Prequel
Unreal began with drummer Steve Carlo and bassist/keyboardist/vocalist Robert James playing covers (Rush, Van Halen, Led Zeppelin) in the basement as early as 1987. Shortly thereafter fellow best friend Vito Tonkonog joined in on guitar. Robert, with assistance from Steve and Vito wrote a bunch of songs in the summer after the trio graduated from high school and then recorded them after the first semester of college on a newly acquired Tascam 4-track cassette recorder. The result would be PROGRESS, a six song cassette of sophomoric progressive pop that would serve as the sketchpad for much of what would be written and recorded by 3RDegree and Robert James after that.
UNREAL
Progress
January 1989
1. Metamorphosis
2. Me
3. Here & Gone
4. Disillusion
5. Paths Cross
6. Come My Way
Post-Progress songs:
Double Dealing, Breathing Room, Powers That Be, The Lit Window, Charades, Written In Stone, Megalopolis, Skin’s Too Thin
UNREAL lineup is featured on certain selections from 3RDegree’s first album THE WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE.
UNREAL is:
Robert James: keyboards, bass, vocals
Steve Carlo: Drums & percussion
Vito Tonkonog: Guitars
Concerts:
8/21/88 14 Green Meadow Lane Clifton, NJ
5/26/89 Treadway Inn Saddle Brook, NJ
8/5/89 Studio One Newark, NJ
12/30/89 Studio One Newark, NJ
All concert photos by Kevin Onorevole
