In The Backyard Of The Record Collection (5): The 'Tone

Now this one is a band a friend of mine introduced me to way back in the days. He was doing a mailorder then and had three singles of The Tone in his crates of 7" EPs. I bought all three of them and I can't remember why. He was very good in talking people into buying stuff they had never heard of. Maybe it was because I mentioned I was listening to The Clash a lot lately.

The 'Tone are (were? Are they still around? Update: HAH! I just found their website!. Seems they are not around anymore...) clearly an English band. Straight from the very first note you know what the songs will be like. And then there's the genuine british accent, not the fake one by that some American bands try to copy. The have this very melodic yet aggressive touch to their punk sound. Might have come straight from the 70s yet they were a band from the 90s. I think I saw them live once when they did a support show for Discount, a female fronted band from Florida who had numerous records out. Quite a few 7"s and four LPs if I'm not mistaken.


Anyway, listening to The 'Tone's records really gets me in a good mood. Haven't done that in a long time. There's the "I Know It's Alright" 7" which features the brilliant Ska-Punk Song, an ode to the lead singer of the 2Tone Legend The Selecter, Pauline Black.

I have two more split 7"s, one with Annalise, one with Lovemen, but I think the band put out at least one full length record. The Lovemen Split features another wonderful song, very catchy and poppy, named "Bloody". Ah, this feels great. I think I need a beer... The Annalise Split has another hit as well. "I don't want to talk about it" is one of those punk anthems you just want to shout along. Great verses, great chorus, great bridge, great backup vocals, this one's nearly perfect.

When searching for the band I came across some mailorders that still have their records. You might want to give it a try. I promise, you won't be disappointed.