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."
Contents
Early years
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.
Psychedelic period
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.
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. Music journalist Phil Smee has placed the Syn's "Grounded" in his top 50 freakbeat tracks, a retrospective label describing intense and raw music in the transition from British beat and rhythm and blues to psychedelia.
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.
Later line-ups saw a number of different drummers play after Hákonarson returned to Iceland.
Aftermath
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.
Reunion
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."
New line ups
In June 2007, Nardelli said, "The Syn today is me and the musicians I chose to play with." Nardelli formed a new Syn line up in 2008, as follows:
Steve Nardelli - vocals
Francis Dunnery - guitars
Tom Brislin - keyboards
The band recorded a new album, Big Sky, released early 2009, with Brett Kull and Paul Ramsey, both of the band echolyn, and Dorie Jackson. Big Sky was voted the best progressive rock album of 2009 at USA Progressive Music website.
In October 2008, Umbrello Music Entertainment released a digital track written by Nardelli for the musicians from The Syn fan forum called "Reasons and Rituals". Band members included Steve Nardelli (vocals/guitars), Steve Sikes-Nova (vocals), Cary Clouser (flute), Steve Nicholas (keys), Kevin Stills (guitars/mixing), Brett Kull (guitars) and Kelly Child (drums). The executive producer for the project was radio station host and teacher Steve Sikes-Nova. The project was named 14 Hour Technicolour Dream V-Band after the Nardelli/Jackman written Syn track.
A US tour began (with Nardelli, Dunnery, Brislin, Kull, Ramsey, Jackson and Jamie Bishop) in April 2009, including 2 days of music workshops and charity concerts for the students at Gloucester High School in Virginia, but was cancelled after 6 dates when Nardelli had to return to England following the creation of his eco town project being accepted by the UK Government, with the band breaking up acrimoniously as a result. The final performance was on 1 May 2009 at Rosfest and was recorded for future release, scheduled for 27 April 2015. Kull commented on the end of the tour, saying:
Yep, the tour has been cancelled. Paul, and I are no longer playing in the Syn nor having anything to do with it.
Bad organization, bad mojo, bad energy.
Kull, Ramsey, Brislin and Bishop went on to work with Dunnery subsequently.
Discography
Albums
Original Syn YesServices Limited edition - Umbrello/2004
Syndestructible - Umbrello/2005
Original Syn -Umbrello/2005
Armistice Day - Umbrello/2007
Big Sky - Umbrello/2009
The Syn Live Rosfest - Umbrello/2015
Trustworks - Umbrello/2016
Flowerman Rare Blooms From The Syn- Cherry Red/Grapefruit/2021
With various artists
compilation: Roots of Yes 1964-68
various artists: The Psychedelic Scene
various artists: The Freakbeat Scene
various artists: Rubble Collection 3
various artists: Rubble Vol. 14, The Magic Rocking Horse
compilation: Peter Banks Can I Play You Something? (The Pre-Yes Years Recordings from 1964–1968), 1999
various artists: Nuggets II, 2001
The Syn/Steve Howe/White More Drama Tour sampler
DVDs
"Syndestructible Tour" - Umbrello/2007
The Making of Big Sky - Umbrello/2009 (released with The Syn Live Rosfest)
The Syn in the 21st Century - Umbrello/2015 (released with The Syn Live Rosfest)
The Syn:Live and Raw at the Marquee 2005 -Umbrello/2018 (released as streaming bonus link with vinyl edition of Syndestructible)
Singles
"Created By Clive" / "Grounded" - Deram/1967
"Flowerman" / "14 Hour Technicolour Dream" - Deram/1967
"Cathedral of Love" - Umbrello/2006