The Tint

The Tint goes beyond the college-rock brew

02/13/2003

The debut disk from Boston-area band The Tint, Captain, tosses the Atari-pop sound of Squeeze and early Weezer behind non-stop drumming and lyrics about teenage heartbreak.

"It doesn't really matter if you care," Evan Evans sings on "Next Best Thing," " 'cause I'm sick and tired of being the one who gets left halfway there."
The college-rock brew is more than the stuff you'd hear in every second bar from here to Cambridge.

Evans is a witty songwriter. And songs make a smooth transition from propulsive punk-and-rockabilly ("Second Looks") to Johnny Cash country rock ("Hanginontonothing.")

Thank drummer-percussionist Sean Greene and bassist Mike Geher for the groove-laden low-end sound.

Check out the four-piece at Jake's Bar & Grill, 373 Richmond St., Providence on Saturday. Mark Cutler & The Dino Club and Swill open. 9 p.m.; no cover; 453-5253.
- Vaughn Watson

Taking Bad Reviews in Stride – That’s The Tint

It’s hard not to like a band that includes both good and bad notices in the press kits they send to area media in hopes of garnering mentions for an upcoming show.

The Tint’s debut album Captain won me over on the first listen, filled as it is with short, catchy nuggets of pop punk. But the accompanying biographical material for the group, which plays Evos Arts Institute on Middle Street tomorrow night, was a bit unorthodox.
Included among the usual collection of positive reviews for the Boston-based band’s first album, released by new label Primary Voltage Records, was one completely vitriolic, completely negative write-up.

“My eternity in Hell will be me in a tiny, nicely furnished room with a CD player on the table that plays nothing but this crap,” wrote the uncredited reviewer for Boston underground publication The Noise.

It makes you wonder what had prompted the guy’s dyspeptic mood, not to mention why he thinks Hell would include “nicely furnished” rooms. Anyhow, it’s a testament to The Tint’s confidence, and a sense of humor, that they’d include such a review at all.

You’ll have the chance to decide how off-base (or on target) that bad notice was on Saturday night, when singer/guitarist Evan Evans leads The Tint – keyboardist Sean Will, drummer Sean Greene and bassist Mike Geher – through a few Friday night sets on Middle Street. Pushed by Will’s distinctive organ grinds, songs like “Next Best Thing” and “Universal” have earned the group heavy rotation on college radio stations throughout the Northeast.

None of the songs on Captain runs longer than four minutes, lending the album a sort of stream-of-consciousness feel, a throwback to late-‘70s-era rock as siphoned through a gaggle of Ritalin-addled Gen Y-ers. Not every Tint tune is a keeper, but they hit more than they miss on their debut release, and there’s enough potential evident to make a trip to Evos a good bet. Maybe even a Hell of a good bet.

The Tint plays Evos tomorrow night, along with Audrey Can’t Die and AM.
- Austin O'Connor

The Tint, Captain
Grade: A+

The Tint way be a baby in the music world having only formed in Boston in 2001, but they certainly don’t sound that way. Mixing pop and rock in the most delightful way, the band’s debut Captain is one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.

Led by songwriter / singer / guitarist Evan Evans (now there’s a name you won’t quickly forget), bassist Michael Geher, drummer Sean Greene and keyboardist/organist Sean Will round out this smooth, energetic sound that you won’t be able to get out of your head for days.

From the album’s catchy opener “Universal” to the pure pop of “Aidan Byrnne,” all 12 tracks are tight, well-constructed and delightful. And what I like best is the obvious lack of over-production—this is what these guys honestly sound like and I like what I’m hearing. —

C.E. Pelc
- C.E. Pelc