“Indofin effectively combines grooving skank basslines with reggaedub drumming punk-influenced distorted guitars, and melodic rock vocals to create a unique sound that will make people wanna party.”
INDOFIN FACT SHEET
Band Name : Indofin
Musical Style- rock music w/reggae , ska, punk and hiphop influences
Hometown- Austin TX
Current CD : Indofin- 2X Broken
Members/Instruments
-TJ Huerta / guitar/vocals
-Albert Huang/ bass, booking
-Donny Mann/ drums
-Eric Tussing / lead guitar/vox
Website: www.indofinmusic.com
Points of note: Indofin released their debut full length album in the summer of 2005, and they are currently working on the follow up to be released spring of 2010. In Jan. 2010, the band released a Live album recording digitally, to help benefit the Haiti Relief effort, the album includes old favorites as well as a few songs on the upcoming new album.
The Orange album was recorded at The Bubble, where many legendary Austin bands have recorded. Supposedly, the exact same tape machine from the Eagles “Hotel California” was used in recording Indofin’s debut.
Indofin recorded their follow up album 2X Broken with local Austin producer Ben Blank who has worked with many established acts including Trent Reznor, The Killer Bs, Tribal Nation, Bob Schneider, Alejandro Escovedo and more.
CONTACT:
Indofin LLC. IndofinMUSIC 1712 E. Riverside #46 Austin TX 78741
Booking/Publicity/Promotion- booking@indofinmusic.com
Legal- Buck McKinney Esq., mckinney@buckmckinney.com
General/Website Issues: mail@indofinmusic.com
Streetteam – streetteam@indofinmusic.com
THE CURRENT LINEUP
T.J. HUERTA – guitar/vox
|
ALBERT HUANG – bass |
DONNY MANN- drums |
ERIC TUSSING – lead guitar/vox |
FULL BIO
Day one: Members of the band Indofin quit their day jobs, abandoned their houses, and put all their belongings in storage. Day two, but really their first day on the road: smoke billows like a chimney from the tour van’s transmission. Day Five: the van is fixed and Indofin hits the road after several nights in a cheap motel. Day Six: Gun shots are fired! Indofin is hijacked on a deserted Phoenix highway. A band member gets pistol whipped and gangsters order the group out of the van. Still Day Six… the police arrive and say,“Welcome to Phoenix.” And here you have a day in the life of the reggaeskapunk band Indofin. From here, their story goes uphill, give or take a few road bumps, as they climb to the top of the reggaeskapunk scene in Texas and beyond.
Fortunately for fans of “grooving skank basslines, reggaedub drumming, punk-influenced distorted guitars, and melodic rock vocals that just make you wanna party,” Indofin is a band that grows stronger in the face of adversity. They’ve been hailed as “a band to watch for” (New Music Spotlight), who “will delight audiences with their fresh musical approach to Reggae/Rock splashed with Punk and Ska” (RadioIndy). And FERNTV states that “whether they are infusing reggae, ska or punk in their music, their sound is definitely on point with a lot of soul” because as SKOPE Magazine reports, “the music these guys make is so good!”
Indofin’s most recent release, 2X Broken best exemplifies how far they have come. 2X Broken was produced by Ben Blank (Trent Reznor, Killer Bs, Tribal Nation, Burning Spear, Bob Schneider, Alejandro Escovedo) who also engineered, mixed, and mastered the record along with band members TJ & Albert. Several tracks including Nonprofit, Honey, Fingerfight, Blue Light, Princess, Sunshine and Breezy One are receiving internet and college radio airplay. All together Indofin’s releases have been on rotation by approximately 70 internet and college radio stations around the country on notable podcasts available on itunes: Q’s House, New Music Inferno, Radio Orphans, Hangout Corp., Stampodcast, New Music Tampa Bay, and Fm102x Song of the Day. Indofin media outlets also include television appearance on Fox7 Good Day Austin and KEYE5.
Other Indofin releases are their self-titled album “Indofin” which included hit tracks “Boozer Holiday,” “Put In Work” and “Run.” “Put In Work” was featured on Austin Punk Rock Compilation CD and Austin Music Network aired “Boozer Holiday.” The song “Run” was selected for the Skratch Magazine Warped Tour compilation CD and it charted at Number 2 Ska on Garageband.com. Other songs from their debut album, “Rule of Thumb,” “Zanbar,” and “Sir Slippy” were featured on the Student Body Calendars DVD distributed to college campuses throughout Texas and Arizona. Another single, “Bleed,” was included on the Austin Rockers for Life Compilation CD, a drunk driving prevention initiative. A band with a social conscience, Indofin recorded a live album titled Live @ Ruta Maya in Austin TX, released in digital format, and also mastered by Ben Blank, where proceeds were donated to help rebuild Haiti.
From the early days of surviving on the road, Indofin has become a nationally touring band with over 300 shows in 50 cities. Noted for their raw energy and intensity, they’ve been a South by SouthWest favorite five years in a row. During SXSW, they played at the MusicGorilla Showcase 2010 and at the first ATX Wildfire 2010. They also won a performance spot at the Wakarusa Festival where they shared the stage with Fishbone, Slightly Stoopid, Dweezil Zappa, and Blues Traveler. The band’s performance at Wakarusa was recorded on to CD and DVD and featured on the Cool Music Network. Other winnings include a spot on the VANS WARPED Texas tour. In addition to SXSW, Indofin won the Texas Region Warped Tour. Recently, the band was honored to play at Texas Rockfest during SXSW, the San Marcos River ReggaeFest and Austin’s Batfest, both produced by Roadway Productions. Indofin has previously been sponsored by Texas organizations NORML and INSITE.
High Times Magazine’s named Indofin their “Unsigned Band of the Week.” Indofin may be unsigned, but they have accomplished what many signed bands haven’t – on their own. With regional and national tours, internet and college radio saturation, TV appearances, numerous press accolades, and sold-out shows to loyal fans who have stuck with the band through thick and thin, Indofin is more than an unsigned band to watch for – they are a band who has nothing to prove. Their music and perseverance say it all. In the song Sunshine, Indofin says “’I’ve got sunshine on my mind, a heart so hard to find, baby no plans or places for me to go. Maybe tomorrow we’ll be gone, maybe tomorrow we’ll be gone…” Judging from their history, Indofin won’t be gone any time soon. In fact, Indofin will do what they do best – keep going.
HISTORY
1999-2000 ; -TJ , Donny, and Eric move up to Austin from their hometown in South Texas Rio Grande Valley to start a band perhaps?
The guys meet Justin Cook & Mike McCarthy working some telemarketing job and they start jamming, some guy named Neil played bass, Mike was on turntables and backup vox.
2000-2002 Chris Greenwood replaces Neil on bass, the band records the Boozer Holiday EP, no longer available. Boozer Holiday video was Austin Music Networks’ Top 10 Texas Picks several weeks and in their Top 100 for 2002.
Nov. 2002 Albert auditions for the band and gets the gig. He plays his first Indofin gig two weeks later, TJ lit his balls on fire in front of a cop and the rest is history
2003-2005 The band attempts to record a couple times not quite being satisfied with the finished recordings. They hook up with Justin Selman who records them at Austin studio The Bubble owned by Frenchy of Sixteen Deluxe and Young Hear Attaxk, and the band recorded two songs Boozer Holiday and Put In Work, which would later see it’s first release on the Austin Punk Rock Complationvol. 2, still available on doublestereo.com, at Affordable Sound Austin, and other local record shops probably. Both Boozer Holiday and Put In Work would also be included on Indofin’s selftitled debut a year later.
Dec. 2004 Eric leaves the band to settle into married life, Albert takes over administrative managerial and booking duties for the band. The band plans to record the orange album and to tour the country in the summer totally diy style, but not knowing what they had to know.
Mar. 2005- May 2005 The band records again with Justin S. at the Bubble, and they cut ten more songs making a 12 song album. In the meantime they venture for the first time to play shows in San Antonio, Houston and Dallas. To save money the band got a mutual acquaitance Colin McArdell from Minnesota to master the record. The CDis are done just barely in time for tour, Justin C. says he’s not coming , so Mike would usually fill in his MC parts on our first couple tours and other shows.
June 2005- Indofin leaves Austin in a van headed for El Paso. Jobs were quit, houses were abandoned, and stuff was moved into storage. The van breaks down the next morning with smoke billowing out everywhere from the fron, and then they’re stuck in the hot desert of west Texas. AAA shows up six hours later, and tows band inside their van 60 miles back and they find out the van needs a new transmission. Band stays in Ft. Stockton TX for a week in a motel 5 room, waiting for a brand new transmission to finally arrive. The first five to six shows in New Mexico and El Paso are all cancelled. When the van’s finally fixed the band drives straight to Phoenix for 10 hrs, everyone is fianlly feeling better, ready to start the tour, and the band gets hijacked on deserted highway in Phoenix , just a few minutes away from the club. Gunshots are fired, Donny rams the van into the thug’s pickup and get pistol whipped while the attackers waved their gun and ordered everyone out of the vehicle. Fortunately, some traffic started showing up behind them, and the gangsters just end up taking off. The band didn’t make it to that gig that night either, when police showed up and heard their story, they said the guys were probably illegals they probably wouldn’t find, and “Welcome to Phoenix”
mid June 2005-August 2005 The band ends up playing shows in Phoenix, Tempe, Long Beach, Huntington Beach, E. Compton, and they get some rest and much needed food at Albert’s mom’s house in Orange County. Then they’d head to gigs in Vegas, Utah, Denver, and Lincoln Nebraska, meeting new bands, new people and fans along the way and totally relying on the kindness of strangers. Then it was back down south to Tennessee, Mobile in Alabama, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Houston,and Dallas.
August 2005 The band returns from tour to Austin and couch surf with friends until everyone is back on their feet. They do a hometown CD Release show which they didn’t get a chance to do, and they also played the Austin Music Network’s Farewell Show in September. The song “Run’” from the debut album was on a Skratch Magazine Warped Tour compilation CD.
Fall 2005-Spring 2006 The band starts gigging again locally and on a regular basis while also taking weekend trips out of town doing regional tours in Texas and sometimes Louisiana and even Oklahoma one time. They make friends with bands along the way- Liquid Cheese , 6 Pack Deep, and Full Service, among many others, were some of the other indepemdent working bands in the regional scene that helped Indofin quite a bit. The band gets to play Aggie Day at New Mexico State w/ Liquid Cheese and got to play a packed house at Lucky Devils in El Paso. The bad memories of the first tour were finally wearing off the Indofin was making preparations for a second tour that following summer.
Summer 2006, This would we a 2 week tour where the band would go to Florida for a week or so then go up to North Carolina to play in Wilmington and Chapel Hill , then back down to Athens Georgia, and Auburn Alabama and back home again. This tour definitely went way smoother. Successful shows in Tampa, Gainesville and Jacksonville. They meet the Supervillains for the first time. opening for them in Jacksonville and would later play several other shows with them in Texas a couple years later. They’d would later also meet BPM in Alabama, who would often play shows with Indofin in Austin later on. They still do in fact.
Fall 2006 Some songs off the debut album “Rule of Thumb”, Zanbar, and Sir Slippy are used on a Student Body Calendars DVD which was distributed on college campuses all over TX and AZ, , clips featuring Indofin’s music can be viewed on Youtube.
Dec. 2006-April 2007 The band continues their weekend warrior thing every weekend trying to book 2-3 gigs every weekend. Play several times in Houston, Dallas, harlingen, Baton Rouge, Houma, and would begin developing growing fanbases in those regions. They play New years Eve 2006 with Shamus McNasty at the Dead Dog Barn in Dallas. The band also gets to play some unofficial showcases during SXSW in Austin that year.
Aoril 2007 TJ, Donny. and Albert ( the powertrio core members) head back on tour for 20 days hitting Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Little Rock, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Cincinnati, Dayton, Huntington WV, Atlanta, Columbus GA, and Auburn again. This was defnitely the band’s smoothest running tour, with great turnouts in half the places. They returned to Texas and played shows in Austin and Laredo as well. Indofin also got to open a soldout show at Antonies with Badfish, sublime Tribute band.
May 2007-Aug. 2007 All the touring finally paid off, Indofin is picked to play the Hot Topic Kevin Says Stage in Houston for Vans Warped Tour 2007, they get to see Pennywiise, Bad Religion, Big D, and a bunch of other great bands. However, the previous week, TJ’s guitar and Alber’s amp head are stolen out of the van after a weekend of gigs in Port Aransas, Laredo and Houston, so that was kinda shitty, but we made it there..
Sept.. 2007 The band goes on another short tour west, Justin decides to go on tour at this point Mike has already left the band to start his project Passenger. The band gets to open for Voodoo Glow Skulls in El Paso, and plays gigs with Chris Murray in Hollywood and Crazy Fool in Albuquerque. This tour went pretty smoothly as well. And the band got to come home to Austin and open shows for the Expendables and Supervillains in Austin and San Antonio.
October 2007- May 2008 Settling back home but not really slowing down, the band does the weekend warrior routine for quite a few months mostly just all over TX and one weekend in Lafayette & Houma, Louisiana. Played regular gigs in College Station, Port Aransas, Laredo, San Antonio, and Houston, and Corpus. In the spring of 2008, Indofin started planning another tour even though everyone was burned out and tired. It was gonna be another 20 day summer journey to Florida, the east coast and back, and it probably would have been our best one, except at this Donny pretty quit, Justin already stopped going to shows, and Albert had some family crises come up all of a sudden. So all those shows were cancelled.
July 2008 They went ahead and played an Austin show after Albert got back to town, And after that it was unsure of the status of the band. Everyone was just kinda sick of each other and we loathed everything we were doing.
October 2008 The band gets back together for a dive bar gig in downtown Austin, which does not go well, Albert had been strung out for days on a self destructive phase and just couldn’t play the songs and practically passed out on stage. Everyone figured he had been hardcore boozing that night, but it was really just the drugs and he just needed some naptime, Usually he had no problem playing the songs, but this one particular time…. well you just kinda had to be there. Afterwards Albert just felt bad about the whole fiasco so the band arranged to play another show at that bar a couple months later. At this point, the band really had no upcoming plans and just kinda took things slowly a day at a time.
Jan. 2009 -May 2009 Well after some time away from each other, the boys bring themselves to get back to jamming. Albert’s currently attending the Mediatech Recording Arts Program at Arlyn Studios, the place where Sublime had actually recorded their final album, and the band had started recording demos there of many of the songs that would be on the new album.
Nov.2009 -April 2010 During that time they got acquainted with local producer Ben Blank and that was how they came to start recording “2X Broken” at Ben’s home studio in West Austin, mostly on 2 inch analog tape transferred on to digital format. Ben, was old school, had been in the business for 30+ years and had worked with such renowned artists as Trent Reznor, Killer Bs, Tribal Nation, Burning Spear, Bob Schneider, Alejandro Escovedo, the list goes on. Ben, engineered, mixed, and mastered the record w/ TJ & Albert pretty much assistant producing. Mostly, Albert was glad to be there because he didn’t get to work with analog tape at school and the resulting enhanced quality of sound of the recording was clearly apparent. Also, Indofin managed to record the live album Live @ Ruta Maya Austin TX in January of 2010 and they released it only in digital format after Ben mastered it and 10% of all sales of this release would go to rebuilding Haiti. And they were High Times Magazine’s Unsigned Band of the Week. Also, the band got to play during SXSW at the MusicGorilla Showcase and at the first ATX Wildfire 2010 and by sheer luck, the band also won a spot playing at that summer’s Wakarusa Festival sharing the stage w/ bands including Fishbone, Slightly Stoopid, Dweezil Zappa, Blues Traveler, and this was right before the new album was going to be released! The band’s performance at Wakarusa was also recorded on to CD and DVD and they are available at www.coolmusicnetwork.com, first live DVD for the band.
July 2010 CD release shows both go great, Eric Tussing the old lead guitarist and also original founding member of the band comes back and plays the shows with them, which made the band sound so much better than could have been expected. A couple local tv appearances, and a great San Antonio CD release opening for the Supervillains, it was like the band had never quit.