Musick that Needed Work: T - Tin Huey

 

Tin Huey was another proto-punk band from 1970s Ohio. Unlike many of the bands hailing from Cleveland, Tin Huey sprang up from Akron, Ohio in 1972. Their original run was until 1983. They disbanded for a while, then regrouped from about 1999 until 2011. 

 

Their original line-up featured: Michael Aylward - guitar & vocals; Harvey Gold - keyboards, guitar, & vocals; Mike Price - bass & vocals; & Nappy Lemans (Stuart Austin) - drums with Ralph Carney playing horns.
 

This line-up of Tin Huey played at venues such as Cleveland's Pirate's Cove & The Viking Saloon, venues where they gigged with Rocket from the Tombs, Mirrors, & the Styrene, then Kent's Townhouse & ultimately a 3-night-per-week gig at JB's on Kent's notorious Water Street, home of the legendary northeastern Ohio Numbers Band & the launch pad for Joe Walsh's James Gang. The first real "break" for the Hueys came about due to the rising popularity on a national scale of Devo, fellow geeks that were focusing national attention on Akron.

In 1977, Tin Huey pal Nick Nicholis of the Bizarros founded Clone Records & ran it 'til it folded in 1981. The label worked to document the scene in Akron, 39 miles south of Pere Ubu's Cleveland. Clone Records released more than a dozen records from bands such as Tin Huey, the Human Switchboard, the Waitresses, Unit 5, Teacher's Pet, Gray Bunnies, & the Bizarros.

The second release by Clone Records was Tin Huey's self-titled four-song EP...

Tin Huey - Tin Huey, Clone Records CL002, 1977.
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Side A -
Puppet Wipes
Cuyahoga Creeping Bent
Side B -
Poor Alphonso (live)
The Tin Huey Story

 

 

 

 

 

The following year they released their second on Clone, the single Breakfast with the Hueys... 

 

Tin Huey - Breakfast with the Hueys, Clone Records CL004, 1978.

Side One -
Robert Takes the Road to Lieber Nawash
Side Two -
Squirm You Worm

 

 

 

 

 

After these two releases came a whirlwind of activity. Chris Butler, guitarist from The Numbers Band joins the Hueys . Tin Huey does a show at JBs with the Bizarros that is attended by Robert Christgau of the Village Voice who has been doing a series called  "Down in the Boonies"  & is interested in the Akron sound. Christgau likes what he hears & contacts Warner Brothers A&R. Two weeks later the Hueys headline another show at JBs attended by Karin Berg of Warner Brothers A&R. Warner Brothers signs the band, flies them to L.A. & they record Contents Dislodged During Shipment which is finished & remixed by November 1978.
 

Contents Dislodged During Shipment was released in the spring of 1979. It was signed, sealed, & obscure by mid-summer. Tin Huey had made a largely non-commercial record for a label that was not going to promote it. This all perfectly coincided with the record industry crash of '79. Too much weirdness. A garage band gets a taste, does it's damndest, loses it's footing... 

 

 

Tin Huey - Contents Dislodged During Shipment, Warner Brothers Records BSK3297, 1979.

Side 1 - 

I'm a Believer
The Revelations of Dr. Modesto
I Could Rule the World If I Could Only Get the Parts
Coronation
Slide

Side 2 -
Hump Day
Pink Berets
Squirm You Worm
Chinese Circus
Puppet Wipes
New Yorks Finest Dining Experience

 

 

 

Enjoy,
NØ