl for Record Store Day 2025 with additional tracks. A 30-year anniversary remaster on vinyl of "In a Perfect World" is scheduled for 2025 release.