"Tiles" Reissue Liner Notes
written by Chris Herin, 2004

Tiles gradually formed around the recording of our self-titled debut album. All but one of these songs was written during the winter and spring of 1992. There wasn’t a “band” - just drummer Mark Evans and myself after the dissolution of two previous line-ups. After months of unsuccessful vocalist and bassist auditions we decided to forge ahead – rehearsing the songs and entering the studio in the summer of 1992. We performed and recorded the basic tracks as a guitar and drums duo and continued searching for band mates. Without a permanent bassist in sight we began working with Kevin Chown in a session capacity to keep progress moving. His style fit perfectly with our musical direction and we completed his bass tracks in early 1993 just as Paul joined the band.

Kevin continued working with us as a co-producer as we completed vocal pre-production, arranging, and recording throughout 1993. Jeff was a bass student of Kevin’s and joined the band in October 1993 as recording was wrapping up. We struggled a bit with how to present the unusual recording/band formation scenario in the disc’s liner notes. If we listed Jeff as full-fledged member why did someone else perform all the bass parts? So, we called Kevin a special guest, used Jeff’s photo, and gave Jeff special thanks in the credits. Looking back I guess we belabored the point but it seemed an important distinction at the time!

We officially named the band Tiles in November 1993. We wanted something short – and a name that didn't conjure up a particular style of music. We approached the selection process systematically where each of us brought in lists that we sifted through, voted on, and narrowed down to a few favorites. "Tiles" was eventually selected because it was pretty much the best of what we had come up with! It was short and research showed we could trademark it. We picked up on the word from “Out on the Tiles” by Led Zeppelin.

"Tiles" was completed in December 1993 and initially released on our own label in May 1994. It was more of a studio project than a band project – as the story illustrates – and dragged on a bit while we balanced recording with the trials of putting the band together. Gene Simmons of KISS had liked our demos (as the band Standing Pavement) and offered us sage advice on the music industry and artistic integrity as we morphed into Tiles. His input was motivational and fostered a “self-sufficiency” attitude in us that was important as we released our music against the grain of the grunge movement. We were pleasantly surprised and gratified by the positive response we received in our hometown of Detroit and in 1995 when “tiles” was released in Japan (charting at #47) and Europe.

The bonus tracks included in this Special Edition are from the Gene Simmons demo era and pre-date Tiles by a couple of years. We have mined this era (21 songs) to varying degrees on all of our releases except “Window Dressing” – reworking and updating songs as they caught our fancy. We did perform “Calling Out,” “World Sunset,” and other unreleased songs to round out our live shows as we supported “Tiles.” The guitars, keyboards, and drums are from the original tapes while Paul and Jeff recorded new vocals and bass tracks in January 2004 with Terry Brown. Terry then salvaged the aging signals and mixed the songs as we wrapped up the “Window Dressing” sessions.

Chris Herin, January 10, 2004