Tentonic

By Caren Kelleher
Photo by Ryan Purcell

Each year brings a new crop of British buzz bands gaining momentum on MySpace, picking up traction on the blogs and earning some spins on the radio. America’s ears perk up as critics and pundits look across the pond for the next big thing.

Though this model has worked for artists like Arctic Monkeys and The Kooks, the blueprint is a bit more complicated for Tentonic — they’re fronted by British vocalist and songwriter Sid Wilson but geographically based in Atlanta, Ga.

As a 19-year-old university student and avid soccer player, Wilson suffered a knee injury that sidelined him for nearly a year. He picked up a guitar to pass the downtime and began to develop as a songwriter. After moving to America six years ago he began looking for players to tackle some songs he had already penned. After playing shows and meeting new bands, the band began to come together, first with drummer Patrick Reinhardt and guitarist Jafar Green, later meeting bassist Steven Quinn. Though Quinn was not trying to get back into another band, he quickly developed a good working relationship and friendship with Wilson, and in 2004 the band released its first EP, entitled Sterling.

Despite both its quintessentially English sound and close proximity to American tastemakers, Tentonic finds itself on a different playing field than bands similar in scope and influence, far from the buzz surrounding overseas artists they are often compared to.

“We know we’d probably have a better fit in Europe,” explains Quinn. “It’s tough for a band like ourselves to stand out here first than it would be for us to come from the U.K.”

Still, Quinn does not perceive the band as being pigeonholed into the same labels its British counterparts.

“Sid’s obviously from there and I’ve always been influenced by a lot of bands from England,” he says. “At the same time, I think our songs stand out, despite his accent. We have the ability to reach so many different people and different audiences.”

These circumstances have given Tentonic an advantage it might not have enjoyed in England, as have the connections in the band’s carefully crafted grassroots network, one rooted in friendship.

“As close mates, some people can help us out in different ways — not financially, but what they can do for the band,” Wilson says. “They look to help us out and feel like they’re part of the band.” Such help has come in various degrees: a friend who directed Tentonic’s first music video, and another who ensured that the band played to a packed venue in Savannah, Ga. The greatest evidence of this, though, is in Sterling, which was paid for by fans.

“The idea was a fundraising event to make us some money to get into the studio and get some material down,” explains Wilson of the listening party that ultimately funded the EP. “We tried to get our mates and fans involved to pre-sign-up for the CD, and if they hit the jackpot with the right fee then they would get their name on the inlay card as an executive producer, which is what execs do: just put the money up.” The EP boasts over 90 executive producers and, as Quinn points out, gave the fans the ownership of the release.

April 4 marks the release of Tentonic’s follow-up EP, which includes a handful of ballads to contrast the grander rock songs. Appropriately titled Blue Print, the EP shares the name of the leadoff track, one the band is particularly proud of.
“It talks about the camaraderie between us and what we go through,” explains Quinn. “How we are, who we are.”

Wandering clear of the clichés such a subject could inspire, the lyrics reveal the band’s self-awareness and the realities it faces. Wilson explains, “We’ve got to continue going this way. It’s worked in the past; it’s probably going to continue going that way. There’s pretty much a standard blueprint that is life right there, but it’s also ours specifically. Ours is like this.”

www.tentonic.com