News/Thoughts

Cirque Americana

Singer/songwriter Peter Fand is the mandolinist and lead singer for the band, Tin Toy Car. This Las Vegas based Americana band was formed in 2016 with their initial CD, Falling, Rust and Bones, starting out at #17 on the AAA music charts.

“We had some initial success with our first album,” Peter recalled, “But right after it came out, I went on tour for a year with a traveling Cirque du Soleil show, and that kind of stalled our momentum.” Peter is a seven year veteran with Cirque as an original cast member of their production, Zarkana.

Peter continues to appear in several ensembles around Vegas but it’s his work as a member of Tin Toy Car that gives him his outlet for performing roots oriented music. Peter says that music has always been part of his life, and he was inclined to do so from that day at four years old when his dad passed down his old guitar.

Peter eventually began studying international music, which led him to travel to West Africa. “I went really deep into the West African musical instruments, including percussion, and toured with those guys for a while, playing in a bunch of ensembles that featured a lot of traditional West African music. I look at that moment as being the beginning of my real music education,” Peter said.

“Tin Toy Car emerged when I was working in Cirque with a couple of musicians that I regard as some of the people I most enjoy making music with,” Peter said. As the band began play more shows, support for their efforts from fans became evident.

When Peter returned from his Cirque tour, he began composing songs for what would become their next project, Hello Pariah, due out May 15th, 2020. “It’s a bluegrass ensemble minus the banjo, and we added a drum set to that, which immediately makes it an alternative, Americana kind of thing,” Peter said.

Tin Toy Car also features musicians Martin St-Pierre – Violin, Aaron Guidry – Drums, and Andrew Chute – Guitar.