Tin Alley are an Australian rock band from

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

formed in 2007 by brothers Paul and Jim Siourthas, and Peter Hofbauer. The band released one studio album, ''Everyturn'' (2007). Tin Alley's first single, "In Your Hands", charted consecutively and peaked at number 13 between

John Butler John Butler may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John "Picayune" Butler (died 1864), American banjo performer; may have been used by a number of performers * John Butler (artist) (1890–1976), American artist * John Butler (author) (born 1937), ...

and

Sneaky Sound System Sneaky Sound System is an Australian dance music group formed in late 2001 by Angus McDonald on guitar, MC Double D (Daimon Downey) on vocoder and vocals, Damien Hesse (DJ) and Nick Broadhurst on saxophone. They were joined in 2004 by Connie ...

in the Australian indie charts. In 2009, Tin Alley's release "Out of Control" reached number 1 on the Australian Music Office charts and was at number 1 on the

Australian Independent Record Labels Association The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (commonly known as AIR), formerly Association of Independent Record Labels, is a non-profit trade association which supports the growth and development of Australia's independent recording in ...

charts for five consecutive weeks. In November 2009, "Out of Control" reached no.7 on the ARIA Australian singles charts and was in the

ARIA Charts The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

top 20 for six consecutive weeks. In early 2010, Tin Alley had a special dance version of "Out of Control" mixed by Luke Chable. In February 2010, the Luke Chable Vs Tin Alley "Out of Control" dance mix was used on many shows and radio playlisted programs Australia wide. In August 2010, "Out of Control" was featured and marketed internationally by the fashion company

Billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...

as part of the 2010 Designers Closet Series. In mid August 2010, Tin Alley released Monster (Pop), a special pop edit taken from the group's original rock version mixed by David Treahearn and Rob Haggett in the UK. Soon after its release, lead singer and guitarist Jim Siourthas left the band for personal reasons. In July 2011, Stefan Waltersson briefly joined the group and in September Tin Alley released "Ride the Wave", written by Jim Siourthas, Peter Hofbauer & Paul Siourthas, which was voted by the music network as a top ten release (a song recorded the previous year) in Queensland. "Ride The Wave" and "Bounce Back" were later played nationally on commercial play-listed programs. During the "Bounce Back" release in September 2011, Paul Siourthas signed an endorsement with

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n guitar manufacture

Maton Maton is an Australian musical instruments manufacturing company based in Box Hill, Melbourne. It was founded in 1946 by Bill May and his brother Reg. The name "Maton" came from the words "May Tone" and is pronounced ''May Tonne''. Products ...

. March 2013 saw Andrew Carter join the group to finalise the line up as lead vocalist which then saw the addition of guitarist Kieran Murphy, a member of Carter's previous band. In December 2013 Tin Alley returned to the studio where they recorded ''The Ghost EP'' in

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. March 2014 saw the group release the first of three tracks under ''The Ghost EP'' titled "Chosen Few".

History

Early years

Brothers Jim and Paul Siourthas grew up in Reservoir. Paul received his first guitar at age eight. The Siourthas brothers formed the group Everything in early 1998 with friends Bill Wall and Angelo on Bass. In 1998 drummer Peter Hofbauer of Austrian descent read an ad in ''The Sunday Herald'' and after two auditions joined the band Everything. In 2006, after producing some demo recordings at

records, Paul invited numerous labels and profile managers to various shows and showcases. In the process, Jim helped facilitate their progression in musical style from

Indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

rock to the more

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

approach that is now their trademark. On the strength of these demos, Mark Huxley took the band to meet with executives at

MGM Distribution MGM Distribution (Metropolitan Groove Merchants) is the largest independent distributor of Australian music and music related merchandise. It was established in April 1998 by Sebastian Chase. MGM Distribution was set up specifically as a d ...

where they were immediately signed to a distribution deal.

2007

Tin Alley's debut album, entitled ''Everyturn'', was released in

on 17 October 2007, released along with its lead single, "In Your Hands". It peaked at number 13 and 17 consecutively in the

AIR Charts The Australian Independent Record Labels Association (commonly known as AIR), formerly Association of Independent Record Labels, is a non-profit trade association which supports the growth and development of Australia's independent recording in ...

. Due to the success of Tin Alley's first independent release, another single from the album was released through MGM titled "Polar Bear". The video clip for Polar Bear was filmed and directed in the

United States of America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguo ...

by producer Max Rubitzky and proved to be an underground university hit in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The track Polar Bear was only a digital release through MGM, unlike "In Your Hands" which was marketed to

n record stores. In mid-2007, Tin Alley was voted in as

3RRR 3RRR (pronounced "Three Triple R", or simply "Triple R") is an Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. 3RRR first commenced broadcasting in 1976 from the studios of 3ST, the student radio station of the Royal Melbourne Instit ...

album of the week and soon found themselves playing on numerous TV shows such as ''The Breakfast Show'' and doing guest appearances and acoustic performances on various radio stations. In December 2007 Tin Alley were struck down with the near loss of Drummer Peter Hofbauer from a serious motorbike accident stopping the band in the midst of their first Australian tour.

2008

In late 2008, Tin Alley were back and began work on their second release ''Crossing Paths''. The EP was written and recorded in Queensland and produced by Stuart Stuart who has also worked with

The Veronicas The Veronicas are an Australian pop music, pop duo from Brisbane. The group was formed in 2004 by identical twin sisters Lisa Origliasso, Lisa and Jessica Origliasso. In 2005, the Veronicas released their debut studio album, titled ''The Secr ...

and

Small Mercies Small Mercies were an Australian alternative rock band from Brisbane, Queensland. They formed in 1997. They used the names, Seventh Avenue and Blaik, before adopting Small Mercies in 2004. Their final line-up was Steve Blaik on lead vocals and ...

and many other Australian artists.

2009

In October 2009, the title track ''Out of Control'' was released to national radio as the lead single from the 2010 EP release ''Crossing Paths''. The track ''Out of Control'' was written by Tin Alley and had spawned from drummer Hofbauer's near death experience at the age of 27. The number 27 had led Tin Alley to delve deep into the history of the

27 Club The 27 Club is an informal list consisting mostly of popular musicians, often expanded by artists, actors, and other celebrities who died at age 27. Although the claim of a " statistical spike" for the death of musicians at that age has been r ...

that further led them basing the lyrics in general on that theme and even quoting

Kurt Cobain Kurt Donald Cobain (February 20, 1967 – ) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter, and a founding member of the grunge band Nirvana (band), Nirvana. Through his angsty songwriting and anti-establis ...

's last words in his suicide note "Best to burn out bright than fade into the night" in the final seconds of the track. In early November 2009 Tin Alley made the top 100 on the ARIA Charts and in the weeks to follow ''Out of Control'' also made No.1 spots on

and AMO " Australian Music Office" Charts for six consecutive weeks and later peaked at number 7 on the ARIA Australian Singles Chart in early December. The track "Out of Control" also featured as mover of the month on the

Jägermeister ( , ) is a German digestif made with 56 herbs and spices. Developed in 1934 by Wilhelm and Curt Mast, it has an alcohol by volume of 35% ( 61 degrees proof, or US 70 proof). The recipe has not changed since its creation, and the drink contin ...

AIR Charts and was the fourth most added track to National radio and a week later got inducted into the 27 club hall of fame. Unplugged Session Tour 2009 / 2010 During the bands ''Out of Control'' release Tin Alley were busy on their national ''Unplugged Sessions Tour''. The Media Acoustic Tour kick started in

that spanned across Australia over a four-month period from November 2009 to March 2010. While the band were in Sydney Jim mentioned on the

Ugly Phil Phil O'Neil (born Phillip Surridge; 14 March 1963), better known as Ugly Phil, is a radio DJ and announcer. Born in the United Kingdom, he has spent the majority of his life in Australia. Before adopting the on-air name Ugly Phil, he was known a ...

show on

Triple M Triple M is an Australian commercial radio network owned and operated by Southern Cross Austereo. The network consists of 45 radio stations with flagship stations broadcasting a mainstream/classic rock music format in Sydney, Melbourne, and B ...

: In December Tin Alley came back to Melbourne to play a special showcase performance supporting

Boom Crash Opera Boom Crash Opera are an Australian pop rock band formed in late 1984. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan, the band was later joined by Dale Ryder (vocals), Peter 'Maz' Maslen (drums) and Greg ...

for their Christmas party in Melbourne along with other guests on the night such as

Taxiride Taxiride is an Australian rock band. Formed in Melbourne by singer-songwriters Tim Watson and Tim Wild, who were soon joined by Jason Singh and Dan Hall. Taxiride would record two consecutive number one platinum-selling albums. The band have ...

2010

Tin Alley were invited to assist

Juke Kartel Juke Kartel is an Australian rock band from Melbourne. The band formed in Melbourne in the early 2000s. They found success with the most consistent line up being Toby Rand, Dale Winters and Tommy Kende. Juke Kartel occasionally performs in Melb ...

on their ''Return To Australia Tour'' with other special guests

Electric Mary Electric Mary is a rock and classic rock band from Melbourne, Australia. Their debut single "Sail On" reached #76 on the ARIA Singles chart. Synopsis The band formed in 2003 and named themselves after Rusty Brown met Mary Culum Campbell, the m ...

. The group's success to date from the ''Out of Control'' release had created landmark achievements and new opportunity's for the band. Following the success of ''Out of Control'' in late December 2009 Tin Alley received notice that Luke Chable was offering to create a special dance version of the band's rock track. In the weeks to follow Tin Alley accepted and the track was later received and backed by commercial and community radio stations in Australia and also received spins on commercial stations in the UK and United States and received a Top Ten review in The Music Network. Lead singer Jim Siourthas later went on to mention in an interview on

Nova 969 Nova 96.9 (call sign: 2SYD) is a commercial radio station operating in Sydney, Australia. The station is owned by NOVA Entertainment along with sister station, smoothfm 95.3 Audience In 2014 Nova had a 4% share of the Sydney audience on av ...

he was not to happy at first listen with Luke's vocal effects on his voice however he was still very pleased to have Luke collaborate with Tin Alley and liked the dance version. Tin Alley were fortunate enough to showcase on the Friday night at the Melbourne

Moomba Festival Moomba (also known as the Moomba Festival) is held annually in Melbourne, Australia. Run by the City of Melbourne, it is Australia's largest free community festival. The Melburnian tradition is celebrated over four days, incorporating the Labour ...

before bad weather and storms hit the Melbourne districts the following days resulting in headlining act

Vanessa Amorosi Vanessa Joy AmorosiSharon Verghis"Back on track" ''The Sun-Herald'', 18 October 2009, Archived fro''the original''on 6 March 2016. (born 8 August 1981) is an Australian singer-songwriter. She has sold at least two million units in albums or sin ...

and other performances being canceled on the Saturday and Sunday.

Band name

The name Tin Alley was taken from the name of a laneway at

Melbourne University The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state of Victoria. Its ...

where the brothers studied and regarding how they chose their name, Jim Siourthas states: "The name is something we thought about for a long time, and we wanted it to be something that we can relate to and the name Tin Alley was always on the books but Everything seemed to be more punchy at the time," Jim has said.

Musical style and influences

Compared with the other

bands of the late 1990s, Tin Alley's style is noticeably less heavy and harkens back to the

classic rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

music of the 1970s. Tin Alley has cited many

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

and classic rock bands as influences, including

The Who The Who are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1964. Their classic lineup (1964–1978) consisted of lead vocalist Roger Daltrey, guitarist Pete Townshend, bassist John Entwistle and drummer Keith Moon. Considered one of th ...

The Doors The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...

, and

Ramones The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974. Known for helping establish the punk movement in the United States and elsewhere, the Ramones are often recognized as one of th ...

. Tin Alley's success to date has been attributed to its sound, which fuses "the riff-heavy stadium rock of the '70s with the grit and anger of '80s post-punk, without ever neglecting hooks and choruses". By early 2006 the band began to incorporate more funk influences into its music. The band's 2007 album ''Everyturn'' was a deliberate break from the musical style of Tin Alley's earlier sound. The songs on the album featured elements of

garage rock Garage rock (sometimes called garage punk or 60s punk) is a raw and energetic style of rock music that flourished in the mid-1960s, most notably in the United States and Canada, and has experienced a series of subsequent revivals. The style is ...

worldbeat Worldbeat is a music genre that blends pop music or rock music with world music or traditional music. Worldbeat is similar to other cross-pollination labels of contemporary and roots genres, and which suggest a rhythmic, harmonic or textural co ...

, and

experimentalism Experimentalism is the philosophical belief that the way to truth is through experiments and empiricism. It is also associated with instrumentalism, the belief that truth should be evaluated based upon its demonstrated usefulness. Experimentalism is ...

which was somewhat of a return to the straight forward rock approach of the band's early work in Everything, when the band dabbled with experimental

art rock Art rock is a subgenre of rock music that generally reflects a challenging or avant-garde approach to rock, or which makes use of modernist, experimental, or unconventional elements. Art rock aspires to elevate rock from entertainment to an ar ...

and

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

elements on 2001's "NYC". Some of the band's tracks on the 2007 album ''Everyturn'' was cited as a return to the band's early sound. The band's upcoming album, ''Crossing Paths'', contains elements of

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and new wave. Tin Alley's lyrical topics range from personal to social and political concerns ("Looking Up", "Get By" and "In Your Hands"). The band's lyrics have often invoked the use of

storytelling Storytelling is the social and cultural activity of sharing narrative, stories, sometimes with improvisation, theatre, theatrics or embellishment. Every culture has its own narratives, which are shared as a means of entertainment, education, cul ...

and have included themes of

freedom Freedom is the power or right to speak, act, and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws". In one definition, something is "free" i ...

individualism Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, and social outlook that emphasizes the intrinsic worth of the individual. Individualists promote realizing one's goals and desires, valuing independence and self-reliance, and a ...

, and sympathy for troubled individuals. The dynamic began to change when Paul went from guitar to bass and during the ''Everything'' era. Siourthas said in 2007, "Even though there is now only one guitar, I think there's maybe more room now, Peter will pull back and play a solid beat and Jim will do a

power chord A power chord , also called a fifth chord, is a colloquial name for a chord on guitar, especially on electric guitar, that consists of the root note and the fifth, as well as possibly octaves of those notes. Power chords are commonly pla ...

thing, and I fit into all that."

Discography

Albums

* ''Everyturn'' (2007)

EPs

* ''Crossing Paths'' (2010) * ''The Ghost EP'' (2014)

Charted singles

Sources

* Rave Magazine
''Rave Magazine''. 6 September 2011. *

''MGM Distribution''. 13 October 2007. * Australian Recording Industry Association, ARIA
''ARIA Charts''. *

National Library of Australia The National Library of Australia (NLA), formerly the Commonwealth National Library and Commonwealth Parliament Library, is the largest reference library in Australia, responsible under the terms of the ''National Library Act 1960'' for "mainta ...

br>
* PBS 106.7FM, PBSbr>
* The Music
''themusic.com.au''. 12 February 2008. * Faster Louder * Channel 31 (Australia), Channel 31
''Channel 31''. 2 January 2008. *

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

''Triple J''. * '' Rage (TV program), rage''
''Rage''. 25 July 2008. * Oz Music Scene. ''Oz Music Scene''. 24 August 2009. * Neos Kosmos
''Neos Kosmos''. 2 March 2009. * ''Girl''. ''Girl''. 24 August 2009. * Australian Music Office. ''Australian Music Office''. 9 November 2009. *

. ''AIR CHARTS''. 9 November 2009. * Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer. ''AIR CHARTS''. 10 November 2009. * ''Access All Areas''
''Access All Areas''. 10 November 2009. *

. ''ARIA Charts''. 9 November 2009. * ''Aus Pop''
. ''ARIA Charts''. 9 November 2009. *

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

''Facebook''. 12 May 2011.

References

External links

*
National Library of Australia

Triple J
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tin Alley Musical groups established in 1998 Georgetown University alumni Australian alternative rock groups Australian new wave musical groups Musical groups from Melbourne