Tenspoke Indies

Some people walk around with a WWJD bracelet on their wrist as a constant reminder of the values they hold dear. Were
TENSPOKE INDIES guitarist Josh Maloney one of those people, a more accurate acronym would certainly be WWSD – What Would
Slash Do?
Maloney and the rest of his bandmates are single-minded in their pursuit to write the Great American Rock Album. It's something that
hasn't been done for years – decades maybe – and is sorely overdue. And what better way to shape the future of rock than to look to
the gods who came before you?
"It’s engrained in my DNA. Where I come from is early AC/DC, GUNS N’ ROSES, KISS, AEROSMITH, ZEPPELIN – just huge, largerthan-
life rock bands who put out great fucking rock songs," Maloney explains. "That’s something that’s been lost. There are no more
fucking rock stars. To me, Slash is a rock star. Angus Young is a rock star. I’m tired of bands that want to cut themselves - or make
me want to cut myself. I’m tired of that shit, man. Somebody just put out a good rock album!"
Sometimes if you want something done right, you have to do it yourself. That's exactly what the TENSPOKE INDIES did with their
newest offering, Blinded By The Sound. The album is a return to the heyday of rock and roll, when guitar solos were not only
accepted, but were expected, when the melodies were big and the hooks were bigger – when rock stars were Rock Stars who not
only looked the part, but had the attitude to back it up and could play their instruments like they sold their souls Robert Johnson-style.
The album is an old-school rock and roll ass-kicking in technicolor. It's raw and seething with energy, laced with enough guitar heroics to
fuel a Guitar Hero 4 on its own. But simultaneously, it's gorgeously melodic, thanks in large part to the pedigree of Britain-born frontman
Rich Wise, who tempers Maloney's Sunset Strip fetish with a spoonful of sugar from the BEATLES and PINK FLOYD school of rock.
"Simply put, the goal was to bring the rock,” Wise says of Blinded. "I’ve never been a big riff guy or a hard rock guy, so my goal was to
open myself up more to the rock side and let everything happen naturally."
"We wanted to create something that was a breath of fresh air," Maloney chimes in. "To be honest with you, if I said we agonized over
these songs, that would be an understatement. We really went in setting the bar high for ourselves. It wasn’t always fucking pretty, but
we got through it, and in the end I am super-fucking-proud of the album."
In the two years since TENSPOKE INDIES formed in Tampa - with members from England, Indianapolis, North Carolina and Florida -
the four-piece has accomplished an astonishing amount. They've shared the stage with everyone from EVANESCENCE to THE GOGO’s,
landed songs on TV shows like CBS's "Third Watch" and film soundtracks and built the kind of rabid following that just doesn't
happen anymore. Selling-out shows in Tampa with over 600 fans in attendance is par for the course. It's the type of scenario where
the band has taken on a life of its own, and all the members can do is sit back and watch with a huge smile on their faces.
If the steadily growing crowds are any indication, Blinded By The Sound is going to take TENSPOKE INDIES to places that a solid,
gimmick-free rock band hasn't been for some time. And this is a hungry, purpose-filled band that will take whatever responsibilities its
fans want to heap on it – including the duty of single-handedly reviving rock and roll. After all, someone's got to do it.
"Hopefully we can lead the way or be in the thick of it, but I want to be part of it regardless," says Maloney of rock's second-coming.
And its abundantly clear upon even a cursory listen to Blinded By The Sound that whatever comes next for TENSPOKE INDIES is
going to be big.
WWSD, indeed.