Tinfed
Pictures by Jeff Gros
Words by Pippa Hatfield
Did you know it would take at least four other bands to equal
the amount of sound you get from just one band called Tinfed?
Tinfed is the only group that provides you with a 100% daily
value of contagious hooks and melodic guitars plus a mixture
of live breakbeats and contemplative lyrics. You’d need
to buy CDs by the likes of the Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead,
Garbage and Grooverider to account for what you get in Tried
+ True, Tinfed’s major label debut. It is for that very
reason that it’s nearly impossible to construct a pigeonholing,
requisite summary paragraph. How do you describe a band that
has successfully opened for both Alanis Morissette and The Deftones?
How do you introduce a band who is just as comfortable making
their own music as they are remixing other’s sounds? Name
a band. It’s pretty likely a comparison has been drawn
to Tinfed by someone at one time or another. The most frequent?
Nine Inch Nails, Breakbeat Era, Filter and God Lives Underwater.
The most outrageous? Vertical Horizon and Creed. Even the band
doesn’t know what to say. Although, they did take a liking
to a recent description of Tinfed’s music as a mix between
Joy Division and The Rolling Stones. So what is there left to
say? Heckler:
Who are you, and what do you do?
E: Eric Stenman, guitar, etc.
R: Rey Osburn, singing, guitar, and programming H: Who else is there, and what do they do?
E: Matt McCord, drums; Rick Verrett, bass, moog H: Do you have some artsy explanation for the name “Tinfed?”
R: The best part about the name is its multiplicity. There are
so many definitions. The best explanation I’ve heard is
that it means the opposite of “born with a silver spoon.”
H: What is the real story of how you came up with it? Does
it mean anything in particular?
R: It was the title of a never-released EP from our Elegy days.
It was born out of words like “spoon fed” and “force
fed.” It rang of connotations from a William Gibson vibe.
That’s what finally tipped the scale.
E: It could be seen in a lot of ways. It could be a social commentary
or it could just be two words put together. H: How long have you been around?
R: Years. We signed a pact and became vampires and all. Centuries
maybe. Actually, I think we’re all genies in a bottle.
(Laughs) Real story?
E: Rey and I have been friends since I was about thirteen years
old. Tinfed has been together on and off and in different forms
since 1993. For the first few years, Tinfed was more of a project
than a band. Tinfed formed out of another band Rey, Matt, and
I played in called Elegy.
R: We started a post-punk band influenced by bands like Dag
Nasty, The Cult, and Siouxsie. They were my main motive, drive,
whatever to write songs, and I just didn’t like any of
the bands I was flirting or working with.
E: It’s been a natural evolution. In some ways we’ve
gone in circles and learned from our past. We tried a lot of
various approaches to this band and have now found our favorite
one. H: Tell me about the change in the line-up over time.
E: There have been a few line-up changes.
R: We’ve been through six different drummers and three
different guitar line-ups. We’re on our fourth bass player,
and we just parted with our second synth/turntablist.
E: Rey has remained the only constant. I believe that Tinfed
has been Rey’s vision over the last several years. Tinfed
has changed as Rey has grown and changed as a person. Throughout
the years with Tinfed, we’ve done a lot of experimenting.
We’ve gone our separate ways, and then come back together
to end up where we are now. I believe that we are stronger than
ever because of it. H: The current line-up splits members between Sacramento,
San Francisco and Los Angeles. Has this been a problem?
E: Besides the obvious inconveniences that occasionally arise,
no. It has helped us as far as networking goes and lets us get
a lot done in a short amount of time.
R: It has been the smallest problem that we have ever had to
deal with. H: For the record, what geographical location are you as
a band claiming to be from?
E: I think we have to say that we are a California band. We
all grew up in Sacramento, but Rey and I haven’t lived
there for some time. H: You have a new record deal. How did it come about?
R: By accident. We were meeting with this guy from MP3.com who
was promising us the world with crossed fingers. Immediately
after, on a whim he scheduled a favorable meeting with Tom at
Third Rail. We went to a barbecue at his house, talked and kept
tabs. He really understood it, and that’s why we were thrilled
to sign on.
E: Third Rail liked what they heard and believed in us. We’ve
had a great relationship. H: Tell me about the pedigree of Third Rail.
R: Atlas/Third Rail has been a successful management company
for years.
E: Pat Magnarella (who manages Weezer, Green Day, and Goo Goo
Dolls) started Third Rail in an attempt to right some of the
wrongs which he saw labels bestowing upon the bands that he
managed.
R: Last year, they realized the label here in the States, and
are now distributed through Hollywood Records. H: Other than the Mission Impossible II Soundtrack, and the
upcoming album Tried + True, what else does your catalogue consist
of? Where can people go to hear more Tinfed?
R: You can still find Synaptic Hardware, our first release,
on Primitech Releases. Hypersonic Hyperphonic is on another
indie label, Cargo Records. We have also had a few opportunities
to be included on a few compilations with the latter company.
H: For those who haven’t heard you yet, paint a word
picture to describe your music.
E: Breakbeats + indie guitars + pop songs + samples.
R: Heartbreak after a car accident. A bruise hiding under cosmetics.
Sex with a scraped knee. (Laughs) H: Who would we be surprised to know you are a fan of them
because their sound is so different from yours?
E: Probably lots of people. Patsy Cline, Astrud Gilberto, Aphex
Twin, Angelo Badalamenti, Sepultura, etc.
R: Maybe there would be some element of surprise for my adoration
of Fleetwood Mac. H: Your sound has been evolving over time to become, dare
I say, popier. How conscious of a movement either toward or
away from anything has that been?
R: The move toward a slightly more polished sound wasn’t
really intended. If you mean pop-y as being hook-y, I would
say guilty as all hell.
E: I think that we’ve matured and become more concerned
with writing simpler songs that have more impact. It probably
adds up to being popier. H: Ed Buller produced the new record. How did that come about?
E: When it came time to make this record, we wanted to work
with someone who would really ride us on the songwriting end
of things. We sought out Ed because he seemed to be able to
create a mood with the records he worked on.
R: The coincidence was that Matt had already asked about Ed.
Having loved Suede’s Coming Up, we further investigated
it.
E: Our preliminary meetings with him went really well and the
whole thing ended up working out. H: Buller’s known for working with Suede, Ben Lee, and
Pulp. How much of a departure do you feel Tinfed is from his
past clientele? What are the similarities and differences?
E: We constantly teased him about working with a loud, American
band.
R: We have a lot more grit and bite than anything he’s
done. Try and explain us to a hardcore Suede fan. Explain Suede
to a hardcore Tinfed fan.
E: Once again, so much of it came down to the mood that we were
trying to create with this record. Like us, Ed is a huge soundtrack/score
fan. We worked well together in terms of creating all of the
layers that make Tried + True what is. H: Who was rubbing off on whom in the studio?
R: We got to be very close. We had to have complete faith in
each other.
E: I know that it went both ways. We had him using American
slang in no time. (Laughs) I tried to teach him to appreciate
hip-hop but never got very far with that. H: Immune is the first single, yes? How did it end up on
the Mission Impossible II soundtrack?
E: Immune became the first single by default because of the
soundtrack. We made it onto that soundtrack because a few key
individuals had faith in our song and thought that it tied in
well with the movie. It was a great way to kick off our own
album.
R: Being virtually connected to John Woo is quite a rush. H: I understand that you two are the Elton John and Bernie
Taupin of your scene. Explain your writing process.
E: That’s an odd way of putting it.
R: Bernie wrote everything and Elton performed everything, right?
In Tinfed, you write a song start to finish and bring it to
the table. It has to make the cut. An incision.
E: Rey is, without a doubt, the main songwriter. I’m there
to filter his ideas, fill in a few holes and occasionally bring
full ideas to the table. Rey writes all the time. I don’t
ever foresee us lacking in the song department. H: Tell me about Tried + True.
R: Tried + True is more about “what doesn’t kill you
makes you stronger” than it is about “proven time
after time.”
E: It’s our pride and joy. It’s our flawed yet beautiful
child who we are releasing out into the cruel world (Laughs)
H: What is your favorite Tinfed song off of Tried + True?
E: I really do like the whole thing. Arrange is my favorite
song to play right now.
R: It’s hard to say So much energy went into every song.
Quite possibly the closest to me would be Never Was Sure. In
the end, Immune probably has penetrated me the most. H: What is Tinfed Associated Industries?
E: It’s options. It covers our bases. We are more than
just a band. It gives us a moniker to work under when we are
being more than a band.
R: It’s the place where we will start a small club and
build a community, an empire. (Laughs) H: Tell me about Tinfed remixing and performing DJ sets.
R: Sharpening our remixing and DJ-ing skills are just two divisions
of a broader plan.
E: Remixing is something that I’ve always wanted to do
more of. Rey and I have dabbled in it a little thus far. We
expect to do a lot more in the future. Rey has become quite
a good DJ over the last few years. It’s a great alternate
outlet for him and Tinfed. H: What is the best CD no one is listening to but should?
R: One of them should be Ian Brown’s Golden Greats.
E: I’ll always think That Dog, Smoking Popes, and Far never
got the recognition that they deserved. When it comes to the
drum and bass scene, there are so many great underground acts.
I think it probably needs to stay that way. H: What is in your CD player right now?
R: Primal Scream’s XTRMNTR..
E: Smoking Popes, Destination Failure; the Fight Club Soundtrack;
Jawbreaker, Dear You; Weezer, Pinkerton. H: What else can we expect from Tinfed?
R: Seeping into the cracks. We have plans ranging from touring,
DJ touring to T.A.I. (Tinfed Associated Industries) merchandise,
a monthly club, a T.A.I. warehouse, etc., etc.
E: Touring and remixes. We have a lot of good songs that didn’t
make it onto the record. I hope that we’ll get to finish
and release them at some point. H: Anything else you would like to get off of your chests?
E: Shania Twain has some really good pop songs.
Heckler:
Who are you, and what do you do?