Why Tyson and the Trepids Rules by Peter Demakos (2015)
Tyson & the Trepids
The first time I saw Tyson perform was at a house party in 2011. He had more pedals than I could count, most of which were somehow routed through an original Nintendo. There seemed to be something wrong somewhere in one of the several hundred wires he had on stage, and he was feverishly unplugging things and slapping pedals with his hands. After several minutes of this, he whacked the Nintendo three times and proclaimed “Aha!” Apparently, he was ready.
Throughout the next 25-30 minutes that he played, my life was changed for the better. Not only was I enraptured by his performance, which transported me to a world of 8-bit, fuzz infused candy-pop, but I was also completely blow away by Tyson’s skill. Hitting pedals at a rate I couldn’t comprehend, singing with a tuneful brit-pop timbre, ripping effortless solo’s that he could have been playing while preparing breakfast – it was endlessly entertaining; and he was pulling it off. Then, as if I wasn’t having a good enough time already, he performed a song entirely about Ice Cream. I was sold, with sprinkles on top.
At Kazoo! 2015, we have the joyful opportunity to go see Tyson reunited with his band, The Trepids, on Thursday, April 9th at Silence. To convince you to go, I could go on endlessly about how Tyson’s songs are so brilliantly and maturely arranged it’s as if he is a great classical composer re-incarnated in the form of an indie-pop frontperson; or I could ramble about the unbelievable range in his repertoire which swings from boisterous fuzzed-out pop punk that could have been the theme song for the 1998 X-games to tender techno love ballads that could make a UFC fighter show their sensitive side; perhaps I might even mention Tyson’s incredible gift for finding the perfect tone or his knack for using abrasive sounds so tactfully that he elevates his compositions with parts most of us would be afraid to touch; I could definitely talk more about those things. Instead, I’d prefer to leave you with a slightly controversial promise, inspired by Tyson himself:
Tyson’s performance at Kazoo! will be better than Ice Cream.
I hope to see you there.
Peter Demakos is the Lead Singer and Guitarist for Kazoo! Fest 2015 act, Blimp Rock.
