News Article

Sinclair masters the perfect mix


1/14/2004 3:42:41 PM


Sinclair is making major strides in the Edmonton music scene. They’ve just released their debut CD titled Hit the Ground, and are beginning recording on a follow-up. Pianist Ed Smith (centre back), a native of Placentia and a St. FX music grad, is the newest member of the band and appears on the debut CD. Sinclair is, from left, Scott Greene, Ken Greene, Ed Smith, Steve Pinsent, Mike Jenkins, and in front, Mike Letto.

By Tanya Alexander

January 14, 2004 – Sinclair. If you haven’t heard of this band, it’s only a matter of time before you do.

When friends Steve Pinsent and Scott Greene moved to Alberta from Newfoundland in the summer of 2000, they decided to start a business. They decided to form a band.

Pinsent, from Corner Brook, and Greene, from Placentia, met in Stephenville at College of the North Atlantic. Pinsent, a drummer, was enrolled in the Music Industry and Performance program (MIP), and Greene, a guitarist, was taking Recording Arts (RA), both at the college’s Bay St. George campus.

In their respective programs they learned about music theory, songwriting, music law, and sound engineering for studio and stage. They also learned about entrepreneurship, says Pinsent.

“We learned about the business side of music while in the MIP program – it totally trains you to be an independent musician,” he says.

According to Pinsent, jamming with other musicians on a daily basis was great fun, but they also learned about aspects of the music industry such as venue booking, management, promotion, and more.

“It trained us to be better prepared,” he says.

“Talent is necessary, but those who make it don’t just have talent – there’s a whole world of things off-stage that are vital for success.”

Pinsent says he and Greene decided from the beginning to treat the prospective band like a business as they gathered partners for the project. The two have a variety of interchangeable skills (musical and otherwise) to bring to the business and wanted to find like-minded/talented people. No matter where they looked, though, they kept coming back to former classmates with whom they collaborated and performed during their time in Stephenville. They decided to seek out two in particular.

Mike Jenkins and Mike Letto both attended the MIP program with Pinsent. The trio collaborated a little during the program (along with Greene and others from the RA program) and connected musically. After moving to Edmonton, Pinsent and Greene had auditioned singers, guitarists, and bassists, but it became increasingly clear that the synergy they had found previously doesn’t come along every day. When they contacted
Jenkins (guitarist, vocalist and bassist) and asked him to move from Newfoundland to Edmonton to play bass, it didn’t take much convincing. Letto (vocalist, guitarist, crazy man) on the other hand, was knee deep in completing his business degree at UCCB in Nova Scotia (through a transfer agreement with CNA), and wanted to see it through. The three agreed to wait for Letto for the year and a half while he completed his studies, but they didn’t waste the time. They began collaboration on songs and scoped out the Edmonton music scene. They were told it was a hard circuit to break into, but armed with the many skills they had gained in school, they felt they had a good chance.

By the time Letto arrived in 2002 there was a plan in place. They named the band after a song Jenkins had written. The song is about snobby girls, and the guys thought it was perfect in its incongruity.

“The song ‘Sinclair’ was the exact opposite of what the actual band portrays,” exclaims Pinsent. “We’re all very approachable, laid back dudes!”

In the meantime, the band expanded. When Mike Jenkins decided that his heart was with guitar, not bass, they hired Scott Greene’s brother Ken to assume that role. With Scott Greene as primary songwriter along with Jenkins and Pinsent, Ken doubling as bookkeeper, and Pinsent doing the band’s promotion and booking, they now felt fully equipped to take it a step further.

In the year since the final pieces fell into place, Sinclair has been making major strides in the industry. They’ve opened for such acts as The Commitments, Kim Mitchell, Honeymoon Suite, and the Northern Pikes, and have made television appearances on Global TV (with Lorraine Mansbridge), the A Channel, and The Big Breakfast.

Just this September, Sinclair released its first album entitled “Hit the Ground” and now three of their songs are getting regular airplay on local stations such as Edmonton’s popular rock station The Bear.

The band has a high-energy, blues-based rock sound that appeals to radio listeners. However, they particularly shine in their live performances. Letto is the supreme front man with seemingly unlimited energy and a lot of humour incorporated into his delivery, and musically the band blends instruments and voices to create their own sound; a sound that is quite unique, due in part to the two lead guitars often harmonizing – even during solos.

“We put great importance on harmony with both voices and instruments,” Pinsent reveals.

“Sinclair's goal musically is to be professionally sound, while sounding professional.”

After the first year of business, the band is feeling pretty good about where they are. They are constructing a new recording studio and are writing songs for a new CD. There’s no slowing down now that they’ve reached this momentum, says Pinsent.

“We’ve had a few lucky breaks and have surpassed where we thought we’d be at this point,” he says.

“Once promoters saw us perform, they booked us into venues that would normally have taken much longer to break into. It’s like we skipped a level and advanced right into the market we were aiming for.”

Pinsent says they ended up fast-tracking to the “A circuit” sooner than expected, partially due to their professional approach.

“We’ve developed a reputation as a professional, responsible band. It comes right back to what we learned in the program – we arrive early, we don’t drink on the job, and we hit the stage tuned and raring to go.”

“I totally attribute where we are now to what we learned at the college,” says Pinsent.

Just when you thought it couldn’t get any more interesting, Scott Greene and Steve Pinsent’s partners (Amanda Gosse and Derina Harvey, respectively) are also both graduates of the college’s Music Industry and Performance program. They each have performed with the band as special guests and Gosse appears on Hit the Ground.

Harvey is in the process of recording her solo album, to follow up the impressive self-titled demo CD she completed while enrolled in the MIP program. One of the songs from the album, Rotten, is getting medium airplay back home in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“I am very excited and grateful for this exposure and I hope to wow audiences with a new version of that very song and more,” she says.

Harvey admires Sinclair’s approach to the industry and is so impressed with their skills that she wants to emulate their career as she embarks on her own in Edmonton. She’s also asked them to assist her in the studio in recording and mixing her CD.

“The guys are cool under pressure… it’s almost like they’ve done all this many times before,” says Harvey.

She says any given person can play and sing, but it takes strength of character to see a project through.

“Sinclair meets every challenge with enthusiasm and a refreshing, optimistic attitude. They know it’s a tough road to travel, and they are grateful for any help along the way. And they haven’t forgotten where they came from.”

To find out more about Sinclair and their upcoming east coast tour, see their website:
http://www.sinclairmusic.net/.

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For more information contact:

Stephen Lee
Communications Manager
(709) 643-7929

or

Tanya Alexander
Public Information Officer
(709) 643-7928