The Tinklers are a duo from Baltimore, Charles Brohawn and Chris Mason. They have been active since 1979, inspired by seeing Half Japanese in concert. Their sound has been described as "not a rock sound at all: it's a type of non-sound: originally Erector Set instruments would be pulled across the floor or shaken for noises to add accompaniment to a capella renditions of their songs. The personae of little kids, playing with rubber band guitars and shoehorn marimbas. Shyly, they played under the tables. This wasn't a pretension: Charles loathes live performances. They would use complicated charts as a mode of composition and as illustrations, attempting to explain the whole universe by dividing it into scary and not-scary things. Personal development would be diagrammed as the nexusses of mom, dad, school, tv." [1]
While The Tinklers have not disbanded, since 1993 the band has released only one full-length album, Slowpoke, and made a few other compilation appearances. Live performances are infrequent.
Links to Peel
Peel gave heavy airplay to the band's LP Casserole and was also impressed by Slowpoke: however, it appears this interest faded in the 2000s (due no doubt to lack of new material). On his very first play of the band, John said:
What does the powerful Shimmy Disc promotion department have to say about the Tinklers? It says: "We asked Jad Fair, who was the best unsigned band in America? and he said the Tinklers. That was good enough for us, so it ought to be good enough for you. These two misfits make music that cannot be categorised. Prepare yourself for the strangest fifty minutes you'll ever spend in front of a stereo." A rather extreme claim, that, but there are 33 tracks on the LP, which is called Casserole, and that was one of them, of course....I shall play you more.
Festive Fifty Entries
Sessions
- None
Other Shows Played
- 04 April 1990: Turn The Screw On The Crank (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 05 April 1990: Juvenile Delinquency (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 12 April 1990: Ghost Dance Song (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 02 May 1990: 'Don't Put Your Finger In The Fan (LP-Casserole)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 14 May 1990: Simple Song Of Simple Faith (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 19 May 1990 (BFBS): 'Turn The Screw On The Crank (LP-Casserole)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 21 May 1990: 'Magazine (LP-Casserole)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 23 May 1990: Tree Song (LP - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 29 May 1990: Home By The River (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 31 May 1990: Hokey Pokey (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 05 June 1990: 'The Future, Dinosaurs Are Better (v/a album - What Else Do You Do?: A Compilation Of Quiet Music)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 06 June 1990: Mom Cooks Inside, Dad Cooks Outside (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 11 June 1990: Workin' Together United We Are One (LP - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 14 June 1990: Black Dog, Friendly Dog (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 19 June 1990: The Future, Dinosaurs Are Better (v/a album - What Else Do You Do?: A Compilation Of Quiet Music) Shimmy Disc
- 12 January 1991: 'Turn The Screw On The Crank (LP-Casserole)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 12 August 1991 (Radio Bremen): Trees Like To Rot In The Forest (LP - Saplings) Shimmy Disc
- 24 April 1993: 'James Brown (split 7 inch with Lungfish-Working Holiday (February))' (Simple Machines)
- 04 September 1993: ‘Library Book (CD – Crash)’ (Shimmy Disc)
- 01 October 1993: ‘Hank Greenberg And Jackie Robinson (CD –Crash)’ (Shimmy Disc)
- 08 October 1993 (BFBS): 'Sticking With You (CD-Crash)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 22 October 1993 (BFBS): Hank Greenberg And Jackie Robinson (album - Crash) Shimmy Disc
- 29 October 1993: ‘Foreign Exchange Student (LP – Crash)’ (Shimmy Disc)
- 17 September 1993: Born Again (album - Crash) Shimmy Disc
- 06 November 1993 (BFBS): 'Foreign Exchange Student (album - Crash)' (Shimmy Disc)
- 07 August 1997: Turn The Screw On The Crank (album - Casserole) Shimmy Disc
- 21 August 1997 (BFBS): 'Turn The Screw On The Crank (LP-Casserole)' (Shimmy Disc) (JP: 'Rather like King Of The Hill set to music.')
- 04 March 1998: Trees Like To Rot In The Forest (LP – Saplings) Shimmy Disc
- 10 February 1999: 'Omi (CD-Slowpoke)' (Serious)
- 11 February 1999 (Radio Mafia): 'Omi (CD-Slowpoke)' (Serious)
- 14 February 1999 (BFBS): 'Omi (CD-Slowpoke)' (Serious)
- 18 February 1999 (Radio Eins): Omi (album - Slowpoke) Serious
