Born in Pueblo, Colorado, during 1953 to a Latina mother and an Okie farmer bearing a German surname, Blaine Reininger possesses both an uncommon musical moniker and a career marked by persistent individuality, largely through his longstanding role in Tuxedomoon. The group coalesced in San Francisco in 1977 around the partnership of Reininger and Steven Brown; its path first as a Ralph Records mainstay and later as European-based performers navigating various hardships forms a narrative of endurance in which Reininger did not always share.
His initial solo appearances occurred while the band resided in Brussels, where a post-concert mugging left him with a severe hand injury that later supplied material for the atmospheric and exploratory 1982 release Broken Fingers. Although several pieces had originally been slated for Tuxedomoon, Reininger chose to leave the group in 1983. A subsequent collaboration with former band guitarist Michael Belfer yielded the assured 1984 album Night Air, which drew wider notice and led to the EPs Colorado Suite and Paris en Automne, both shaped by work with supporting musicians. After concerts documented on Live in Brussels, Reininger parted ways with his ensemble; the resulting 1987 effort Byzantium stood as a somewhat abrasive and uneven third long-form recording.
Differences with Brown and Peter Principle were resolved the next year, allowing Tuxedomoon to resume activity on an occasional basis centered more on live shows than studio sessions, a pattern that extended well into the new century. Reininger’s parallel solo path produced the 1991 collection Instrumentals, joint projects with Brown titled One Hundred Years of Music and Croatian Variations, and the soundtracks Radio Moscow and Manic Man. By 2004 he divided his time between Greece and Italy, maintaining output both inside and outside the band while operating the site www.mundoblaineo.com.
