Tonstartssbandht (pronounced -starts-banditTonstartssbandht
. Allmusic. Retrieved December 28, 2017. or Tone-starts-band-hutBrown, Emma.
Discovery: Tonstartssbandht
. interviewmagazine.com, January 17, 2012. Retrieved December 28, 2017.) is an American

psychedelic Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluci ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

band consisting of brothers Andy (guitar and vocals) and Edwin (drums and vocals) White. Based in

Orlando Orlando commonly refers to: * Orlando, Florida, a city in the United States Orlando may also refer to: People * Orlando (given name), a masculine name, includes a list of people with the name * Orlando (surname), includes a list of people wit ...

(Edwin) and

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

(Andy), they originate from

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, and formed c. 2008 when Edwin was 20 years and Andy was 18.A short chat with Andy White of Tonstartssbandht on radioactivity, Freebird, and Stereolab!
never-nervous.com, June 29, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017 Their influences include the

Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by thei ...

The Velvet Underground The Velvet Underground were an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1964. Its classic lineup consisted of singer and guitarist Lou Reed, Welsh multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and percussionis ...

demos, and Can live recordings. As of December 2017, the band has released 17 live and studio albums, as well as a series of solo recordings and collaborations. Tonstartssbandht is known for their dynamic live shows, consisting of long often improvisational

jams coupled with

krautrock Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock that developed in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It originated among artists who blended elements of psychedelic rock, avant-garde composition, and electron ...

elements. Their studio recordings are characterised by a deliberately

lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate stylistic ch ...

and DIY approach, while also incorporating

post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...

effects achieved through both analogue and digital means.

Style

According to Edwin, "Our style of music definitely goes all over. When we sit down with a drum kit and a guitar, we like to do psychedelic boogie rock. When we're composing songs in the studio or something, rather than our bedrooms, we tend more towards the

Brian Wilson Brian Douglas Wilson (June 20, 1942 – June 11, 2025) was an American musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who co-founded the Beach Boys. Often Brian Wilson is a genius, called a genius for his novel approaches to pop compositio ...

vocal-pop stuff. Psychedelic boogie rock and experimental pop . . . those are the two core loves of ours." They have described their influences as including "classic rock, delta/piedmont blues, noise, experimental improv, free jazz, blues/boogie rock, drone, classical." They are also heavily influenced by Japanese

, directly covering the style in their

High Rise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdiction ...

tribute band, High Rise II. Andy plays a

Danelectro Danelectro is a brand of musical instruments and accessories that was founded in Red Bank, New Jersey, in 1947. The company is known primarily for its string instruments that employed unique designs and manufacturing processes. The Danelectro com ...

12-string electric guitar, which, in the context of a two-man band, allows him to "fill the range of low-to-high frequencies well, especially if I can write tunes with finger-picking figures that have a bass and high end." Previously he has used a Coral

electric sitar An electric sitar is a type of electric string instrument designed to mimic the sound of the sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instru ...

. The vocals are often subject to heavy effects, especially the use of short

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

. Commenting on their prolific output, they have said, "Even a shitty recording can possibly be salvaged or used in a different way, but we generally just record record record. Just hit that button and don't worry about it. Do it or never do it." Andy has a long term interest in archiving and documenting the band's live shows, which he began recording with a 4-track. Recently he has been recording most of their tours, including dates across Europe, Russia, South East Asia, and Australia.Canino Gary.
Tonstartssbandht on learning to do things yourself
. thecreativeindependent.com, April 25, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017 When recording "studio" albums, they aim for a warm, room sound, using the close mic technique, and usually recording in their own apartments, with ambient sounds (including microwaves being turned on) apparent in instances.

Members

* Andy White – guitar, vocals,

electronics Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

* Edwin M. White – drums, vocals, electronics Songwriting is shared equally between the brothers, who for long periods lived in different cities due to work and studying. Songs are often constructed by swapping demo recordings via email,

Megaupload Megaupload Ltd was a Hong Kong–based online company established in 2005 that operated from 2005 to 2012 providing online services related to file storage and viewing. On 19 January 2012, the United States Department of Justice through the ...

, and

MediaFire MediaFire is a file hosting, file synchronization, and cloud storage service based in Shenandoah, Texas, United States. Founded in June 2006 by Derek Labian and Tom Langridge, the company provides client software for Microsoft Windows, macOS ...

. Both are prolific songwriters and have maintained a series of side and solo projects. Andy also records under the name 'Andy Boay', while Edwin's main solo project is titled Eola.

Band name

Tonstartssbandht is a made up word. According to Edwin, it comes from "a word collage that I made cutting up letters and words and I pasted it down and I loved how it looked. Because it's made up, it confused people, people get thrown off by consonants, they take one look at it and sometimes they're disgusted, they're like 'That's not a word anyone could pronounce!'"

Discography

The following are a mixture of live recordings and studio albums Tonstartssbandht – Mexican Summer
.

Mexican Summer Mexican Summer is an independent record label founded in 2009 by Keith Abrahamsson and Andres Santo Domingo. Based in Brooklyn, the label has released recordings from artists including Best Coast, Kurt Vile, Ariel Pink, Allah-Las, Weyes Blood, ...

. Retrieved December 30, 2017. * ''Water Buffalo'' (2008) * ''An When'' (2009, Does Are) * ''Maihama'' (2009) * ''Dick Nights'' (2009) * ''Parson Sounds'' (2009, Black Cheeks) * ''Midnite Cobras'' (2010) * ''Hymn'' (2011) * ''Now I Am Become'' (2011, Arbutus) * ''Sinkhole Storm and Sandwich'' (2011) * ''God Speed, Mans'' (2013, Spacebridge) * ''Nantes'' (2014) * ''Overseas'' (2014) * ''Hanoi'' (2015) * ''Christchurch'' (2016) * ''Sorcerer'' (2017) * ''Petunia'' (2021)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
American psychedelic rock music groups Arbutus Records artists Mexican Summer artists Musical groups from Orlando, Florida Sibling musical duos