Toenut

Toenut was a 1990s alternative rock band, based in Atlanta and signed to the Mute Records label.

The band churned out three records, the last under the new name of "Tyro", and toured the US and UK between 1995-2000. A handful of music videos were also produced, several directed by the indie-legend Norwood Cheek.

The story begins back in the summer of 1991. Skipper Hartley moved from the Computer Science and mathematics program at Emory University to a short-term position in a research laboratory in Naples, Italy. In Atlanta, Hartley and fellow guitarist Richie Edelson had planted the seeds of the 'Nut in the moist confines of a rehearsal cubicle. By the following January, they were working Atlanta clubs with a slow-morphing line-up that included Katie Walters singing timidly offstage and the notorious Elephants Gerald tweaking a battery of tape recorders and Dictaphones, a bricolage of gear that hardly suggested the sampler stylings that would become the band's trademark. Hartley's old bandmate Chris Collins was shipped in from Columbia, South Carolina, to play bass, and several drummers came and went. Toenut broke onto the Atlanta music scene and college radio rotations, and established a reputation of interesting and innovative music-making. The Point, a small music venue in Little Five Points, became their main stamping ground.

In 1993, a ragtag iteration of Toenut straggled into Clint Steele's Atlanta studio to record their first single, "Heyward"/"Information," released on the wee Half Baked Records. By then, the band had such a rabid following in the Southeast that national attention was imminent. The 7" landed on the plate of ruthless indie starmaker Kramer, who invited the band to his Noise New Jersey studio to make a full-length demo. At Noise, the band met their production svengali, Steve Watson, who helped hone the Toenut sound and has continued to work with them through the recording of their debut LP.

In the summer of 1994, Mute Records got their paws on Steve's handiwork and began the feverish pursuit of Toenut for their roster. But the band had become something of an indie Alan Parsons Project, with a swirl of personnel. Although semi-temp sideman Jeff Sullivan, whose day job was Drivin N Cryin, kept the beat on all the band's studio projects prior to their signing, the Toenut camp continued to search for a full-time drummer. Adroit stickman Colin English (the band's sixth drummer) emerged from the Atlanta scene and answered the call, joining just in time for the Mute signing. With a few modifications, the demo from Noise New Jersey was released by Mute in the summer of '95 as the debut LP, Information. In-the-know US periodical, Alternative Press, described it this way: "..riveting, broken rhythm structures and urgent exploratory songs, the savvy quintet make a big noise on their debut album."

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