Review | TKO – Total Knock Out – The Complete TKO

Cherry Red/HNE Recordings

In the seventies and eighties, the town of Seattle in the US state of Washington certainly had an interesting rock scene. Led by Heart, there were several other groups that tried to make it to the big-time status. Some of them got there like for instance Queensrÿche, some stranded halfway like Q5, some just never made it (like the group Rail). Not always through a lack of talent, but through ‘business’ mishaps and dodgy contracts, like TKO, a group formed around singer Brad Sinsel, the only musician that participated on all three TKO-albums ‘Let It Roll’ (1979), ‘In Your Face’ (1984) and ‘Below The Belt’ (1986).

TKO was already a distant memory when the grunge explosion put Seattle really on the map as a town that meant something in the rock music. Years after their demise all three regular albums are featured in a 5-CD box, with lots of extra’s, live recordings, early demos and even the EP ‘Live It, While You Can’ that was recorded as a project under the moniker of Suicide Squad in 1986.

TKO – THE START

Brad Sinsel started this group back in 1977 (from the ashes of a group called Ze Whiz Kidz) together with guitarist Rick Pierce (later Q5 and Nightshade), guitarist/keyboardist Tony Bortko (passed away in 2006), bassist Mark Seidenverg and drummer Darryl Siguenza. Their manager was Ken Kinnear, who was also managing Heart in that period. For their first album for MCA/Infinity Records TKO teamed up with Heart producer Mike Flicker. The album ‘Let It Roll’ was a promising start with very decent songs mostly written by Birtko, Pierce and Sinsel. The band produced melodic heavy rock with very robust guitar work but there were also some pop influences.

Sinsel profiled himself as a vocalist with limited options in his voice, but to say that he did not do his job right would not be fair on him.  It is a fact that Sinsel grew as a singer as the years went by. In that time TKO toured with some famous names.

CD 1 – LET IT ROLL

This CD has the nine tracks that were recorded for ‘Let It Roll’. The second half of the CD is filled with a live concert from 1978. You can hear that TKO is still gelling. The sound quality is decent but far from superior. You hear a band in its early stages, finding their way.

CD 2 ROUND TWO – THE LOST DEMOS

After ‘Let It Roll’ the band went through some line-up changes (Seidenverg and Siguenza left). The new faces were Evan Sheely on bass (later with Rick Pierce in Q5) and Bill ‘The Bull’ Durham’ on drums. By that time TKO was without a label as Infinity Records had ceased to exist. With their new line-up the band recorded a bunch of new songs, slightly heavier in comparison to ‘Let It Roll’. These recordings have been released before but there are a few unreleased tracks on it with the song ,,TKO’’ as most prominent. The band shopped around for a deal and went again through line-up changes in that time (Pierce was replaced by Adam Brenner).

CD 3 ‘IN YOUR FACE’

This record again showed a band going for a harder and more direct sound. Practically all songs were written by Brenner and Sinsel and a remarkable musical progress is very noticeable with a track like ,,I Wanna Fight’’ with its hard edged features as best song. The album was recorded by Sinsel, Brenner, Sheely and drummer Gary Thompson (Q5) with Rick Pierce making a short return to play on several songs. The band (read Brad Sinsel) has signed a production deal with producer Rick Keefer who failed to get the band a record deal until suddenly they got the news that Combat/Relativity was interested to release the album, just at a time that Sinsel had disbanded the group.

The singer quickly got a new line-up together so that they were able to tour. At this stage top drummer Ken Mary (Fifth Angel and Flotsam and Jetsam) joined together with new guitarist Kjartan Kristoffersen and bassist Scott Earl. In 2001 the ‘In Your Face’ album received a new mix and it must be said that that remix improved the original recordings by a mile. The sound is more powerful.

CD 4 – BELOW THE BELT PLUS EP

Back from touring the line-up Sinsel, Kristoffersen, Earl and Mary recorded the last album ‘Below The Belt’, that included the Mott The Hoople-cover ,,One Of The Boys’. With again the title track as strongest song. Unfortunately for TKO the record did not do good enough in order for the group to continue. Not sure if their label Roadrunner dropped the group. This CD also features the EP ‘Live It, While You Can’. Recorded in 1986 and released in 1987 by Music For Nations it was a short lived thing. Rick Pierce and Sinsel had begun working together again, after Sinsel had fulfilled his contract giving him some more freedom. This EP is really good. Sinsel and Pierce sharing bass duties accompanied by drummer Richard Stuverud, the band had real potential so it is a mystery why this was not continued.

CD 5 – IN YOUR FACE (EARLY MIXES)

Most of the songs on this CD are featured on ‘In Your Face’. It also contains two songs (,,Kingdom Come’’ and ,,Bad Brads Blues’’) that are obviously left-overs and did not make it to the record. The live-track ,,All I Want To Do’’ is quite a boring affair as there is a long part where Sinsel is talking to the audience and quite honestly not making much sense.

TKO – THE CONCLUSION

This 5-CD box is only suitable for the die-hard fan of this outfit. The sound quality is sometimes just mediocre, and the regular three CD’s the band made have been re-issued before by Rock Candy Records. So, it is mainly about the extras that would make you want to purchase this release. It is an item for the happy few. Sinsel is still active in the Seattle scene (the band reunited a few times for a show and even managed to do a European show in 2018). Sinsel has not released a lot of new stuff. TKO have built a decent legacy but it is fair to say that the name TKO only rings a bell with fans of the late seventies/early eighties era (like yours truly….). It is a nice box to own but if you have their regular albums, it is not really a necessity.

Release date: 12 July 2024