The Syn

The Syn are an English band that were active from 1965 to 1967, and then reunited as a progressive rock band in 2004. The band was founded by Steve Nardelli, Chris Squire, Andrew Pryce Jackman, Martyn Adelman and John Painter. Chris Welch, in his book, Close to the Edge: The Story of Yes wrote, "The Syn were very similar to Yes in fact. It was very much a precursor of Yes." The Selfs were a rhythm and blues band formed in 1964 in Wembley, London. The band was formed of bassist Chris Squire, keyboardist Andrew Pryce Jackman, drummer Martyn Adelman, and guitarist John Wheatley, and singer Chris Slater. A future line-up included drummer Mike Richardson. The band played their first gigs at The Graveyard, a youth club at St. Andrew's church in Kingsbury, and Blackbirds Cross in Wembley. In 1964, they took part in Ready Steady Win, a music competition run by the producers of the music television show Ready Steady Go! They were beaten in a heat of the competition by the eventual winners, the Bo Street Runners. The Selfs recorded an acetate "Love You" and a cover of the Who's "I Can't Explain". The roots of The Syn are in an earlier north London R&B band called High Court including Steve Nardelli on guitar and his school friend George Arzymanow on vocals. The band evolved over time and, in 1965, with Nardelli now handling lead vocals and John Painter on guitar, they changed their name to The Syn. Shortly after, however, in 1965, The Syn merged with The Selfs, so Nardelli and Painter were joined by Chris Squire (bass), Andrew Jackman (keys) and Martyn Adelman (drums). The band's first gig, at Nardelli's school, Kingsbury County Grammar School, included covers of "Heat Wave" and The Marvelettes' "I'll Keep On Holding On". Paul Korda produced his composition "Merry-go-round" as a demonstration record for the band. John Painter was replaced by Peter Banks and Martyn Adelman was replaced by Icelandic drummer Gunnar Jökull Hákonarson (born 13 May 1949, Reykjavík, Iceland; died 22 September 2001) usually referred to as Gunnar Jökull or Jökullinn (literally meaning Jökull "glacier"). The band also hired a new manager, Peter Huggett, former bass player with Lonnie Donegan. Huggett was later replaced by Kenny Bell as manager.[citation needed] The band moved away from R&B covers and started writing their own material, led by Jackman and Nardelli. Reflecting the musical changes going on around them, they became more influenced by psychedelic music. They released two singles titled Created by Clive (b/w Grounded) and Flowerman (b/w 14 Hour Technicolour Dream) in 1967. In 1967, they played in support of The Jimi Hendrix Experience at the Marquee Club in London, attended by many notable rock musicians (including The Beatles) that introduced Hendrix to the music world. The Syn went on to have a long-running residency at the club, supporting bands including Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Cat Stevens and Procol Harum before establishing their own weekly headline night at which they launched their Gangster and Flowerman rock operas.[citation needed] Later line-ups saw a number of different drummers play after Hákonarson returned to Iceland.[citation needed] The band split up in 1967. Both Squire and Banks then joined Mabel Greer's Toyshop which was eventually renamed Yes. Nardelli, Jackman and sometimes Squire also worked together after the band split up. Nardelli and Jackman recorded a planned further Syn single, entitled "Sunshine and Make Believe", with session appearances by Tony Kaye on keys and David O'List on guitar. Tapes for this session could not be located in 2004. Jackman recorded another Syn piece with an orchestra, "The Last Performance of the Royal Regimental Very Victorious and Valiant Band", eventually released on the 2004 compilation Original Syn. Another Syn piece, "Mr White's White Flying Machine", was released in 1970 by Ayshea in a session produced by Jackman and with Squire on bass. Jackman continued to work with Squire, including on his first solo album Fish Out of Water and on Yes's Tormato. Squire has emphasised Jackman's role on Fish Out of Water, saying he offered him co-writing credits, but Jackman declined. The Syn reunion grew out of two events. In 2003, Martyn Adelman contacted the webmaster of a Yes fan site and agreed to do an interview. Steve Nardelli saw this and was put back in touch with Adelman. With Banks too, they met up for lunch and discussed a reunion. Around the same time, Andrew Jackman died, and there was a desire to mark his passing. In 2004, the new band started rehearsals. Banks had brought in keyboard player Gerard Johnson, with whom he had worked on several previous projects. John Wetton was originally to have played bass, but pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by Steve Gee (bassist in progressive rock band Landmarq). The sessions produced new versions of old Syn songs "Illusion" and "Grounded" and an extended new version of Yes' song "Time and a Word". Recordings were carried out at the studio owned by guitarist Paul Stacey. However, Banks did not continue with the group, and gave an explanation on his web site. Nardelli continued with the band and, in late 2004, he and Johnson had begun recording on a new song "Cathedral of Love" when Nardelli asked Squire if he could play on the tune. Squire did and went on to join the band. Paul Stacey became the guitarist and his twin Jeremy Stacey, the drummer. Adelman had chosen to step away from performing, although he remained associated with the band for a period as a photographer—photography rather than drumming having been his career for over 30 years. The band released their first full studio album Syndestructible in October 2005, with Cathedral of Love coming out beforehand as a single. The lineup of musicians performing on that album is Paul Stacey - guitars, engineer, co-producer Gerard Johnson - keyboards, co-producer Steve Nardelli - vocals Jeremy Stacey - drums Chris Squire - bass, backing vocals An interviewer at the MWE3 website described Syndestructible as "one of the best prog-rock albums of the new century" and "a masterpiece of beat-prog". Richie Unterberger for Allmusic said, "It's rather like hearing a slightly middle-of-the-road version of Yes, with plenty of multi-sectioned song structures and progressive rock interplay between the instruments. [...] It's well executed and well recorded. But it should have been credited to Steve Nardelli and Chris Squire, or a different band name than Syn, as the links to the '60s Syn sound are virtually absent." The More Drama Tour, scheduled to begin in North America in August 2005, was to have seen three acts, The Syn, White and Steve Howe touring together, with Squire, Howe, White and Geoff Downes playing Yes material at the end of the evening (with either Steve Nardelli or Kevin Currie of White handling lead vocals). However, the tour was cancelled shortly before it was due to begin. The Syn line-up for the tour was to have comprised: Francis Dunnery - guitars Gerard Johnson - keyboards Steve Nardelli - vocals Gary Husband - drums Chris Squire - bass The Syn album line-up debuted live at a show in London at the end of 2005 (assisted by Husband), but for live dates in January 2006, the band was: Steve Nardelli - vocals Chris Squire - bass guitar Gerard Johnson - keyboards Shane Theriot - guitar Alan White - drums A UK tour in May that year was cancelled and, on 16 May 2006, Squire announced his departure from the group: "Chris has decided to leave the Syn, and is no longer involved with that band despite reports to the contrary." Nardelli assembled an album, Armistice Day, combining a new studio track ("Armistice Day", recorded with Johnson and P. Stacey) with live work from 2006 recorded at XM radio studios in Washington DC(with Steve Nardelli, Chris Squire, Alan White, Gerard Johnson and Shane Theriot). Although Johnson recorded and mixed the track, he said he was never paid for his work. In an 18 October 2006