The Sounds of Twin/Tone

Following a man's fascination with one of the most important record labels of all time.

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

Spooks, ‘1980-1990’ — 1978 (TTR 7802), 7-Inch Vinyl | Produced by Paul Stark — Recorded at Blackberry Way in Minneapolis, Minn. 

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

The Replacements, ‘Hootenanny’ — 1983 (TTR 8332), 12-Inch Vinyl | Produced by Paul Stark, the Replacements and Peter Jesperson — Recorded at the Stark/Mudge Mobile Unit warehouse, Brooklin Center, Minn.

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

On Oar Folk

"Oar Folkjokeopus was more than just a record store. It was the record store in the Twin Cities in the '70s and early '80s as far as I'm concerned. It was sort of the rock and roll epicenter of the Twin Cities music scene. Not just because it was a record store and it was the only place you could go at the time to buy Sex Pistols and Clash 45s as they appeared in England, but also because all of the local musicians from that period tended to congregate there almost like a club house. In the early days, Andy Schwartz and Peter Jesperson were sort of the tastemakers, if you will, at Oar Folkjokeopus. When the idea of Twin/Tone emerged when the scene started growing at Jay's Longhorn downtown, Peter was there front and centering at Ground Zero for sort of being the catalyst to start the label and document the scene and move on from there." -- Mark Trehus

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

'He was a catalyst'

"To me, Chris Osgood (leader of The Commandos) is probably the most important rock person in Twin Cities music history. He was a catalyst and he invented something; he made it cool to be a rocker AND a smart guy. And that's what he bred, directly or indirectly. Paul Westerberg, Steve Almaas, Gary Louris, Steve Kramer, Chan Poling, Mark Freeman, Danny Murphy, Dave Pirner, Grant Hart, Bob Mould and countless others ... I think local musicians today who've never even heard The Suicide Commandos owe them a great debt." -- Peter Jesperson

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

Treehouse Records sits on the corner of 26th and Lyndale in Minneapolis. From 1973-2001, the record shop was known as Oar Folkjokeopus, and was considered by many to be the epicenter of rock and roll in the Twin Cities. It’s also one of the reasons Twin/Tone Records was able to thrive.

It’s now owned and operated by Mark Trehus, who is still instrumental in the local scene.

[soundsoftwintone-blog]

Curtiss A, 'Courtesy' -- 1980 (TTR 8015), 12-Inch Vinyl | Produced by Paul Stark and Curt Almsted -- Recorded at Blackberry Way in Minneapolis, Minn.