The Hinge

There are two bands with this name: 1. The Hinge was an obscure garage rock band from Wisconsin active in the 1960s. 2. The Hinge was a hippie punk band from Moscow, Idaho that began in 1992. Mike Tysoe had traveled to northern Idaho to attend university and found that music was the one thing that helped him through the long and dark Moscow winters. After putting advertisements up around the Student Union building for a "drummer who wouldn't mind shmoozing with Def Leppard", Mike Liles responded to the advertisement. Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

There are two bands with this name: 1. The Hinge was an obscure garage rock band from Wisconsin active in the 1960s. 2. The Hinge was a hippie punk band from Moscow, Idaho that began in 1992. Mike Tysoe had traveled to northern Idaho to attend university and found that music was the one thing that helped him through the long and dark Moscow winters. After putting advertisements up around the Student Union building for a "drummer who wouldn't mind shmoozing with Def Leppard", Mike Liles responded to the advertisement. Mike also attended U of I, and as a percussionist, was very influenced by Rush. Mike Tysoe then rounded up his friend Heather to play bass guitar, but found her mopey, wallflower bass playing style to be way to apathetic for the group. After a discussion with Mike, Mike and Mike decided it would be best if she wasn't in the band. Heather the "scrag" as she was known would not stay friends with either of the Mikes. Within a week of Heather's departure, Mike Tysoe asked his friend, neighbor and fellow student Joshua Boyd if he would like to play bass guitar. Josh said yes, and both Mikes were stoked because Josh also had a V.W. van to hall around the equipment. It was a good fit. The Hinge (not just plain 'Hinge', which is another band entirely) went on to play for a year and a half. During that time, the band played three crucial gigs. The first was a house party at Jen Franklin's house where they rehearsed. The kids liked the amped up hippie-punk so much that the floor almost caved in from the pogo dancing! The second gig was played at the first annual Moscow Hemp Festival in East City Park. The Hinge opened for Royball and Circle Of Knots. A much cruder version of The Hinge logo appeared on the flyer. The gig was videotaped by onlookers. A copy was not obtained by the band. If you are the videographer who filmed that performance and have found this web page by some fluke chance, please contact Studio 57 Records immediately! The last The Hinge gig was played at Mike Tysoe's apartment, where Raspberry played a few songs (later to become Silver Scooter from Austin, TX) followed by only three and a half songs The Hinge got to play. Then the cops came and illegally confiscated the keg of beer and shut the gig down. During the year and a half of the band's existence Mike Tysoe continually requested that the practices be recorded, but his bandmates refused to let it happen. As such, only two recording sessions were ever scheduled. Both featured Chris Lundeen at the helm of the four track and effects module. The first recording session was a little shaky compared to the second. Lyrics weren't completely memorized, and often improvised. Riffs were not as smooth as they would be later on. Mike and Josh complained that it was too soon to record anything yet, but Tysoe insisted that it was for the best. The first session featured guest appearances by Sean & Tom of Handful (which became Raspberry and then Silver Scooter) on the track Six Grey Horses, an poetic ode to the Doors. Chris Lundeen brought in extra psychedelia with plenty of delay, plus Ren & Stimpy and Beavis & Butthead samples. A number of songs were recorded that had poetic, Doors-esque themes, but one would stand out more than the rest for years to come because of the raunchy title: Anal F**king Bastard. This song was only named as such since Mike Tysoe's roommate called him that when Mike refused to wash the dishes, citing that it was not his turn. Mike had also enjoyed GG Allin's nasty lyrics from time to time, so that played an influential part as well. After another four months went past, another recording session was scheduled. Considering that The Hinge rehearsed two to three times per week, it meant that the second demo would be musically superior the last one. Fewer songs were recorded during the second session, but more time was spent on the mixdown. This lent the songs a more professional sound, but with lower fidelity as the master tape was remastered onto another regular audio tape. Regardless of the amateurish mistakes that The Hinge made from time to time, the concept was entirely professional. The kids in Moscow that came to see The Hinge loved the band and the music. During the height of the Grunge era when all the bands sounded the same, The Hinge brought forth a sound and a vision that was different than everything else out there. In late 1993, somewhere in the middle of the summer, Mike Liles left the band to concentrate on graduation. Mike and Josh sought a replacement in their friend Carl Bradbury, but tensions between Mike and Josh caused a further split, leaving Carl in the dust. Mike Tysoe would eventually return to Oregon and make plans for Andy Warstar & the Warstars (his third and final band) but prior to this returned to Idaho to visit a couple friends. Six years after The Hinge had broken up, Tysoe walked into a U of I bathroom and was recognized immediately by a Hinge fan who remembered the performance in East City Park. The fan was said to comment that he appreciated a band that was willing to do something that punk rock for the time. Anyway, that's about it for the story of The Hinge. If you enjoy this, check out Andy Warstar & the Warstars! Mike (who is now known as Andy) brought many of The Hinge songs into the fold of the new project and it's a whole new flavor of Hinge goodness! Ah yeah... Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

…shrink me down again