THE TINS

The Tins have been on a pretty steady release schedule of one EP or album every two years, and they're sticking to it with their Young Blame EP. Today we've got a taste of that release, 'Let It Go' (and no, it isn't a Frozen cover, although we're sure they could do a fantastic one). The New York three-piece continue their ascent into indie-pop glory with the infectiously catchy new track that's got just about everything: incredibly fun guitar riffs, twinkling and bouncing synth lines, and just overall sun-drenched vibes. - The 405

Freddie Mercury was such an iconic performer that it can be hard to listen to him and not re-create some of his famous body language: the pensively clenched fist, the hand reaching out as if to grasp an elusive feeling. We’ve all done it. The protagonist in the latest video by Buffalo trio the Tins takes things a step further, donning a fake mustache and taking his Freddie impression out onto the streets alongside a remarkably chill feline friend. The jagged power pop of “If You Want to Navigate” is a world away from Queen’s bombast, but the catchy tune plays well with the clip’s muted black-and-white tones and oddball energy. - Entertainment Weekly

Let It Go, The Tins. It pays to listen to this full track, which starts softly but builds to brilliant pop exuberance around the 57-second mark. This week the band released an EP, Young Blame, which you can grab on Bandcamp. - USA Today

Buffalo, NY's The Tins are proud to announce their forthcoming new EP, Young Blame, available July 29, and the premiere their Endless Eye video for, "They Aren't Evil". Following up the T-Rex hat-tip titled album Life's a Gas from 2012, the trio of Adam Putzer, Mike Santillo, and Dave Muntner present a catchy play on the components and tenets of character.

The video for "They Aren't Evil" is like a circus performance of the absurd. Real life, everyday people are introduced in quick takes surrounded by odd and errant effects of aura and polychromatic environments. Mike's keyboards cue Dave's percussion programs, as Adam's guitars introduce the cartoon-ish cast from a cleaver-wielding lunatic; a spiritually-balanced ensemble; deserters and dissenters of zen; a man in a moose suit; house-cleaning crazies; woman versus plant; one business bozo getting crazy with shaving cream; a burger grilling bro; and a serious savant of the classic strings. The semiotics of everybody's dispositions are played out in a game of guessing and attemptive understanding of manic, polar opposites and mood swings. Consider Adam and Mike's depictions of human comparative contrasts like, "I like to go and play, you like to hide away," to the mutual comprise of, "I won't get carried away, and you don't get carried away." The Tins find that meaning and balance in the outward appearance of madness and meshugas by finding common ground between extremities. We had the chance to talk to both The Tins and the creative minds at Endless Eye about the video and EP.

[to ]Los Angeles based Endless Eye] Tell us about the making of this wild, eccentric, and wacky video for, "They Aren't Evil" from Endless Eye.

"They Aren't Evil" is a series of 5,712 still photographs. All of the effects were done in camera using a long exposure technique known as light painting. We put our subjects in front of a black background, turned off the lights and opened the shutter on our camera. We used a range of tools, from fiber optic wands for kids to almost any kind of LED you can imagine. The trick for this video was that every frame needed to be done in succession so having control over the lights was key. Some of the toys needed to be hacked so they could turn on and off easily. The video was made over many late nights with close friends and was a lot of fun.

[For The Tins] What was the process of recording your upcoming Young Blame EP like?

Short question with many possible long answers. To overly summarize, we wrote and then fleshed out the songs as best we could in our practice space, and then brought them into the studio. Many different arrangements were attempted before our ears were satisfied (even though we are never really satisfied). It's a rewarding process to watch a song develop from infancy to completion.

What items of 'blame' were the biggest influences when making this record?

The past. Movement is a big part of the EP, and it is easy to blame one's past for his/her current situation, or lack/abundance of movement.

The latest from the scene in Buffalo, NY?

The warm weather is nearly here, so everyone is putting away their snow boots and partying like it's the summer of 1999. The actual music scene is thriving, with summer concerts every weekend and packed bars playing live music from all walks of life.

Catch The Tins on the following dates:

July
11 Buffalo, NY at the Buffalo Iron Works
17 Rochester, NY at The Bug Jar
18 Somerville, MA at Johnny D's
19 Brooklyn, NY at The Rock Shop
20 Philadelphia, PA at Kung Fu Necktie
21 Annapolis, MD at Metropolitan Kitchen
22 Pittsburgh, PA at Howler's Coyote Cafe
23 Columbus, Ohio at Woodlands Tavern
24 Chicago, IL at the Grand Bar
25 Des Moines, IA at Vaudeville Mews
26 Salt Lake City, UT at The Dog Pound
28 Los Angeles, CA at the Bootleg
30 San Francisco, CA at the Monarch

August
02 Seattle, WA at the JewelBox Theater
04 Vancouver, BC at the Electric Owl
05 Boise, ID at The Bouquet
07 Denver, CO TBD
08 Sioux City, IA at the Vanguard Arts
09 La Crosse, WI at The Root Note

Pre-order for Young Blame is available now via Bandcamp, available July 29. - Impose Magazine

Don’t let that T. Rex-invoking album title fool you into thinking that Buffalo, NY, threesome the Tins are early ‘70s glam revivalists – their debut full-length owes much more to ‘80s post-punk, college rock and modern indie than the eyeliner-and-sequined-elevator-boot set. If that sounds like a band merely mining a different, slightly newer set of calendar pages, hey, there’s nothing new under the sun, and these guys confidently resurrect the sounds they love throughout Life’s a Gas.

Basically, the trio – keyboardist/singer Mike Santillo, drummer Dave Muntner and guitarist/singer Adam Putzer – answer the rarely asked question, What would it have sounded like if the Shins played the US Festival in 1983? (It certainly helps that frontman Santillo has one of those James Mercer-nary upper register voices.) From the synth-poppy opener “Hit and Miss”, the herky-jerky “Taking Liberties”, and the discofied “Please Be Kind”, these guys take the best snippets of early post-punk and adapt it nicely for today’s delicate indie sensibilities.

More important than aping the post-punk sound, they capture the nervous energy, paranoia and disassociation of the era as well – it’s an interesting contrast to the ethereal album title, and helps separate the band from the hoi polloi. “It makes me uncomfortable to know that there are spies like me”, warns Santillo (I think) on “Spies”, looking over his own shoulder over a vintage late-Cold War-era keyboard run. Meanwhile, the narrator of “Midnight Crowd” floats on the fringes of a scene, “taking stills and hiding out”, but seems to be longing for authentic connection; the power poppy “Vicki” plays the same notion for a chuckle: “Just a virgin, a virgin with the urges”; elsewhere, the Franz Ferdinand-y “Please Be Kind” resorts to frenetic pleading (“Won’t you say something I can handle?”) Only “Shozo Hirono”, a Donald Fagen-esque low-life character sketch, doesn’t tap into this wellspring of nerves and societal dissonance.

The Tins tap into all the right sounds and all the right feelings on Life’s a Gas. As time wears on, will they keep playing the ‘80s card, or will they hew closer to a modern indie sound. I’d be happy to hear more of the former, but fortunately for them, they’re well-equipped to do both. - PopMatters

Link: http://performermag.com/2012/10/01/october-2012-print-issue/ - Performer Magazine

Just a week after sharing new single “Please Be Kind,” The Tins return with an album stream of their upcoming debut LP, Life’s A Gas. The three-piece out of Buffalo by way of Binghamton University teamed up with Modest Mouse producer Joe Blaney (another SUNY alum) to assure a release worthy of a warm reception.

Consisting of three instruments, two voices, and one unified sound between keyboardist/vocalist Mike Santillo, drummer Dave Muntner, and guitarist/vocalist Adam Putzer, the band’s equal creative output yields rewarding results. With tight, catchy songs falling somewhere between indie pop and alternative rock, the band gives off an experienced confidence years beyond what their still-small catalog suggests. Of course living together in a small loft above a trucking company owned by Santillo’s father and practicing every night for years after graduation probably helped. By the sound of Life’s A Gas, they’ll soon be able to afford someplace a bit more comfortable.

Stream Life’s A Gas, out Oct. 2, in the player below. - Paste Magazine

I don’t know if Modest Mouse producer Joe Blaney has brought any kind of Northwest influence to these Buffalo natives, but it seems that, with their debut LP, The Tins have more in common with The Shins than just the rhyming names. This trio is also capable of top notch quirky indie pop. I was a bit skeptical at first, as I usually am, when the space age keyboard kicked off “Hit And Miss”. The mini-Verlaine riff ten seconds in made me give the rest of the track a chance and I’m grateful for that. Both fuzzy and slick, this opening song sets a good, fun tone. Once again, trepidation crept in at the beginning of “Taking Liberties”, where the isolated opening guitar riff sent a shockwave of memories of nineties generative. But once again, an immense hook blindsided me and permanently opened me up for the rest of the album.

The keyboards return to the forefront on “Vicki” and form a great foundation for the album’s finest effort thus far. The next track, “Midnight Crowd”, actually sounds like what an A.C. Newman-James Mercer composition would sound like. It has a freakin’ xylophone and quickly displaces “Vicki” as the album’s apex. I could listen to that song over and over for hours, and have. The rest of the album has some fun moments, especially the doo-wop-ing “Halo” and last track, “Whiteout”. That fact is that Life’s A Gas is a pretty solid and entertaining debut and, in my opinion, outShin(e)s The Shins’ latest effort.

To further inform yourself, you can check out the band’s Soundcloud page. - The Big Takeover

The Tins—‘The Green Room’
This song off the band’s upcoming debut EP kicks off with a modern-day Twilight Zone vibe that morphs into an extraordinarily moving seven-minute-long serenade. Hopefully this is a good indication of what the rest of the EP will have to offer.


- NME.com

This latest find is the direct result of a little blog scanning, so credit where credit is due for one of our self-nominated parallel blogs, Pretty Much Amazing, with whom we share many ideals. They in turn located the band from We All Want Someone, another excellent kindred journal. You see, there’s this kind of primeval hunter/gatherer service that’s going on for you with us bloggers. We love music, we go out and get music, we bring back music, you devour it. Well, I guess in this case, we let others go out and grab it, then we devoured it ourselves and we’re now handing you the already digested leftovers. Um, not quite so nice. We digress. Where were we? Oh yeah, The Tins are bloody fantastic! A three piece out of Buffalo who might just have wandered into our new favourite band category with ease. They’ve been together for several years, having formed at college, and they’ve clearly spent that time properly tackling their instruments and more importantly wrestling their sound into a perfect submission, that’s now ready to be released as a self-titled five track EP. Tight, masterfully layered jams, that build and fold into honest, captivating tracks such as these are actually very rare. Spending a little time gliding through the tracks available on their Myspace was as about as rewarding as a Californian road trip in a soft top, as full of sunshine and musical vistas as you’re likely to find anywhere this year. There’s several enjoyable sections within the songs, that work hard at not only finding a fantastic refrain, but keeping it going as long as the listener wants it to. Oh just another eight bars of this please, Yes! It’s not just the high standards on show that impresses, but the sheer consistency that’s so astonishing. High praise for a band that’s totally aiming high. Let’s hope for some more blog regurgitation to help raise awareness of this awesome find.

- therecommender.net

Just minutes ago, The Tins fell from the sky and into my inbox, courtesy of fellow music blogger Will Oliver. Hailing from Buffalo, New York, The Tins are Adam Putzer on guitar/vocals, Mike Santillo on keyboard/vocals, and Dave Muntner on drums, and they are preparing a release of their debut, five-song EP. Give their Myspace page a peep for basic information, photos, and yes, music.

The Tins have been playing together for over four years now and they know and play at each other’s strengths. This becomes undeniably apparent in the band’s shining opus, “The Green Room”. This epic soars for seven full minutes, never touching the ground and lifting you with it. Meticulously crafted, the song is immediately personable and familiar. Santillo and Putzer’s binary vocal deliveries, their coexisting keyboard and guitar work and insightful lyrics drive “The Green Room” and the Tins to places so rarely visited by debut recordings.

Comparisons to Wolf Parade and Sunset Rubdown are inevitable, and surely welcomed by The Tins. You can do a lot worse than Spencer Krug. Download “The Green Room” below:

- prettymuchamazing.com

We understand that brand-new bands usually have very little material to offer at first, but for bands like the Tins, five tracks just aren’t enough. Unfortunately, that’s all we have to work with from the Buffalo, N.Y., trio, whose self-titled debut EP was just released by V2 Benelux. You’ll soon be anxiously awaiting more from this band, but in the mean time, download the EP’s standout track, “The Green Room,” a meandering serenade that clocks in at an epic seven minutes.
- Magnet Magazine

Is there a better feeling than finding a talented new band? Not for me. Every so often music fans come across a young band that is far from amateur. They dazzle you from the start and make you wonder how they are not bigger. This is how I feel about a fantastic band from Buffalo, NY called The Tins. It with great excitement that I introduce these guys to you.

My introduction to The Tins was when they came to play at my college for a small underground show. They opened for Brooklyn band Via Audio, and to be honest The Tins did a lot more for me that night than Via Audio ever will. The Tins, consisting of Adam Putzer on guitar/vocals, Mike Santillo on keyboard/vocals, and Dave Muntner on the drums. They were three friends who met at Binghamton University (where I go to school), and have since formed out of Buffalo NY. They have been playing together for about 4 years now, and are finally releasing their debut self titled EP.

The 5 song EP is self titled, and recorded at Dreamland Studios in Woodstock. Adam and Mike’s duel vocals remind me of two of my favorite groups: Wolf Parade and The Raconteurs. Adam even confirmed Spencer Krug/Jack White as some of his many influences. Both of their vocals are equally strong, but different enough to add a different feeling to each song. You can tell that these boys are a tight knit group with their chemistry as a group flowing out of the songs. They play off each others strengths, utilizing all the necessary skills to make great songs.

The standout on the EP is the stellar “The Green Room”. It is a 7 minute epic that is finely constructed. It features great bridge transitions, hooks, and tight instrumentation. The Green Room is quite an impressive song to have on your debut EP. For me, it’s an easy front runner for my favorite song of 2010. June Avenue is an exiting rocker with tons of passion and soul that earns their comparisons to Wolf Parade. Tell me that Mike Santillo doesn’t sound like Spencer Krug during his “ooh ooh oooh oh”’s. The band has strong songwriting chops, and I have not stopped playing the EP since I received it.

The Tins are writing more material right now while they live in isolation upstate in Buffalo. Posted below is The Green Room along with another fantastic song off the EP, June Avenue. All courtesy of Adam who gave full permission to share these songs. Go to their myspace to stream the rest of the songs off the EP. Be their friend on facebook while your at it. Look at for the official release of the EP, on April 10th. Stay tuned for more info on it.

Link:
http://www.weallwantsomeone.org/2010/03/16/introducting-the-tins/
- Will Oliver at weallwantsomeone.org