Early years and indie releases (1992–2000) Tinfed was founded in
Sacramento, California by
Rey Osburn and
Eric Stenman. Stenman and Osburn had previously performed together in the band Elegy, who had only released a 7" titled
Dormant / Separated in 1990. Similar to that project, Tinfed's sound was heavily influenced by
punk rock,
industrial rock, and
indie rock. The band released their debut, titled
Synaptic Hardware, in 1993 on Primitech Releases. Mercado left the band shortly after the release and the band expanded to include bassist Nick Frederick and drummer/percussionist
Matt McCord, the latter of whom had also been a former member of Elegy. Their second album was issued by
electro-industrial label
Re-Constriction Records on December 3, 1996 and was titled
Hypersonic Hyperphonic.
Sonic Boom noted that "Tinfed is one of those bands who would fit perfectly on tour with the likes of
God Lives Underwater,
Stabbing Westward,
Filter &
Gravity Kills which means they should do rather well with the current crossover audience." In 2000, their song "Immune" was featured in the film
Mission: Impossible 2 and appeared on its
soundtrack.
Major label years and break-up (2000–2003) The band signed to Third Rail Records who were distributed by
Hollywood Records and just before, replaced Nick Frederick with Rick Verrett. Tinfed released their major-label debut
Tried + True on August 22, 2000. Stanton Swihart of
Allmusic gave the album a mixed review and criticized the band for sounding too derivative of
Britpop groups such as
Radiohead and
Travis, saying "they ultimately fail to attain the same levels of esoteric complexity as those bands." Swihart concluded his review saying the band's best material may be ahead of them: "While Tinfed is not unequivocally successful or innovative on a sonic level, it is frequently exciting and a terribly promising effort from a band that may eventually cast its own considerable shadow."
CMJ reviewed it more positively, calling
Tried + True a "forward-thinking rock record with plenty of potential commercial appeal" that "contains pretty guitar pop enhanced only minimally by studio machinery." On March 4, 2003 the band released
Designated Rivals, an album containing remixed and several previously unreleased tracks, on Attinuator Records. In July the members of Tinfed announced they had decided to turn their attention to separate projects, effectively ending the band.
Rey Osburn formed the two bands Ghostride and Death Valley High, with Matt McCord also joining Death Valley High along with Osburn. Rick Verrett had joined
Team Sleep in 2001 and appeared on their
self-titled debut in 2005. Eric Stenman continued building his resume as a producer and recording engineer, working with bands such as
AWOLNATION,
Saves The Day,
Will Haven,
Senses Fail and
Thrice. ==Band members==