The Tryfles ~ When I See That Guy The Tryfles were formed in New York in 1984, during the most exceptional season of the sixties-revival in the American metropolis. The scene revolves around the Dive and JD Martignon's Midnight Records. There is incredible energy in the city, even though the names actively involved in the scene are just a few dozen. One of them is John Fay, a schoolmate of Elan Portnoy and Jordan Tarlow. Together with them and Elan's brother, Orin Portnoy, Fay sets up his first band.
The repertoire is filled with the usual covers borrowed from the compilations that, thanks to Martignon's store, are making the rounds of the city: Pebbles, Nuggets, Highs in the Mid-Sixties. However, the adventure is short-lived, and the band falls apart.
The Portnoy brothers will form the Twisted, while Chandler and Tarlow will create the Frosted Flaykes.
All four will soon enter the legend of American garage punk with bands like Optic Nerve, Fuzztones, Outta Place, Raunch Hands.
Fay, on the other hand, will put together the Tryfles with Peter Stuart Kohman, the beautiful Ellen Oneil (who is quickly replaced after the first single by Celia Farber and subsequently ends up in the Maneaters), and Lesya Karpilov.
The relationship between the band and JD, however, is not idyllic, and the shifting of responsibility between the band and the producer delays the release of their 45 RPM and their only album until its paradoxical publication when the band has already split.
The album diverges from the classic garage punk sound engulfing the city, leaning towards psychedelic and folk with intertwining semi-acoustic guitars like those in In the End and tracks with a more distinct beat influence but devoid of the crushing distortion that at the time defines the archetype of garage songs, ultimately shaping the “soft wing” of the New York scene that will later be developed by Cheepskates, Absolute Grey, and Headless Horsemen.
The record boasts precious tracks like Bitter Heart, Your Lies, or When I See That Guy, but suffers from inadequate mixing that shows a still naive approach to the subject matter, making The Tryfles one of the missed masterpieces in the history of American neo-sixties.
After that adventure, we will find Fay dealing with hard rock in the Freaks, Stuart will form the Headless Horsemen before fulfilling his dream of playing in the Chocolate Watch Band, while Celia, after selling her drop guitar for a handsome sum to Mr. Morrissey, will become one of America's most famous journalists known primarily for her medical/scientific campaigning on AIDS, its treatments, and her business.
As for the beautiful Leysa, I can only say that I waited in vain for almost thirty years for her to materialize in my bed.
Then, I fell asleep.
The Reverend
