Tin Man
Puyallup, Washington, United States | SELF
Music
Press
Honestly, Bobble Tiki feels like he's been getting promotional messages about Tin Man's CD release show for Somewhere in the Middle since 1987. That can't be, of course. Tin Man founder Rusty Parrish created Tin Man after years spent in punk bands, not to mention years then spent away from music focusing on family, but the CD being celebrated tonight (Friday, June 10) at Louie G's in Fife is only the latest in his body of work-not a one-time thing, and nothing to yawn about.
After constructing a safely alt-country meets rock band to suit the Tin Man solo project he first birthed in 2006, Parrish is obviously stoked for Somewhere in the Middle see the light of day. Bobble Tiki can't blame him. By all accounts, from folks who've seen Parrish grace coffee shop stages to the big fans he's won at NWCZRadio.com, Parrish has a certain spark as a performer. It's only natural that he'd want people to know about it. So what if that means he gets an e-mail every day about the CD release show. With a full band in tow (drummer Dave Smith, bassist Ed Hess, guitarist Jeff Weideman Guitar and keyboardist and vocalist Tony Ciarochi), tonight's action should be something worth catching.
Bobble Tiki caught up with Parrish this week to get his take on tonight's CD release for Somewhere in the Middle.
BOBBLE TIKI: The creation of Tin Man, and the album Somewhere In The Middle, isn't something that happened over night. If you could, talk a bit about the journey you've taken to get to this point. How have your experiences made you the artist and musician you are today?
RUSTY PARRISH: Well Bob, or is it Tiki? Anyway, Tin Man was started as my solo project and has now been fully realized as a band. I didn't want to go and perform using my name, so I came up with this name to hide behind, so to speak, I grew up in Minneapolis playing in bands, so having a (band) name seemed like the way to go. I moved to the Northwest in 1995 and kinda gave up music to raise a family. But the bug bit me again and I started playing solo in 2006. I went to coffee shop route but grew bored with it quickly and knew I had to work with a band again. I put out tw solo CDs during that time of material I had recorded in my home studio. When I went looking for musicians to play with most of them couldn't understand where I was headed. So I decided in the Spring of 2010 to head back to Minneapolis and record my strongest and best songs with musicians I had played with in the past and (who) understood what I was looking for. The result is the new CD, Somewhere in the Middle. It was recorded over 10 days last summer.
TIKI: Describe what you've accomplished with Somewhere In The Middle, and what kind of statement you intend it to be. Did it come out how you'd hoped it would? In retrospect, is there anything you'd do different?
PARRISH: Well I think this is the best thing I've done, from the songwriting to the production and packaging It turned out way beyond what I expected it to be. The title of the CD say's it all about what I was trying to do. I like many different types of music and I wanted to showcase that in this CD, and I think I pulled it off. Also, I think it really brought into focus what I was trying to do by myself but couldn't. The only thing I would change would be to have had the current members of the band on the project, but that will happen soon enough as we are already working up material for the next CD.
TIKI: The CD release show is scheduled at Louie G's in Fife. What does the venue offer a performer like yourself that made it appealing when putting all of this together?
PARRISH: Louie has a outstanding venue, great food and most importantly the desire to do it right with a real stage real lights and plenty of room to do it in. On top of all of that, Louie really wanted to help us out and made it work for us and his club. - weekly volcano
Honestly, Bobble Tiki feels like he's been getting promotional messages about and Facebook invites for Tin Man's CD release show for Somewhere in the Middle since 1987. That can't be, of course. Tin Man founder Rusty Parrish created Tin Man after years spent in punk bands, not to mention years then spent away from music focusing on family, but the CD being celebrated this week is only the latest in his body of work - not a one-time thing, and nothing to yawn about. After constructing a safely alt-country band to suit the Tin Man solo project he first birthed in 2005, Parrish is obviously stoked for Somewhere in the Middle to see the light of day. Bobble Tiki can't blame him. So what if that means he gets an email every day about it. - Bobble Tiki - Weekly Volcano
“He is a wordsmith, melody guru and his songs could easily be national hits,” said Jay Inokuchi, owner of Mocha Moo Café describing singer/songwriter Tinman, “This will be Tinman\'s third showcase in one year, he is that good! He draws a crowd whenever he performs and his fan base grows each time. We expect this to be one of our largest shows.”
Tinman aka Russ Parrish will release his first completely solo CD Tortured Hearts, Half Truths and Observations at Mocha Moo on Aug. 3. He recorded and played all the instruments himself.
Parrish said that his stage name came from an inside joke between he and his wife. He said, “She\'s from Kansas. I used to call her Dorothy and she would call me tinman. When I decided to re-enter the music world I thought that would make a cool name.”
Parrish is originally from Minneapolis Minnesota where he performed in several different bands before he left the music business to start a family. He moved to Washington because of a job promotion 13 years ago.
“It\'s taken me 13 years to find the courage to release my own stuff where I play everything myself,” said Parrish, “There are other changes in my life that are taking place for the positive at the same time. My wife and I have purchased two coffee stands this year and it looks as if the future holds self employment for the both of us. I\'m very excited to have more time to write and record and bring my fans more new music.”
For this CD release party, Mocha Moo will be selling beer with a special one day license. There will also be door prizes. The regular Friday night open mic will take place from 7-9 pm and Tinman’s performance will be from 9-10 pm. Like many of Mocha Moo’s feature artists, - WEEKLY VOLCANO
Discography
First solo cd self released in April 2007 titled "half truths, tortured hearts and observations" on vanity records.
Second solo cd Talking to the clouds released in Set 2009 also on Vanity records both available on itunes,
Somewhere in the middle availble May 2011 on Vanity records
also avaible on itunes,http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/somewhere-in-the-middle/id433030366
Photos
Bio
Tin Man, who is Tin Man? Well Tin Man started in 2005 as a solo project for Rusty Parrish. Rusty started out as a singing in a high school punk rock band many years ago. He taught himself to play guitar and learned how to write songs while playing with such Mpls bands as Two Minute Warning, The Hatfields, The Cactus thieves and Passionfish . Rusty gave up the music business in 1995 to focus on his family and a career and relocated to the Seattle area. But once music is in your blood there's no getting away from it. Over those years away Rusty began writing songs again and had a strong desire to perform live again. Out of necessity he started preforming solo around the Seattle Tacoma area renewing his love for live performance and writing. After 4 years of playing solo and releasing 2 solo CD's ( Tortured hearts, Half truths and Observation 2007, Talking to the clouds 2009 on his own Vanity records label ).
Rusty really wanted to put together a backing band to flesh out his songs. After placing adds on Craigslist searching for the right people and months of frustration Rusty came upon a fantastic drummer by the name of Dave Smith who currently fills the drum chair. But the search for a like minded Guitar player and bassist seemed fruitless by early 2010. So Rusty made a decision to return to Mpls in the summer of 2010 to rerecord some of his best songs and a few new songs with musicians he had played with in the past with great success .
The idea was to give a better representation of his songs in a band setting as to attract the right players to fill out the band. The result is the fully formed and inspiring CD called "Somewhere in the middle" recorded over just 10 days at It's A Secret Studios in MPLS MN It showcases what a strong singer/songwriter Rusty really is. Produced by the legendary Dave Russ with a cast of players that includes Sean Hoffman, Randy Casey, Dave Fierek, Luke Kramer and Tom Bard.
In early 2011 the bands line up was complete and ready for the stage. With a hugely successful cd launch at Louie G's in Fife WA in June 2011 the band continued to make a name for themselves throughout the south sound.
2012 will the release of yet another colection of outstanding songs and many more live shows around the Northwest.
Rusty's influences are, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Neil Finn, Bruce Springsteen, The Who, Steve Earle
Links
