Tones on Tail

Tones on Tail was a musical side project created by Daniel Ash of Bauhaus along with friend and 'Bauhaus roadie' Glenn Campling in 1982. After the demise of Bauhaus in 1983, they were joined by drummer Kevin Haskins. The band folded in 1984 shortly before Ash and Haskins went on to form Love and Rockets. Glenn Campling was also responsible for the cover art of Bauhaus' first full release, In the Flat Field.

Tones on Tail's music is psychedelic/surrealist with a heavy English gothic rock vibe. It is textural and introspective and exhibits Ash's characteristically clean production. The band made a point of having each song sound as different as possible. In concert, the band sported all-white as a reaction to Bauhaus's all-black look. They never achieved a large following, though the track "Go!" is a retro dance club staple and a frequent addition to 1980s music compilations. They rarely played live, and only did one short tour of the UK and North America.

The band's tiny back catalog has been subjected to a lot of compilation over the years. Small, independent labels like 4AD and Situation Two would issue limited editions with subtly different track listings from previously released items. Some tracks were only available on rare vinyl records, so collecting the entire Tones on Tail discography was a difficult task. This was the situation until the 1998 release of "Everything!", an appropriately named two-CD set of every track, fully remastered, plus a radio interview with Ash and Campling.

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the UK Indie Chart.cite book |last=Lazell |first=Barry |title=Indie Hits 1980-1999 |year= 1997 |publisher=Cherry Red Books |isbn=0-9517206-9-4 ]

Albums

* "Pop" (1984) LP/cassette

EPs and singles

* "Tones on Tail" (1982) 12" EP only
* "There's Only One" (1982) 12" only
* "Burning Skies" (1983) 7"/12" (#11)
* "Performance" (1984) 7"/12"
* "Lions" (1984) 7"/12"
* "Christian Says" (1984) 7"/12"
* "Go!" (1984) 7"/12"

Compilations

* "The Album Pop" (1984) LP/cassette, a reconfiguration of "Pop"
* "Tones on Tail" (1985) LP/cassette
* "Night Music" (1987) CD only
* "Tones on Tail" (1990) CD/cassette
* "Everything!" (1998) CD only, contains every released track and a radio interview
* "Something!" (1998) CD EP only, a promotional item with alternate edits/mixes of tracks from "Everything!"

Licensing

"Go!" has been used in television advertisements by the Ford Motor Company for the Mercury Mariner. [ [http://www.wikio.com/leisure/cars/mercury Go!] ] [ [http://twitter.com/jdm7/statuses/911956487 Blasphemy!] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.tonesontail.com Official website]
*http://www.geocities.com/tonesontail8284/frames.htm