Genre
punk (hardcore)
Years Active
1978 - 89, 1990-1996, 1999, 2009 -
Well Known Songs
“Don't Forget Tommy,” “I Hate Tourists,” “Sickly Sweet,” “Freak Show”
Members
Clif Hanger (vocals & songwriter)
Bill Close (guitar)
The band has had many different lineups over the years. Vocalist Clif Hanger has been the constant member throughout the band, and Bill Close was present for many of the bands reformation. See a complete member list here.
Band Bio:
The Freeze were formed in Cape Cod in 1978 but a group of teens still in high school, including Clif Hanger (vocals) and Bill Close (guitar). They are known for their dark lyrics, melodies, and longevity, as one of the original and long-lasting punk bands of Boston that help bring hardcore to the East Coast.
In 1980, the band recorded their first 7” with singles “Don't Forget Tommy” and “I Hate Tourists,” garnering the group airplay and local press, as well as helping them get signed to Modern Method Records. The 7” also helped the band land a spot in 1981 Rock ‘N’ Rumble with other bands like Face to Face, The Future Dads, The Neats, The Outlets, and Young Snakes, among others.
The band contributes eight tracks the seminal punk compilation This is Boston, Not L.A. in ‘82, including its title track, solidifying the band’s Boston punk presence. In a 2008 interview with Sugarbuzz magazine, Clif talks about the how The Freeze and Boston scene were misunderstood after the compilation release:
“‘This is Boston, Not L.A.,’ [the track] was not meant to be taken as an invitation for competition between scenes such as Boston vs. NYC vs. DC—it was really about, ‘be yourselves—DIY.’ If you dance the same and dress the same, it won’t be long until you are the same…then there’s nothing new and you’ll be to blame.
The song’s use as the LP’s title track was a wrongly directed yet very successful marketing ploy. In the end it was used as an excuse to give the jock-punks new enemies to fight with. Following its release the scene became clique-filled and divisive. Bands such as SSD refused to be included on it as they viewed the label which released it as a major label and saw the bands on it as semi-sellouts, (which is about as silly as it could get.) As Modern Method was only a small step up from our own Rebel Records, the label we released ‘I Hate Tourists’ on, Modern Method was the only label in Boston at the time that was backing new bands with new material…”
Through ‘83, The Freeze contributed to two other Modern Method compilations, Wicked Good Time Volume Two and Unsafe At Any Speed, and released their 7” EP Guilty Face. The band’s first LP Land of the Lost, which would be considered their classic record, came out the following year. In 1985 they toured in a black hearse to promote the LP, but the tour ended after Clif was injured from a stage dive.
In 1986 the band put out their second album Rabid Reaction. While attempting to entering Canada on tour, the band was stripped searched and held overnight. Authorities confiscated marijuana, porn, and switch-blades (but did not find the meth in Clif’s sock) and the band wasn’t allowed to enter the country or return for one year. The band was rumored to have drug problems from the mid eighties to late eighties.
During the 80s, they opened up for headliners like Dead Kennedys, Black Flag, and Circle Jerks, and toured overseas. In 1989 the band broke up, but then reunited for a benefit show in ‘91. Under various lineups in the ‘90s under the leadership of singer Clif, the band consistently put out albums every few years through 1999. They reformed again in 2005, toured in Europe in 2009, and entered the study in 2011 begin another album.
[Content combined from Sugarbuzz magazine, Wikipedia, The Freeze's Facebook, Taang! Records, Music Museum of New England, and The Punk Vault]
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