THE PINCH

Another Jersey pop band I knew nothing about when I lived in New Brunswick. Well, for one thing, they were a Jersey Shore band, and never considered part of the NB scene. For another, they broke up (for the first time) in 1984, before I started following local music. I don't need to tell The Pinch's story, since they do that just fine on their Facebook page. But thorough as it might be, it provides no song links, so I'll just have to guess at their sound, which was probably as pop-oriented as circa 1980s Jersey Shore pop bands tended to be.

I dated this flyer to 1983 by analyzing the chemical composition of the Scotch tape. Or maybe I consulted a calendar, whatever. I'm guessing someone donated it to the Targum Productions "exhibit." Probably surf guitarist Jonnie Dog, who theorizes the band's name was a play on Squeeze, reinforcing my notion that they were pop. In any case, dig the notion of not just promoting your new single ("Summer Girl"), but also citing the single's label (Swami Records, now defunct, no relation to San Diego's Swami Records), the label's distributor (Richman Brothers, no data returned after 1985), and even the distributor's location (good old Pennsauken, NJ). Why put all of this arcana on your band flyer? Because it wasn't easy for an indie band to produce a single in 1983, and this was actually quite valuable information to share with others. Like tribal knowledge or something.

[CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENLARGE]