Tsunami was an American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band from

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...

, formed by housemates

Jenny Toomey Jennifer "Jenny" Gillen Toomey (born 1968) is an American indie rock musician and arts activist. Career Toomey was a member of the bands Geek, Tsunami, Liquorice, Grenadine, So Low and Choke, among others, and has also recorded under her own ...

and Kristin Thomson in late 1990 to play at New Year's party. They enlisted former housemate John Pamer to play drums and Andrew Webster from

Bricks A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

and Jenny's previous band

Geek The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...

to complete the line up.

Early days

Following their inception, Tsunami split their time between touring, recording various 7-inch singles and devoting time to Toomey and Thomson's

Simple Machines A simple machine is a mechanical device that changes the direction or magnitude of a force. In general, they can be defined as the simplest mechanisms that use mechanical advantage (also called leverage) to multiply force. Usually the term refer ...

record label- from which Tsunami would release the majority of their own music. The band recorded their debut album, '' Deep End'' during the summer of 1992. However, due to manufacturing and mixing problems this was not released until early 1993. It was then that the band were invited to play the side stage at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

, going on to play six shows with

Sebadoh Sebadoh () is an American indie rock band formed in 1986 in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Eric Gaffney and Lou Barlow, with multi-instrumentalist Jason Loewenstein completing the line-up in 1989. Barlow co-created Sebadoh as an outlet for his ...

Free Kitten Free Kitten is an American alternative rock band formed by Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon and Pussy Galore's Julia Cafritz. Originally performing as Kitten, they changed their name after receiving threats of legal action by a heavy metal singer perfor ...

and

Thurston Moore Thurston Joseph Moore (born July 25, 1958) is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moo ...

. After the release of the band's second album '' The Heart's Tremolo'', Tsunami completed two tours of the US, a tour of England, and an appearance at the

Phoenix Festival The Phoenix Festival was set up by John Vincent Power of the Mean Fiddler Music Group in 1993 as an alternative to the established Glastonbury and Reading Festivals. It was held at Long Marston Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon and was one of the ...

on the

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

Stage. In 1995, Tsunami continued to tour the States and also managed to release their third album '' World Tour & Other Destinations''. The band subsequently had an official one year hiatus whilst John attended

UMASS Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

to complete his undergraduate degree.

Fresh Faces

Following his graduation in 1996, Pamer decided to stay in Amherst in order to save up so he could move to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. With this in mind, Tsunami enlisted the services of another Arlington drummer, Luther Gray. Having practiced with Gray for six months, the band recorded their fourth album at the Kingsize Soundlabs in Chicago. The result, '' A Brilliant Mistake'', was released in August 1997 on

. The band embarked on another US tour to promote the album, taking on new members, Amy Domingues (bass) and Bob Massey (guitar and keyboards).

Simple Machines

In 1998, Toomey and Thomson took the decision to call time on the Simple Machines record label and the band. The event was marked by the 'Simple Machines Finale party' at which the band performed. Whilst the end of the record label also marked the end of musical releases from Tsunami, they subsequently fulfilled a short East Coast tour in the same year. Toomey and Thomson joined up for two sets between 2001 and 2003 with a mixture of former members and guest musicians to perform at the

Ladyfest Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for feminist and women artists. Individual Ladyfests differ, but usually feature a combination of bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word an ...

festivals in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

After Simple Machines

After Simple Machines was wound up in 1998, Toomey went on to become the executive director of the Future of Music Coalition, whose aim is "to ensure that musicians have a voice in the issues that affect their livelihood" through advocacy intended to establish a "balanced approach to music in the digital age — one that reflects the interests of all stakeholders, and not just the powerful few". She was to be joined by Thompson who became Education Director for the organisation after completing a Masters in Urban Affairs and Public Policy from the

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

Discography

Singles

* "Headringer" (

, 1991) * "Genius of Crack" (

Homestead Records Homestead Records was a Long Island, New York-based sublabel of music distributor Dutch East India Trading that operated from 1983 to 1996. The label was known for not paying its artists and not spending any money on promotion. History The l ...

, 1991) * "Teriyaki Asthma vol.7" (

C/Z Records C/Z Records was a Seattle-based punk rock record label that was established in early 1985 by Chris Hanzsek and Tina Casale. It started with the release of '' Deep Six'' which collected the earliest recordings of what later came to be known as ...

, 1992) * "Beautiful Arlington" (IV (Australia), 1992) * "Diner" (Simple Machines, 1993) * "Matchbook" (Simple Machines, 1993) * "Be Like That" (Simple Machines, 1994) * "Poodle/Old City" (Simple Machines, 1997)

Albums

* '' Deep End'' (

, 1993) * '' The Heart's Tremolo'' (Simple Machines, 1994) * '' World Tour & Other Destinations'' (Simple Machines, 1995) * '' A Brilliant Mistake'' (Simple Machines, 1997)

Compilation appearances

* ''Tsunami/Velocity Girl split 7-inch'' (

Sub Pop Sub Pop is a record label founded in 1986 by Bruce Pavitt and Jonathan Poneman. Sub Pop achieved fame in the early 1990s for signing Seattle bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Mudhoney, central players in the grunge movement. They are often ...

, 1992) * ''Season's Greetings split 7-inch w/ Velocity Girl'' (Simple Machines, 1992) * ''Inclined Plane comp 7-inch '' (Simple Machines, 1993) * ''Teen Beat 100 comp 7-inch'' (

TeenBeat Records Teen Beat is an American independent record label, originally based in Arlington, Virginia, now based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was founded by Mark Robinson (of Unrest) in 1984 at Wakefield High School, along with Phil Krauth (of Unrest ...

, 1993) * ''August Working Holiday split 7-inch w/Small Factory'' (Simple Machines, 1993) * ''Echoes from the Nation's Capital comp CD/CS'' (TWUnderground, 1993) * '' The Machines: Simple Machines 7-inchs (1990-1993)'' comp. (Simple Machines - SMR 19, 1994) Simple Machines: 1990-1993

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

* ''Monsters of Rock II CDw/Eggs & Rodan '' (Simple Machines, 1994) * ''

Working Holiday! ''Working Holiday!'' is a compilation album released on the Simple Machines label in 1994. It is a collection of tracks by American indie bands which were originally released on a series of 12 7" singles by Simple Machines as part of the Worki ...

Compilation Album'' (Simple Machines, 1994) * ''"Our Band Could Be Your Life" Minuteman tribute comp LP/CD'' (Little Brother, 1995) * ''Tsunami/Superchunk split 7-inch'' (Honeybear, 1995) * ''Compulsiv comp No. 3 7-inch'' (Compulsiv Records, 1996)

References

External links

Simple Machines Records , Tsunami

Future of Music Coalition , Education, Research and Advocacy for Musicians
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsunami (Band) Indie rock musical groups from Virginia Musical groups established in 1990