TSOL Biography

The Original TSOL Bio

Trouser Press Bio

Rough Guide to Rock Bio

Posh Boy Records

Posh Boy (on Tender Fury)

Since then

When T.S.O.L. blasted onto the Orange County punk explosion in 1979 with white face paint, 6’ plus frames and blazing punk anthems, they were automatically a force to be reckoned with. Their previous band, Vicious Circle, had already established themselves in the South Bay and Orange County with large crowds and several riots at historical venues such as the Cuckoo’s Nest and the Fleetwood. With the boost of the now classic Poshboy EP that introduced the songs “Superficial Love” and “Abolish Government”, TSOL picked up where Vicious Circle left off, but with an armory full of ammunition. This enabled the band to spread it’s popularity around California, supporting heavyweights like The Damned and The Dead Kennedy’s in big cities like LA and San Francisco.
By the summer of ’81, the band released the highly anticipated debut full length LP, Dance With Me (Frontier), which propelled the band to the highest echelon of Southern California punk status, and enabled them to headline 3000+ seat venues (ala the Hollywood Palladium) with bands like Bad Religion, Social Distortion and the Adolescents opening for them.
There were obvious reasons why TSOL was so huge so fast: They were cuter, their songs were catchier and their live show was a lot more energetic and fun then any other band going. They single handedly initiated the influx of girls into the early 80’s punk scene. With songs about fucking the dead, “Code Blue” and gothic punk ballads like “Silent Scream”, they became the first punk “phenomenon”; it was the “OC Invasion”.
Jack Grisham, Ron Emory, Mike Roche and Todd Barnes were four kids who grew up together in Huntington Beach; now they were the talk of the West Coast. The band moved on to Alternative Tentacles records, where they released the Weathered Statues EP, here they introduced the reggae-tinged “Word Is” alongside the blistering “Man and Machine”. That gave the fans something to chew on while the title track hinted at the direction the band was heading as they put together their masterpiece, their punk-opera so to speak: Beneath the Shadows.
It was at this time when the band was featured in the motion picture “Suburbia”, directed by Penelope Spheeris (Wayne’s World, Decline of Western Civilization, etc.), a stark semi-documentary on the punk scene of early ‘80s Orange County. The band appeared both in the film and on the film’s soundtrack.
Beneath the Shadows (Alternative Tentacles), the band’s second full length LP, showed just how much the band had rapidly matured. It wasn’t a breakaway from their previous releases; it was a progression. The band added keyboards and the arrangements became more complex and stylized, it made one think that the London Symphony might be touring with them in the future. As other bands of their genre fumbled around “into the unknown”, TSOL forged a new sound, one that didn’t turn fans away, but made them even more numerous and rabid.
But with their enormous popularity, and their first tours, the foundation began to crack. Excessiveness and things that go along with “bigness” forced changes, including the departure of Jack and Todd, leaving behind a band that was well on the way, to instead regressing to a more primitive punk sound that quickly stagnated and alienated fans.
Today, 10 years since it’s last “reunion”, the band is back to give us what they gave then. “Superficial Love”, “80 Times”, “Code Blue”, “Wash Away” and the rest of those vintage punk nuggets will be blasted live into our faces again. Those who were not around to witness TSOL in their heyday can finally see for themselves why the band spawned a generation of bands and changed the shape of music today.

The following is by Charles P. Lamey, Ira Robbins and Doug Brod. The original can be found here

True Sounds of Liberty exploded out of Long Beach in 1978 to become one of Southern California's premier hardcore bands. Their first vinyl foray is a tough, politically inspired five-song EP that bristles with excitement. Ron Emory's thrashing guitar provides a steady foundation for vocalist Jack Greggors, credited on the sleeve with "mouth and other organs." These fine songs, like "Abolish Government/Silent Majority," are super hot.

Moving from Posh Boy to Frontier, TSOL made other changes as well. For one thing, Greggors changed his name to Alex Morgon; more importantly, the group abandoned politics to join the trendy horror/shock-rock movement. Along with a cover depicting the grim reaper in a boneyard, the lyrical themes of Dance with Me are largely those of B-movie scare flicks, and nearly as much fun. While other bands have proven useless at this genre, TSOL succeed because their brutal, razor-edge sound keeps its musical conviction, regardless of the subject matter.

Volatility is a TSOL hallmark. Beneath the Shadows introduces a third label, an added keyboard player and a new drummer (plus a "new" vocalist named Jack Delauge taking over for Morgon). Oh, and they also sound totally different. Dropping any remaining connection with hardcore, this newly refined approach takes the group on a neo-psychedelic trip, but with bonus amounts of rock drive and character. A great record from an always surprising band.

Singer Jack Takeyourpick selected another surname (Loyd) and joined Cathedral of Tears, which issued a weirdly commercial six-song mini-album--raunchy guitars, synthesizers and a danceable resemblance to both the Cult and Dead or Alive.

The aptly named Change Today? unveils another stage in TSOL's ongoing impermanence: a new label and two new members. Stalwart guitarist Ron Emory and bassist Mike Roche are joined by Joe Wood (guitar/vocals) and Mitch Dean (drums). Fielding a whomping near-punk rock sound, the foursome is aggressive, coherent and lucid, singing shapeless, insubstantial songs that pack a sonic wallop if nothing else. Not a bad record, but not a primo effort.

Remarkably retaining both lineup and label, TSOL issued Revenge, a powerful LP that shows the group still vital and active. The mixture of Alice Cooper/Golden Earring-styled '70s arena rock and traditional LA punk (with a dollop of X-into-the Doors on the title track) could have soared with better (or at least more consistent) material, but there's nothing wrong with the self-assured, energetic performances. (Incidentally, Revenge includes a new song entitled "Change Today.")

Thoughts of Yesterday--a reissue of the first EP with the added bonus of 1982's terrific genre-defying Weathered Statues 7-inch EP and a speedier alternate version of Dance with Me's "Peace Thru Power"--is an essential document of a once-great band. Just try to keep from laughing at the embarrassingly fawning liner notes from label head Robbie Fields. (A bunch of tracks from punkrockers Pariah fill out the CD.)

By Hit and Run, TSOL's mutation from hardcore standard-bearers through progressive new wavers into tattooed blues-metal boys was complete, resulting in a record of rote fist-punchers, vigorously delivered but tired-sounding all the same. On TSOL Live (recorded at a California date in January '88), the band sloughs off a full set of Change Today-forward originals as well as who-cares covers of "All Along the Watchtower" and "Roadhouse Blues." Well-recorded, but pretty tepid.

Emory left the group during the recording of Strange Love, and Roche took a walk on the eve of its release, leaving TSOL with no original members. This John Jansen production is a joke--lame minor-league metal replete with stock leather'n'love clichés and sluggish playing.

In the late '80s, original TSOL mouthpiece (now billed as Jack Grisham) and skins-pounder Todd Barnes reappeared with a metal-gilded project of their own, Tender Fury. The eponymous debut (produced by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz) is thin-sounding punky (but definitely not punk) rock, augmented on some fairly hooky tunes by Daniel Root's incendiary riffing and Barnes' solid drumming. In all, a not-bad effort that will come as a surprise to punkers who never thought they'd be hearing West Coast hardcore legend Grisham croon the word "baby."

Barnes and bassist Robbie Allen are conspicuously absent from Garden of Evil, Tender Fury's awful follow-up, produced by Hunt Sales. Half-written songs and Grisham's annoyingly hyperdramatic vocals sink this effort, though the title track is a catchy chunk of no-brainer hard-rock.

The following is by Alex Ogg. The original can be found here

The True Sounds Of Liberty - TSOL - have had a messy and tangled career, even by the unruly standards of hardcore. Featuring Ron Emory (guitar), Mike Roche (bass), Todd Barnes (drums) and vocalist Jack Greggors (he changed his name on each album), they made their debut for Posh Boy Records with an eponymous EP, which provided pacy generic hardcore distinguished by strong musicianship and hearty vocals.

That style was partly abandoned for their debut album Dance With Me (1981). Instead of sociopolitical analysis, the group now chose to zoom in on horror and pulp fiction themes, though the music's edgy but supple frame maintained some sense of continuity with the debut.

Beneath The Shadows (1981) provided further evidence of their volatility of approach. With the addition of keyboards from Bob Kuehn (later to work with Bob Dylan), this time TSOL occupied territory somewhere between mid-80s Damned (Strawberries) and Stranglers> (The Raven).

The multi-monickered lead singer departed in 1984 to join Cathedral Of Tears, then Tender Fury (naturally under another alias), and was replaced by Joe Wood (vocals/guitar), with Mitch Dean as the new drummer. The resultant Change Today? (1984) lacked focus, and was the most dispensable of their early albums. From this point onwards, listeners could plot the decline of the band into tired glam-rock and heavy metal, though Revenge (1986) did have some links with punk and hardcore stylings.

The remainder of TSOL's output in the late 80s and early 90s was crass and uninteresting. Strange Love (1990), in particular, was hideous. By this time all the group's original members had departed and re-formed as 'the original TSOL' to play revival shows, ensuring that competing line-ups were playing Los Angeles gigs on the same night under the same billing. As suitable an epitaph as any to a career thwarted by instability and personality clashes.

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Thoughts Of Yesterday 1981-1982 (1987; Posh Boy). A welcome compilation of tracks from TSOL's hardcore days. It includes their best early composition, "Weathered Statues".

Beneath The Shadows (1981; Alternative Tentacles). Though it confused their hardcore constituency, this is probably TSOL's most enduring record, combining punk rock gusto with more open-ended songwriting (the keyboard textures, in particular, give an impressive depth).

POSH BOY RECORDS (TSOL)

T.S.O.L. were one of the giants of early Orange County hardcore, even though they were from Long Beach in neighboring Los Angeles County.
Elsewhere in these pages, in the 7" singles section, the reader may learn how the popularity of singles took a nose dive in the mid 1980's. Such was the lack of demand for them that Posh Boy landed perhaps his greatest business coup in obtaining rights to T.S.O.L.'s 1982 7" e.p. Weathered Statues. previously released on Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles label.
The then manager of T.S.O.L. had finally brought the band together with their attorney to the negotiating table to work out a settlement of the long standing dispute between Posh Boy and T.S.O.L. stemming from the band's 1981 flight to Frontier Records days after release of the first black e.p. and before the band had honored its commitment to record a further e.p. for the Posh Boy label.
It was agreed that Posh Boy would pay the band their back royalties and the band would also receive a recoupable $4000 advance as consideration for assigning the master and publishing rights to what the manager thought was essentially worthless material, that from the 7" e.p..
It had never occurred to the manager that I, too, knew that singles were no longer viable. Within a few weeks we had re-packaged all of the old and new T.S.O.L. masters, including Peace Thru' Power from Posh Hits Vol. 1 and combined them in the new long play record 1987's Thoughts of Yesterday. All of the masters (excluding publishing rights) were sold to Nitro Record in 1997.

Tender Fury featured two founding members of T.S.O.L., Jack Grisham and Todd Barnes. Robbie Allen and Daniel Root were the other original members. Obviously, by the time Tender Fury signed to Posh Boy in 1987, Fields and Grisham had resumed their friendship; the punk public was to believe for many more years that Posh Boy had ripped off T.S.O.L.. The truth was rather more complex. This album was released in 1988, initially bearing the Posh Boy logo and Posh Boy catalog number. After receiving support from the late Rick Carroll, program director at KROQ-FM, the album was re-released through CEMA (Capitol Records) distribution and promptly died and went to the cut-out bins. From 1992 until 1997, these Tender Fury recordings were available on Rhino Records' T.S.O.L. Thoughts of Yesterday CD