TSA (band)

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TSA

Background information
Origin Opole, Poland
Genre(s) Rock
Hard rock
Heavy metal
Years active 1979 - present
Label(s) Metal Mind Records
Website www.tsa.com.pl

TSA is a Polish hard rock and heavy metal band.

Contents

[edit] Band history

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Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (June 2007)

TSA is one of the most important bands in Polish rock music; they are unanimously considered precursors of heavy metal in Poland. The band was formed as an instrumental quartet in 1979 by Andrzej Nowak, Stefan Machel, Janusz Niekrasz, Marek Kaplon. TSA gave an immensely successful performance at Jarocin Rock Festival, which resulted in winning the Audience Prize. On 12 July 1981 at Pop Session Festival in Sopot they debuted with Marek Piekarczyk on vocals. In 1981-1983 they ruled the scene - a few hundred gigs a year and hysterical crowd reactions anywhere they went. Their singles and albums - "Live", "TSA", and "Heavy Metal World" - set standards for Polish rock music, at the same time achieving great commercial success - they sold in hundreds of thousands of copies. In December 1983, after Rockowisko'83 concert, Andrzej Nowak and Marek Kaplon left the band. In the new line-up (with Antoni Degutis and Zbigniew Kraszewski) TSA returned in spring 1984, supporting Nazareth during their Polish tour. The same year "Spunk!" was released in England. The album got great reviews and was re-edited in the USA and Canada as "Heavy, Heavy Metal". However, the announced foreign tour was cancelled. Next year saw a foreign release of "Heavy Metal World", promoted by gigs in Benelux. Their quest to conquer foreign market was this time stopped by label going bankrupt. In 1986 they recorded "Rock'n'Roll" which was released 2 years later. In spring 1987 Nowak returned to TSA. They played numerous gigs in Poland (Metalmania Festival, among others), as well as in Czechoslovakia, France, Germany and The Soviet Union. They also took part in preparing music for the Polish version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" rock-opera, in which Marek Piekarczyk played the part of Jesus. Very intense touring (also in USA) and the exhausting work on the rock-opera resulted in several conflicts among the musicians and eventually TSA suspended their musical activity. One year later two bands emerged: TSA and TSA Evolution, but they both broke up after a short time. Soon after that Piekarczyk and Nowak moved to the States. In the years that followed TSA returned several times with different line-ups, but none of the variations lasted long. On 5 May 2001, thanks to the laborious negotiations conducted by the band's fan club "Alien", TSA played a gig in their original, classical line-up: Marek Kaplon, Stefan Machel, Janusz Niekrasz, Andrzej Nowak, Marek Piekarczyk. A few weeks later the band officially announced their reunion and started to regain their position on the music market. On 5 April 2004 their newest album "Proceder" was released, thus opening the new chapter in the history of this legendary rock band… In November 2004 the band visited USA & Canada to play gigs in Chicago, New Jersey and Toronto. During the years 2004 - 2007 TSA played over 150 concerts.

As is the case with the vast majority of heavy metal bands with acronym-based names, there appears to have been no actual meaning behind TSA's name, although in a 2003 press release one of the founders claimed that the acronym originally meant "Tajne Stowarzyszenie Abstynentow", i.e. "Teetotalers' Anonymous."

[edit] Members

[edit] Discography

  • 1983 Live (Tonpress SXT 11)
  • 1983 TSA (Polton PLP 002)
  • 1984 Spunk! (Mega Records Ton LP 2) (released in UK)
  • 1984 Heavy Metal World (Polton LPP 009)
  • 1985 Heavy Metal World (english version) (Mausoleum Skull 8394) (released in UK and USA)
  • 1988 Rock'n'Roll (Tonpress SXT 96)
  • 1992 52 Dla Przyjaciół (Zic-Zac TIC 0017)
  • 1997 The Best Of TSA (WEA/Warner Music Poland 0630-19248-2)
  • 1998 Live 98' (WEA/Warner Music Poland)
  • 1999 TSA w Trójce akustycznie (WEA/Warner Music Poland 3984 26940 2)
  • 2004 Proceder (Metal Mind Records MMP DG 0239)
  • 2004 1981 (Metal Mind Records MMP DG 0286)

[edit] References

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[edit] External links

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