Auckland based New Wave band Terror Of Tinytown were formed in November 1982 by the very talented, multi instrumentalist lead man Julian Hanson who came into the public eye as a member and songwriter of seminal pop band The Spelling Mistakes, and ex bands Who Remains, She Collapsed, Rank And File, and No Clapping. Julian handled the vocal duties as well as synths , programming (which he later preferred as opposed to being a drummer hidden behind a kit) and percussion. Julian had linked up with Jero Dart, who first met Julian when he played with Rank And File, one of Julian's early incarnations. In 1976, Jero and bassist Mathew were in a school band called Chunderfuck. Jero played guitar, synth and did some backing vocals.
Bass player Mathew Stevens' first taste of music was in a band called Plastic Dreadlocks, and Gary Grimes [percussion] had two lessons on trombone at high school, but found that percussion was his forte. His visual presence created a diversion from the overall image of the rest of the band.
The idea when forming the band, was to perform music which would be dancable and entertaining, although the main interest was coming across well in the studio, where the songs were not hindered by the limitations of live performance. Initial plans of the band were to find finance to enable a creative environment within which the band could then produce and realise ideas without the hinderances that usually accompany such units.
Their first song 'Deep Inside' was featured on the Propellor Records produced compilation 'We'll do our Best'.
On returning home a well recieved national tour with The Mockers, they found that 'Deep Inside' had shot to number two on the Radio B alternative charts.
On the strength of the attention the track had recieved, they were offered an extensive record deal with Auckland's recording studio Harlequin's house label, which was to be distributed by Wellington's ubiquitious Jarem label.
The band's first single 'I Am the Need', on Ze Disc, through Jarem records and engineered by Doug Rogers and Gerard Carr at Harlequin Studios, hit the streets the first week of November, 1983 with a video clip on Radio with Pictures to coincide.
Terror Of Tinytown then made a few live TV appearances, playing on shows like Shazam and Radio with Pictures to tackle any age barriers.
REVIEWS
Terror Of Tinytown @ The Windsor Castle, April 2nd 1983
'The trash aesthetic lives! It walks! It talks! It plays guitar! And synthesizer! Some of these things it doesn't do very well, but it tries. Some things it does are wonderful. Its name is Julian Hanson and it lives in the foolishly named Terror Of Tinytown....."
'Onstage they are fairly typical of the groups line in off-center pop. Hanson pronounces from the stage that their second favourite band (after Slade) is Bread, and, however much of a put-on that is, they have got the melodies and vocal strengrth to make it not farcial"
