TSOL

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"TSol" redirects here. For the UK legal organisation, see Treasury Solicitor's Department.
TSOL
Origin Long Beach, California,
United States
Genre(s) Hardcore punk
Deathrock
Horror punk
Hair metal (mid period)
Years active 1979 - Present
Label(s) Posh Boy Records
Frontier Records
Alternative Tentacles
Enigma Records
Rhino Records
Restless Records
Nitro Records
Members
Jack Grisham
Ron Emory
Mike Roche
Tiny Bubbz
Greg Kuehn
Former members
Todd Barnes (deceased)
Joe Wood
Mitch Dean
Marshall Rohner (deceased)
Jay O'Brien
Travis Johnson
Billy Blaze
Frank Agnew
Jay Bentley

TSOL are a punk/metal band which formed during 1979 in Long Beach, California. TSOL is short for True Sounds of Liberty[1] although they are rarely referred to by their full name.

Although most commonly associated with hardcore punk, TSOL's music varies on each release. They have also released music in the styles of deathrock, art punk, horror punk, and the plethora of other punk music labels.

Contents

[edit] History

Formed in 1979 and hailing from Long Beach, California, TSOL originated as a hardcore punk band, developing from earlier bands Johnny Coathanger and the Abortions and Vicious Circle.

Featuring the lineup of vocalist Jack Grisham, guitarist Ron Emory, bassist Mike Roche, and drummer Todd Barnes, the band's first release was a harshly political eponymous EP featuring tracks such as "Superficial Love," "World War III" and "Abolish Government."

[edit] Evolved sound

After their debut EP, they released Dance With Me, their first full-length record. A departure from the entirely political nature of the previous release, "Dance With Me" was far darker and more macabre, featuring such themes as necrophilia, and the song "Silent Scream," which is made up entirely of horror movie clichés. Their most popular release, both then and to this day, the album earned them the title of the "West Coast Misfits" (a reference to Glenn Danzig's band on the East Coast), and has made the band a favorite amongst horror punk fans.

TSOL was linked in the minds of many OC hardcore fans to the Cuckoo's Nest, a nightclub in Costa Mesa that shared a parking lot with an "urban cowboy" club during that feather-hat cowboy pop culture craze with other Punk band like Social Distortion and the Vandals.

They later signed to independent label Alternative Tentacles, for which they released the "Weathered Statues" 7" extended play and the Beneath the Shadows album which featured, for the first time, keyboard player Greg Kuehn who added a new dimension to the band. Around this period their style had switched further, moving towards a highly experimental and varied one which featured art punk and psychedelic leanings, as well as their customary horror themes. Fans of the time backlashed tremendously against this change, and when on tour, the band was harshly heckled for their change in music. Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes were so disgusted with the reaction that they eventually left the band. Today Beneath the Shadows is acclaimed by fans and critics as an achievement in art punk and new wave experimentation, and while Dance With Me remains the favorite release for most people, it is Beneath the Shadows which makes TSOL more than just another hardcore band.[citation needed]

TSOL were featured in Penelope Spheeris' Suburbia movie, but, during the same period, members changes occurred. Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes left the band to be replaced by singer Joe Wood (who was Grisham's brother-in-law) and drummer Mitch Dean. This new line-up (with Joe Wood and Mitch Dean) released the album named Change Today? in 1984 on Enigma Records.

[edit] Metal experimentation

The group changed their sound entirely for their next release Revenge, gaining a punk metal sound.

The band became friends with Guns N' Roses and TSOL t-shirts can be seen in the massively successful "Sweet Child o' Mine" video. They followed up with an album in a similar style, titled Hit and Run. Before it was released, original guitarist Ron Emory quit the band, leaving Mike Roche as the sole original member.

TSOL were joined briefly by guitarist Scotty Phillips, who quit before the band started recording the follow-up to Hit and Run, they eventually hired guitar player and actor Marshall Rohner. They released a blues-metal album titled Strange Love in 1990. Mike Roche quit shortly before the album release, leaving no original member in the band. A compilation album entitled Hell And Back Together 1984-1990 was issued in 1992 with an emphasis on their metal era.

[edit] Original TSOL reform

Meanwhile, the original members had started playing shows featuring the band's early material under the name TSOL, often playing the same cities, the same nights as the other TSOL. Since Joe Wood and Mitch Dean now owned the rights to the name TSOL, they threatened to sue the original members, who released a live album of their early material under the name "Grisham, Roche, Emory and Barnes" but stopped playing together soon after because of drug problems.

In 1996, most of the original members settled down and realized that they still had a passion for their music and that fans wanted them to reunite. In 1999, they fought with Wood for rights to the name and won before joining the Vans Warped Tour, playing for the first time in years under the name TSOL. Barnes had died in the time away from the band, but the remaining members recruited drummer Jay O'Brien and released the "Anticop" single and the Disappear and Divided We Stand albums on Nitro Records, the latter of which featured Greg Kuehn back on keyboards. The Original TSOL recorded two more full length albums. In September of 2007, (without Kuehn who left to pursue other avenues) Cider City Records released the posthumous live album 'Live From Long Beach', recorded in November 2006 on the weekend of the band's two "farewell" performances.

Their departure was short-lived, however, with a couple of local shows in late 2007. They also headlined the "F**k the Whales, Save a Chckn" benefit in Feb. 2008, held to help with cancer treatment bills for guitarist Craig "Chckn" Jewett of D.I.

[edit] Trivia

Their music is featured in the 1984 movie Suburbia, the 1985 version of popular horror movie Return of the Living Dead and Dangerously Close in 1986. They are an independent band under the Nitro Records banner, which ironically was started by Offspring vocalist Dexter Holland, for whom TSOL is cited as an influence. Jack Grisham participated in a few side projects including The Joykiller and Tender Fury. He recently ran for the Governor of California's position, and now participates in other musical projects while TSOL is on hiatus.

[edit] Members

  • Jack Grisham - vocals
  • Ron Emory - guitar
  • Mike Roche - bass
  • Tiny Bubbz - Drums
  • Greg Kuehn - piano, synthesizers

[edit] Former members

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

[edit] EPs

  • T.S.O.L. EP - (1981)
  • Weathered Statues - (1982)

[edit] Singles

  • "Colors" - (1986)
  • "Man & Machine / Peace Through Power" - (1990)
  • "Anticop" - (2001)

[edit] Compilations

[edit] Bootlegs

  • 1980 Demo - (1980) [2]
  • Numerous tsol shows are known to circulate the tape trading network.

[edit] Filmography

  • Live In Hawaii (DVD) - (2004)
  • Live In OC (DVD) - (2001)

[edit] References

  1. ^ Strong, Martin C. (1999). The Great Alternative & Indie Discography, Canongate Books, page 663. ISBN 0 86241 913 1.
  2. ^ The Original TSOL: Discography

[edit] External links

TSOL
Jack Grisham | Ron Emory | Mike Roche| Tiny Bubbz | Greg Kuehn
Todd Barnes | Joe Wood | Mitch Dean | Marshall Rohner| Jay O'Brien| Travis Johnson|
Discography
Studio albums: Dance With Me, 1981 | Weathered Statues, 1982 | Beneath The Shadows, 1982 | Change Today?, 1984 | Revenge, 1986 | Hit and Run, 1987 | Strange Love, 1990 | Live 91, 1991 | Disappear, 2001 | Divided We Stand, 2003 | Who's Screwin' Who?, 2005
EPs: 1980 DEMO, 1980 | Peyton listens to TSO, 1981 | TSOL EP, 1981
Singles: Man & Machine / Peace Through Power, 1990 | Anticop, 2001
DVDs: Live In Hawaii, (2004)
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