10 Minute Warning (also known as Ten Minute Warning) was a band from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. They became famous locally as one of the first bands to adapt the popular

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

sound to something slower and heavier, paving the way for

grunge Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock Music genre, genre and subculture that emerged during the in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington, particularly in Seattle and Music of Olympia, Washington, O ...

bands like Green River and

Mother Love Bone Mother Love Bone was an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, in 1988. The band was active from 1988 to 1990. Frontman Andrew Wood (singer), Andrew Wood's charisma and songwriting helped to catapu ...

before breaking up in 1984.

History

Early years (1982–1983)

The group was formed in 1982 by

The Fartz The Fartz were a hardcore punk band that was founded in 1981 and were one of the first well-known bands in their genre from Seattle, Washington. They were signed to Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles Record label. They were notable not only ...

members Paul Solger and

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

(also of the

Fastbacks Fastbacks are a Seattle, Washington, punk rock band. Formed in 1979 by songwriter/guitarist Kurt Bloch (born August 28, 1960), and friends Lulu Gargiulo (guitar and vocals, born October 12, 1960) and Kim Warnick (bass and vocals, born April 7, ...

). Filling out the band's line-up were vocalist Steve Verwolf, bassist David Garrigues, and future

drummer,

Greg Gilmore Greg Gilmore (born January 3, 1962) is a French born-American drummer in Seattle, Washington, and co-founder of the recording label First World Music. Biography Although born in France, Gilmore grew up in the Seattle area. After playing in ...

. Garrigues left the band in 1983 due to personality clashes. McKagan took over duties on bass for a single 8-track recording of Necropolitan Affair and subsequently left the band in 1984. Jim Lightfoot (former partner in Modern Productions and member of Memory) joined as bass player, but stayed only for a single performance. The final pre-

Sub Pop Sub Pop is an independent record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana (band), Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the gru ...

line up was cemented by the addition of Daniel House on bass. Despite criticism from the punk rock purists of the area, the band's performances are generally regarded as legendary; there were hints of psychedelic elements which caused Black Flag's

Henry Rollins Henry Lawrence Garfield (born February 13, 1961), known professionally as Henry Rollins, is an American singer, writer, spoken word artist, actor, comedian, and presenter. After performing in the short-lived hardcore punk band State of Alert in 1 ...

to label them the "punk rock

Hawkwind Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard ...

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. One of the key bands in the grunge, grunge movement of the early 1990s, Pearl Jam has outsold and outlasted many of its contemporaries from the early 1990s, ...

Stone Gossard Stone Carpenter Gossard (born July 20, 1966) is an American musician and songwriter who serves as the rhythm guitarist for the rock band Pearl Jam. Along with Jeff Ament, Mike McCready, and Eddie Vedder, he is one of the founding members of the ...

has credited them as the band that inspired him to learn guitar. It is perhaps not surprising then that the first of Gossard's bands to gain recognition - Green River - used the same grinding, slowed-down, punk rock riffage. 10 Minute Warning made numerous attempts at recording, most notably with

Jello Biafra Eric Reed Boucher (born June 17, 1958), known professionally as Jello Biafra, is an American singer, spoken word artist and political activist. He is the former lead singer and songwriter for the San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys. Init ...

's Alternative Tentacles label and in 1984 they recorded what was to be their first album. This effort included the songs "Last Dream", "Again", "Life", "Stooge", "Necropolitan Affair", "Echoes", "Disraeli", "Heaven", "Woke Up Dreaming" and "Memories Gather Dust". They also recorded a version of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

's " The Nile Song", but the album was never released. At the time the Seattle music industry was still young, and the indie labels which helped propel bands from that area into stardom in later years had yet to come into fruition. It is for this reason that Ten Minute Warning never released any recorded material before they split in 1984. This left groups such as Green River and

Soundgarden Soundgarden was an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1984 by singer and drummer Chris Cornell, lead guitarist Kim Thayil, and bassist Hiro Yamamoto. Cornell switched to rhythm guitar in 1985, replaced on drums initially ...

to become known as the founders of what later became known as

Breakup (1984)

The band played a farewell performance at the Lincoln Arts Center in Seattle in 1984. Solger left for New York with The Fags. He also later played in a band called Meddaphysical. Verwolf went to San Francisco in the hopes of securing a gig singing for The Black Athletes; he returned to Seattle after two weeks and fell back into a drug habit that caused him to move on from the music scene. Verwolf returned to music in 1991 when he teamed up briefly with Steve Weid ( Tad) and Scott Wade (Sledge) in an early version of

Foil Foil may refer to: Materials * Foil (metal), a quite thin sheet of metal, usually manufactured with a rolling mill machine * Metal leaf, a very thin sheet of decorative metal * Aluminium foil, a type of wrapping for food * Tin foil, metal foil ma ...

. McKagan and Gilmore moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Gilmore quickly became disillusioned with the LA scene and returned to

and eventually joined

. McKagan remained in LA and joined

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

Reunion (1997–1998)

McKagan left Guns N' Roses in 1997 and moved back to Seattle; he reconnected with many old friends, including Stone Gossard. With Gossard's encouragement, the band reunited that year with new vocalist Christopher Blue; Steve Verwolf was serving a term in Federal Prison and was, therefore, unavailable. It was at this time that the band finally recorded a self-titled album on well known Seattle label Sub Pop. It contained nine tracks, including two new versions of songs originally recorded by

("Is This The Way?" and "Buried") and the original version of "Mezz" (which was later re-recorded for McKagan's unreleased solo album, ''Beautiful Disease''). The album was eventually released in 1998. By this time, Paul Solger had quit due to "musical differences". Ten Minute Warning played its last show on August 22, 1998 at the Roseland theater in

Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. Since then, McKagan has reunited with his former Guns N' Roses bandmates

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

and

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

to form

Velvet Revolver Velvet Revolver was an American hard rock supergroup consisting of Guns N' Roses members Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass, backing vocals) and Matt Sorum (drums, backing vocals), alongside Dave Kushner (rhythm guitar) formerly of pu ...

, and Paul Solger was diagnosed with and successfully treated for cancer in 2004. As of 2008, he resides in Eastern Washington with his parents. Steve Verwolf died of a heroin overdose in August 2008. Only a month before he died, Verwolf made a deal with Jason Potbelly of Northwest hardcore punk icons Potbelly to do a split 7-inch titled "Then and Now"; this release would showcase an unreleased track recorded in 1983 on the 10 Minute Warning side and a classic Potbelly track on the other. The limited pressing 7-inch was released the day of Verwolf's funeral. Potbelly attended Verwolf's funeral and presented his family copies of the record.

Members

Final line-up

– rhythm guitar (1982–1984, 1997–1998), lead guitar (1998) *David Garrigues – bass (1982–1983, 1997–1998) *

– drums, percussion (1982–1984, 1997–1998) *Christopher Blue – vocals (1997–1998)

Previous members

*Paul Solger – lead guitar (1982–1984, 1997–1998) *

Blaine Cook Blaine "Zippy" Cook is the former lead singer of the early 1980s Seattle political punk band the Fartz. After they disbanded, he went on to front the thrash oriented the Accüsed. Cook currently fronts Toe Tag A toe tag is a piece of car ...

- vocals (1982) *Steve Verwolf – vocals (1982–1984) *Jim Lightfoot – bass (1983) * Daniel House – bass (1984)

Timeline

Discography

Albums

EP

References

Other sources

*Raw Power (Duff McKagan's Official Fan Club) Magazine Issue 4 (August 1998)

External links

Official website10 Minute Warning 1984 record on Bandcamp
{{DEFAULTSORT:10 Minute Warning Musical groups from Seattle Musical groups established in 1982 Sub Pop artists Hardcore punk groups from Washington (state) Punk rock groups from Washington (state) 1982 establishments in Washington (state)