Tinyfish is a five piece piece band based in South London with a deep and abiding interest in all forms of progressive music.
The group formed in late 2004 as part of an informal collective of musicians who enjoyed playing the acoustic clubs of London.
However as the band’s material grew in complexity, they took the decision to break with the acoustic scene, to venture on as a full progressive band.
All too aware of the size of the group’s public profile, in a genre that is home to some of the biggest names in rock, the band jokingly dubbed themselves ‘Tinyfish’ and the name quickly stuck.
Their first task was to record the material which had been written over the previous six months. With little or no money, the band constructed a DIY loft studio, using any equipment they could lay their hands on. Finally, two years after beginning work, Tinyfish have released their eponymous debut album.
In keeping with many progressive acts in the world today, the band also operate an independent record label (Lazy Gun Records) that promotes and distributes not only its own music, but that of several other artists through the internet and at live shows.
Tinyfish are proud to be part of a scene that boasts such musical heroes as King Crimson, Rush, Marillion, and even Tom Waits, but are content to remain a group of friends who exist simply for the love of progressive music.
The band released their eponymous debut album in 2006 to critical acclaim. Geoff Barton gave the album 8/10 in Classic Rock Magazine, and the magazine ranked it 15 in the best albums of the year. The songs on the album are shorter than is often the case for progressive rock (with the exception of the 'mini-epic' All Hands Lost) with an emphasis on tightly-written songs rather than long, self-indulgent solos and unorthodox time signatures. The album features no keyboards, which is again unusual for the genre, instead using guitar synthesizers to produce musical textures. There are three spoken-word tracks performed by Rob Ramsay, who is also the principal song lyricist for the band.
Tinyfish played several shows throughout 2007 and 2008 in support of the album, including three shows at the Peel 'House Of Progression' in Kingston upon Thames, and at the 2007 Summer's End progressive rock festival. The core line-up was supplemented by drummer Leon Camfield when playing full electric band shows, although the band also performed - and occasionally still does perform - as a four-piece acoustic line-up.
In early 2009 Tinyfish released a mini-album, Curious Things, comprising a number of 'rarities' written over the previous few years, and produced by Jem Godfrey.
Later in 2009 the band released a DVD and live album, One Night On Fire (on the Metal Mind label), recorded at a performance at the Wyspianski Theatre, Katowice, Poland. The DVD contains performances of songs from both of the previous releases together with material from the yet-to-be-released Big Red Spark. Rob's spoken-word performances are a particular highlight, accompanied for the first time by the use of costumes to enhance theatricality. The DVD garnered more positive reviews
On 19 April 2010 the band announced that their second full-length album, The Big Red Spark, would be released by F2 Records in September 2010. After a long period of recording the album was mixed and mastered in June 2010 at Wolf Studios by Dominique Brethes, with Mike Varty as co-producer. The album was publicly available for the first time at a launch concert on 10 September 2010 at The Luminaire in North London, and was officially launched on 13 September 2010, to critical acclaim, Classic Rock magazine awarding it 9 out of 10 stars.
On 8 October 2010 Tinyfish once again played at the Summer's End [12] festival. It was after this concert that Leon Camfield joined the band as a full member, having previously played drums for live dates only. On 13 October the band announced that "Leon Camfield is now a full time member of Tinyfish and...he will be contributing not only drums but will become part of the writing team for the next album".
Tinyfish played the Rites of Spring Festival RoSfest in Gettysburg, USA in May 2011. This show (along with a short tour of the UK) completed their promotion of the Big Red Spark album.
The band played at the inaugural Celebr8 progressive rock festival on 8 July 2012 at the Hippodrome, Kingston upon Thames. This is likely to be their last full electric show for the foreseeable future, as on 12 May 2012 an announcement was made that due to the onset of tinnitus Simon Godfrey would no longer be able to perform 'at volume'. The band still exists as a recording entity and plans to make an announcement concerning its future in early 2013.
(biography courtesy of Tinyfish and Rob Ramsay and updates courtesy of the Tinyfish Wiki Page )
Tinyfish:
Lazy Gun Records
Discography
Studio albums
Tinyfish (2006; Lazy Gun Records)
Curious Things (2009; Lazy Gun Records / Festival Music)
The Big Red Spark (2010; Festival Music)
Live albums
One Night on Fire (2009; Metal Mind Productions)
