Project Spotlight #13: Who are the Two-Tones?

Harry, Jason, and Brad had been playing together for a while as the band Pheonix. In early 1988, Brad (the drummer) was replaced by Harry's Casio drum machine and Jason borrowed a friend's guitar. What resulted was Harry and Jason having their own jam sessions, often with their friend Jeremy as their singer. They had become the Two-Tones.

Where did the name come from? One possibility is the uniforms Jason and Jeremy had to wear for their 1988 summer job at Dairy Queen. The pants were a dark brown and the shirts were beige. They often made fun of their two-tone brown uniforms so that may be what inspired the name. Another possibility is a two-tone brown van that used to drive around their town. They made fun of it every time they saw it.

The band consisted of Harry on keyboards and drum machine, Jason on guitar, and Jeremy singing. On occasion their friend Darrin or Joe would join them. Their sessions usually consisted of them sitting around a cassette recorder playing their songs only one or two times before recording them. All three took turns at writing lyrics, usually inspired by things or people from high school.

On May 24, 1988, the Two-Tones recorded their most popular song, "Hog". It was inspired by their English teacher. Their frustration with her had been building up all school year so at the end of their junior year they wrote and recorded a song about her. They played it for many of their friends and family. People often said it sounded like the Beastie Boys song "Fight for Your Right (to Party)", which it unintentionally did.

For the next year they recorded many songs together. In June of 1989, Jeremy left for West Point. It was the summer of 1989 that Jason put together the Two-Tones album called Heimlich Maneuver, along with a lyric booklet for the album. It was then officially released on December 5, 1989. Not many people heard that album. Having graduated from high school, a lot of their friends were moving away or getting jobs, the care-free high school days were gone.

In the fall of 1989, Harry and Jason asked their friend Joe to replace Jeremy as the third official member of the Two-Tones. They got together for a few recording sessions over the next several months. Below are some pictures of the "new" Two-Tones.

(above, l-r: Jason, Joe, Harry)

May 22, 1990, was their last recording session. They recorded the first take on a song called "Midnight High" using an old mixer Jason got from work. The song needed more work and even though suggestions were made on how to improve it, the Two-Tones never played again.

By now Jason was busy with his solo music career. He had been recording his own keyboard songs for a while and in June of 1990 he would record what would become one of the earliest Mune Mud songs, "Plutonic". Harry was busy with another band that played at parties and clubs. And Joe gave up the band life and became a radio DJ.

In 2000, a detailed account of the Two-Tones was written. Metal XOR Studio is trying to acquire the rights to that story. When they do it will be updated and published for all to read.


Next week: What is X-Selsior?