Tenek|Peter Steer|Geoff Pinckney
Tenek
Today I’m catching up on projects, and waiting for Tenek to release their latest video; Higher Ground. Tenek is some of my favorite music to work by. It’s like coffee for your auditory senses. The electric textures and driving rhythms get into your head and suddenly everything seems better, brighter and more meaningful.

Tenek consists of Sussex based Peter Steer and Geoff Pinckney. The two musicians met in the 1990’s at a Gary Numan show in London. Geoff’s band, Glasshouse, was touring with Gary Numan at the time. Peter liked Glasshouse, and Geoff, from the start. “I really thought they were good so got chatting with them about doing some gigs along with my band ‘BonBooshe’. We both ended up touring with Gary Numan on his next tour and the bands became good friends.”

When BonBooshe broke up Peter wound up joining Glasshouse as their guitarist and backing vocalist for the next three years. Eventually Peter wound up moving on to join Shockwork and Geoff became part of The Nine. Despite going their separate ways, they remained friends and kept in touch. 2004 brought them together again to collaborate on Alien 6, a production project to produce dance music for games, but Geoff and Peter were ready for more.

History was made when a mutual friend suggested they form an electro/synth band, and in June 2007 Tenek was officially born.  The first album, Stateless, quickly sold out and their last album, On the Wire is a gorgeous package that has Depeche Mode’s classic synthetic chill.  Tenek is the best of 1980 souped up.  My favorite cuts from On The Wire would have to be Higher Ground and Blinded By You.  But what does “tenek” mean? Peter says,

“The name originally came from a sound at the end of a Heaven 17 song called ‘Fascist Groove Thang’ which we thought sounded like the word ‘tenek’ at the end of the track. It is in fact ‘Thang’ echoing away! We wanted a short non-specific catchy name.”

The name is so catchy they have to share with the Tenek people, an indigenous Mexican tribe.  I bet they’d love a concert from Peter and Geoff :p

On the Wire|Tenek|ToffeeTones

Find out more about Tenek, listen to some music and see video clippage at the official Tenek website, on MySpace and on Facebook.  You can also check out their label, Toffeetones Records.

By Angela Yuriko Smith

Angela Yuriko Smith is a third-generation Ryukyuan-American, award-winning poet, author, and publisher with 20+ years in newspapers. Publisher of Space & Time magazine (est. 1966), two-time Bram Stoker Awards® Winner, and HWA Mentor of the Year, she shares Authortunities, a free weekly calendar of author opportunities at authortunities.substack.com.

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