Toenut…
Kinda sorta formed back in 1991 was the highly underrated and quite interesting Atlanta, GA based band Toenut. I say “kinda sorta” because there wasn’t really a solidified lineup until the band was eventually signed to Mute Records in 1995. Up until that point the band had been playing with a number of drummers and a core lineup that was essentially singer Katie Walters, guitarist Skipper Hartley, guitarist Richie Edelson, and bassist Chris Collins. However, before making the jump to Mute the band enlisted the services of full-time drummer Colin English.
The band would put out a couple full-lengths for the label, their debut in ’95 titled Information and ‘97’s Two in the Piñata. Sadly though the band was struck with tragedy in early April of 1997 when Chris Collins was killed in an automobile accident. The result of the tragedy was basically a name change for the band to tyro and the exiting of members Edelson and English.
Toenut were an amazingly talented group of musicians that may have been overlooked due them being sort of swept up in the alterna explosion of the 90’s. However, they were fairly different from many of those sorts of bands in a lot of ways. The bands quirky and often challenging choice of song structures probably didn’t solidify them consistent airplay, we’ll just say that. Along with the bands tendency to use various odd samples throughout their albums and the soft vocals provided by Katie Walters, it made Toenut a genuinely fun band to listen to. They were definitely among the more interesting groups to touch the mainstream during that time, if anything.
Information:
Toenut – Information 32nd Theme Song [MP3]
Toenut – Mouthful of Pennies [MP3]
Two in the Piñata:
Toenut – Feeder [MP3]
Toenut – Debug Me [MP3]
Walters and Hartley these days can be found still making music under the name of tyro, while other former members have since moved on to various other endeavors. For those interested albums can still be purchased on Amazon. Regardless, if the tunes above are of interest please do pick one or both albums up. Both are worth it in my opinion.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
January 10th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
Wow, thanks for bringing this to my attention, these guys are great..never heard of em till now. Have you heard of
http://www.dirtmerchants.org/
i think you’d like them, i only found out about them recently to, check out the track Raw sugar !! Good 90s stuf YEAH !!!!
September 29th, 2008 at 7:15 pm
I saw Toenut play at CBGB's for a new music festival way back when & fell in love. Couldn't believe they fell off the map, but still an album I listen to today. Thanks for writing about them.
November 29th, 2008 at 3:19 am
Is Katie Hartley Walters as pretty as her photos? I love this band!
They were so sublime.
December 26th, 2009 at 10:10 pm
Hey there. I just want to thank you for exposing me to Toenut. I believe I was looking for mp3s of Riddle of Steel, and I found this blog post. 2 years ago, I sit here today, still stunned by the output that Toenut achieved in their short existence (after getting signed to Mute, of course).