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Meet this year’s Sound and the Jury finalists: Andrew Tinker
Jon Frey/SPECIAL TO THE AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Now in its third year, Dell’s the Sound and the Jury contest, an online battle of the bands, offers independent, unsigned bands a shot at performing before thousands during the Austin City Limits Music Festival. An online vote produces 100 finalists, then a panel of judges narrows the field to 20, before online voting reopens and produces the final five, who will perform in front of judges and fans live. To have a chance at winning, bands must be marketing experts, employing tools like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace — as well as good old-fashioned phone calls and word-of-mouth.
The American-Statesman talked to each of the five finalists for this year’s battle of the bands to hear their stories of struggle for a shot at one of Austin music’s sweetest prizes. We will be running these interviews in advance of the final round, which will take place at Antone’s Nightclub, 213 W. Fifth St., Wednesday Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.
The band: An optimistically inclined pop quartet with a piano-driven songwriting sensibility, led by Tinker, former French horn player for the Polyphonic Spree and a summa cum laude graduate of the University of North Texas’ college of music.
Point of origin: Denton
American-Statesman: You were one of the founding members of pop collective the Polyphonic Spree. What did you learn from your stint with that band?
Andrew Tinker: I learned that stuff can happen real quick. Once the determination is there the career moves just kind of start to present themselves. We’re trying to do now what the Spree did, which is just go with it. The Spree kind of had a big break, right after I got out of High School, to play in London, and things just started falling into place after that. So I’ve realized how fast things can change. So I got really inspired by that with the Sound and the Jury. I was like, ‘Let’s all get together and try to get a gig that could really mean something and put our nose to the grindstone and really make it happen.’ Another thing I learned is that it is possible to play big, big gigs and just be a small town kid trying to make a career in music.
AS: How is playing with your current group different from playing with the Spree?
AT: There’s a whole lot less setup. One of the cool things about playing with my band now is, since it’s a four-piece, it allows me a lot more intimate connection on stage with the musicians and with the audience. And that’s been a really cool thing. Because the Polyphonic Spree was just this raw, huge thing, with 20-something people going 100 percent. There was a lot of cool, big energy. But the difference now, playing with a smaller ensemble and really nailing it, is that when it comes together it’s just perfectly aligned and precise.
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