The Tin Syndrome

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The Tin Syndrome
Origin Wellington, New Zealand
Genres Alternative rock, new wave
Years active1981–1985
Labels Jayrem Records
Past membersMark Austin
David Long
Peter Robinson
Kevin McGill
Paul Sainsbury
Malcolm Reid

The Tin Syndrome was an alternative rock group from Wellington, New Zealand, active in the early to mid 1980s. Led by quirky songwriter/guitarist Mark Austin (New Zealand Composer), [1] the band was noted for its off-beat sound, energetic delivery and frenetic lyrics, [2] as found in such early songs as "Random Wellingtonian" and "Plastic Bag". [3] From late 1981 to mid 1984 The Tin Syndrome was a popular live act in its home town of Wellington, [4] where its unique and complex arrangements [5] had an enduring influence on the local music scene. [6]

Alternative rock is a style of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1980s. In this instance, the word "alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream rock music. The term's original meaning was broader, referring to a generation of musicians unified by their collective debt to either the musical style or simply the independent, DIY ethos of punk rock, which in the late 1970s laid the groundwork for alternative music. At times, "alternative" has been used as a catch-all description for music from underground rock artists that receives mainstream recognition, or for any music, whether rock or not, that is seen to be descended from punk rock. Although the genre evolved in the late 1970s and 1980s, music anticipating the sound of the genre can be found as early as the 1960s, with bands such as the Velvet Underground and artists such as Syd Barrett.

Wellington Capital city of New Zealand

Wellington is the capital and second most populous urban area of New Zealand, with 418,500 residents. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the major population centre of the southern North Island, and is the administrative centre of the Wellington Region, which also includes the Kapiti Coast and the Wairarapa. It is the world's southernmost capital of a sovereign state. Wellington features a temperate maritime climate, and is the world's windiest city by average wind speed.

New Zealand Country in Oceania

New Zealand is a sovereign island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country has two main landmasses—the North Island, and the South Island —and around 600 smaller islands. It has a total land area of 268,000 square kilometres (103,500 sq mi). New Zealand is about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi) east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and 1,000 kilometres (600 mi) south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. Because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, and plant life. The country's varied topography and the sharp mountain peaks of the Southern Alps owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions.

Contents

History

The Tin Syndrome began at a time when there was little infrastructure to support or nurture local bands in New Zealand. [7] The group evolved from short-lived punk band Boots and Sneakers, formed by ex Hutt Valley schoolmates Mark Austin and Kevin McGill, [8] which played some gigs around Wellington in 1980 with Paul Sainsbury on drums. When they brought in Peter Robinson (New Zealand Musician) (keyboards) and replaced their vocalist with a second guitarist, 16-year-old David Long, The Tin Syndrome was created, although it was a few more months before their eventual drummer, Malcolm Reid, was found. The band members allegedly taught themselves to play their instruments [2] and liked to repeat musical accidents in their arrangements, calling their music unorthodox [9] while in reality their song-writing was sophisticated and melodic. [10] Their early gigs produced an immediate following, complete with a few "instant disciples" [11] and their popularity among a large committed fan base [12] stemmed from there. Their two main stage appearances at Hawke's Bay’s 10,000 strong Brown Trout rock festival in the summer of 1982-83, including the coveted 10pm Friday night slot, attracted national media coverage [13] and a commercial-sounding vinyl EP "The Tin Syndrome", produced for Jayrem Records by Ian Morris (musician) of Th' Dudes, was released the following June, topping the charts in Wellington and officially peaking at no.16 on the NZ national sales chart. (Unofficially, it reached the top 5 the following week but this coincided with the dominant record retail chain of the time and sole distributor of Jayrem product, Chelsea Records, having its chart returns for the week excluded from consideration by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand as part of its random sampling process. [14] ) The group was constantly developing its sound and the EP had captured a period when they were experimenting with a "particularly glossy aesthetic", [15] but by the time of its delayed release, they were no longer comfortable with the record or the video for "Street Song", [16] filmed in Dec '82, which had grabbed media attention. After a few months off the scene they came back, in early '84, [17] with a busy performing schedule, a new repertoire and one member less - but following some memorable gigs that winter, were not seen again until the release, on vinyl, of their album "No Ordinary Sickness", produced with their devoted sound-man Mark Ingram [18] in early '85. The album was unrelenting in its quirkiness and polarized opinion, but did draw some very favourable reviews and the first two pressings sold out within a couple of months. A video was made for the single "The Package to Sell" (which later became the title track of a Jayrem Records compilation released that year). The album also spawned the student radio hits "American Blessing" and "Don’t Want to Be a Statistic". Like many things about The Tin Syndrome, the group's demise was quite mysterious. No announcement was ever made but all the members were in other bands before the album was released and it slowly became evident that the winter 1984 gigs had in fact been their last.

Hutt Valley valley

The Hutt Valley is the large area of fairly flat land in the Hutt River valley in the Wellington region of New Zealand. Like the river that flows through it, it takes its name from Sir William Hutt, a director of the New Zealand Company in early colonial New Zealand.

David Long is a musician, composer and producer. He has worked on all of Peter Jackson’s films of the last decade.

Jayrem Records, a New Zealand record company, has operated since the early 1980s. Initially concentrating on alternative rock and indie music, the Wellington-based company was, for many years, the main rival to South Island based Flying Nun Records, and produced records which had a similar sound to its southern compatriot, though concentrating less on the Dunedin-sound groups which formed a major part of Flying Nun's repertoire. Jayrem's repertoire extended into Urban Pasifika and Māori music, as well as folk/roots and reggae.

Legacy

The Tin Syndrome comprised a collection of distinctive original musicians who are known to have influenced other NZ musicians. [19] Long, who was just 16 when he played his first gig with this band, went on to international fame in the 1990s with The Mutton Birds and, in an era when few other NZ groups had a significant keyboard presence in their sound, Robinson was something of a pioneer, working with analog synthesizers without the benefit of sequencers, samplers, or even preset sounds. [12] The group was known for being colourful and theatrical (in 1984 Austin was even shown acting in a play in a TV special on Wellington music [20] ) and coming, as they did, before such wacky Wellington bands as the Six Volts, they did a lot to define the eccentric character of the Wellington sound. Both Austin and Long have gone on to be successful soundtrack composers. Sound man Mark Ingram, who cut his teeth with this band, went on to be a music producer of international renown, in Australia.

The Mutton Birds was a band from New Zealand formed in Auckland in 1991 by Don McGlashan, Ross Burge, and David Long.

Analog synthesizer synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog computer techniques to generate sound electronically

An analogsynthesizer is a synthesizer that uses analog circuits and analog signals to generate sound electronically.

Discography

Date of ReleaseTitleLabelChartedCountryCatalog Number
1983The Tin Syndrome - EPJayrem30

(singles chart)

New ZealandJAY-104
1985No Ordinary Sickness - AlbumJayrem23

(album chart)

New ZealandJAY-319
1985Package To Sell

(compilation - Various NZ Artists, featuring The Tin Syndrome)

Jayrem-New ZealandBURT-6

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References

  1. ↑ Quote from Agenda magazine (Wellington) Sep 1985: "Each song...is indelibly stamped with (Mark Austin’s) quirky and very personal view of the world"
  2. 1 2 "Self Taught Syndrome Dare To Be Different" - NZ Times, 17 Jan 1982
  3. ↑ "No Ordinary Sickness: The Tin Syndrome" – Julie Gordon, Critic, Aug 1985
  4. ↑ "Th…Th…The Tin Syndrome" – Gary Steel, Tom Magazine, 10 Jun 1983
  5. ↑ "The strength of (The Tin Syndrome) lies in the complex interplay of cross rhythms" – Les Knight, Agenda magazine Sep 1985
  6. ↑ Review of No Ordinary Sickness – Agenda, Sep 1985
  7. ↑ Simon Morris: TV interview with Mark Austin, Radio With Pictures, TVNZ, Oct 1984
  8. ↑ Ref: Peter White - NZ Times, Jan 1982
  9. ↑ Evening Post (Wellington) article, Dec 1981, actually headed "Band Calls Its Music Unorthodox"
  10. ↑ Les Knight, Agenda magazine, Sep 1985
  11. ↑ Peter White - NZ Times article, Jan 1982
  12. 1 2 "Sparkling Among The Subversives" – NZ Times 12 Jun 1983
  13. ↑ "Improved Brown Trout ..." – review, NZ Times, Jan 1983
  14. ↑ Revealed by Mark Austin during a radio interview with Jim Scott on Radio Active (New Zealand), May 1985
  15. ↑ In the words of Mark Austin, as reported by Gary Steel, Tom Magazine, May 1985
  16. ↑ "Tin Man Speaketh" - feature article, Tom Magazine, Gary Steel, May 1985
  17. ↑ Steve Braunias, Tom Magazine, Sep '84
  18. ↑ Austin stated, in a 1985 radio interview with Jim Scott on Radio Active, that the band "owe a debt of gratitude to Mark Ingram, who showed such dedication ... he attended most of our rehearsals"
  19. ↑ Radio review by William Dart, National Radio Concert Programme, June 1985
  20. ↑ Wellington Music TV special - Radio With Pictures, TV2, Oct 1984
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