Some bands have quietly woven their way into the very fabric of the Terrascope without ever really having their moment in the limelight. Year after year they release singles, CDs and compilation tracks which get favourably reviewed in our pages, the writer painting in a little more background each time until eventually there’s a complete canvas  but one which is split like a triptych over several issues. It’s therefore time we pointed a wide-angle lens at some of them in an attempt to get the complete picture, starting for no particular reason (other than that it’s long overdue) with Minneapolis’ The Pins.

We first mentioned the Pins back in issue 23, when their 1995 debut album ‘Eleanor’ hit the Terrascopic record deck and stayed there for several weeks throughout what proved to be a very fraught Springtime, relieving the pressure with their psychedelicised pop laced with unexpected melodic twists and toe-curling instrumental ideas which bring to mind certain bands from the Flying Nun school of musical acrobatics. There was, and remains, something thoroughly enjoyable about the way this four-piece band refused to kow-tow to peer pressure and produce what was, for that season at least, simply another bastardised Grifters and/or Flying Saucer Attack soundalike record -and yet they share elements of both, sharp yet discordant pop on the one hand and droning, soaring guitar on the other. Scoring immediate bonus points for featuring a Pins logo inspired by the legendary and instantly recognisable ‘Love’ symbol, further investigation was obviously necessary - and eventually the opportunity of a chat with their front-man Rich Barlow revealed an unusual story to the band’s name:

“Steve (Shaskan), Beth (Van Dam) and I had all met at the Rhode Island School of Design. I moved back to Minneapolis for a summer teaching job and Steve and Beth eventually moved out so that Beth could finish her degree at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. The three of us fooled around with music, making a huge racket and switching instruments around. At this point, circa 1994, we had several names. Very arty stuff - we thought we might play as several different bands: The Pins would be Steve Reich-y minimalism; Plank would be our mock grunge band; Gash would be our riot grrl band; etc. We even had the concept of an album where all our bands covered each others songs in their varying styles..... but, when Steve made Pins T-shirts as a Christmas gift to all of us, the name stuck.

“Eventually we met Jim (Boulware) through a mutual friend. Jim joined us for some jams which worked out really well. We were still all trading instruments. Eventually we realised that the current line-up seemed to work the best, although Jim didn't own a bass and was playing Steve's right handed bass upside down. I had been writing and recording songs - with chord changes and other challenges - on my own and ended up playing some for the band and singing them. Thus entered structure. However, for a couple of years we still seemed to end every show with a slow descent into improv chaos…

“We were approached to be included on a compilation CD entitled ‘Operation Break Even’, on which our first  and only  professionally recorded song, ‘Waterwings’ appears. We have since fought professionalism at every turn. The CD was released in early 1995. Our friend Clint saw us play a few times and offered to put out an EP  we recorded 16 songs in Jim's basement, though, so it ended up being our debut album ‘Eleanor’.

“Since then we’ve continued writing material at a ridiculous pace. While recording the ‘Radar’ album we recorded 25 tracks, of which we could only use 15. Each member has now written at least a few songs, though Steve and I tend to write the most. To release ‘Radar’ we started our own record label ‘Stick it to the Man Records.’ The CD was released in 1997 and received some nice reviews (“trippy and mesmerising, a psychedelic collection of songs which gives new meaning to the word art”) - and even a little airplay.”

The Pins’ latest CD is ‘All the Night Sky’, recorded live in Jim's basement and released in 1998. It’s an aptly titled collection, with a darker side to it than much of what’s gone before, the instrumental ‘Chartreuse’ with its echoing strangeness standing out in stark contrast to songs like the hook-laden ‘Stuck’ (although even here there’s a beautifully ethereal quality about them, like stormclouds bubbling up across the sunset of the title).

More recently, the Pins have built themselves a studio in a warehouse and are recording new material. Three of these songs will appear on a forthcoming compilation CD on Stick It To The Man/Mod Holland Records engagingly entitled ‘Do You Know the Secret Trousers?’ (by ’eck, Gromit!) - an album which also features a further refugee from the Rumbles columns, Terry Eason, as well as Terrastock veterans The Autumn Leaves, a Steve Shaskan side-project named Chimes and a 60s garage rock outfit (“in the Billy Childish vein”) named Thee Kiss n Tells, who feature Rich Barlow on guitar.

Pins interviewette: Phil McMullen, September 1999 © Ptolemaic Terrascope

The Pins' unreleased track "Brittle Starling" can be found on the free CD accompanying the current Terrascope.