TwinkSeptember 8, 2006
*Name: Twink, aka "Twink, the Toy Piano Band!" I've been trying to use the longer, descriptive version when possible, to prevent confusion between me and the other Twinks of the world.
*Members: It's basically my solo project, but I often work with musicians I like, who I consider part of the "extended" group. Something unexpected comes out of every collaboration. I've got a limited bag of tricks so it's nice to have people push me in different directions.
*Tape manipulations, digital deconstructions or turntable creations: Twink was started to focus on my toy piano collection, but over time I wanted to try other things with a similar fun and whimsical feel. The songs typically take happy, simple melodies and subvert them somehow. I've been collecting lots of vintage kiddie records for inspiration, and finally wanted to try doing something with it all. It's all such great stuff that's unfortunately overlooked by most adults that don't really consider it real music. Over a few years I recorded the vinyl to my Mac and sliced it all up into bits and pieces. The album "The Broken Record" was put together almost entirely in Propellerhead's Reason program, so definitely digitally constructed (with some poor attempts at scratching on rickety school house turntables!). The concept was trying to re-contextualize the older material into something that average listeners today would find palatable, and also dig new meaning out of. I've been doing taped audio collages since I was a kid, so it was just a matter of time before I made a real project out of it.
*Another genre descriptor: I didn't make it up, but I like the term "Cutetronica."
*Location: Originally from upstate New York, now living near Boston, MA. I'm a graphic designer, and have dabbled in comics, zines, video, sculpture, etc.
*History: Twink was officially born in 1999. I've been in a bunch of more relatively normal bands before that, but got fed up with the "scene" and limitations of the genres. After a long break from music I decided to just do something for my own amusement. Luckily other people seem to like it.
*Motivations: It boils down to having a fun project to explore. I certainly don't make money from it, but it's a nice outlet for my music and design experiments.
*Philosophy: It's okay for a grown man to play silly music with toys? I guess I've always been interested in breaking expectations. And justifying my Hello Kitty side.
*How would you like to be remembered: Fun-loving, hard-working rabbit-man.
*Web address: www.twink.net
