ArtistInfo

Taggy Tones

Band, *1989 DK, Copenhagen
Rock
A.k.a. ---

Rockabilly band from Denmark. Taggy Tones was formed in 1989. Jess was working in a record shop, when he met Rene who had come to buy some drums and they decided to make a band. The drumming position wasn't really working out for Rene, so he decided to play upright bass instead. They got Laurent on leadguitar after seeing an advertisement in a newspaper, he was looking for a rock'n'roll band to join. Jess called Jakob and when he joined the band on drums, Taggy Tones was a reality. Jess took guitar and became frontman of the band. Rene and Laurent were also singing some songs. The first gig was in January 1990 for the Elvis Presley Fan Club in Copenhagen. They weren't very experienced yet, but had to play two songs live on national Danish radio, who was broadcasting the event! Tagyy Tones performed Blue Suede Shoes and Baby Let's Play House. Laurent is originally from Paris, France, and when he suddenly wanted to move back to Paris, the band got a female guitarist called Margrethe Bjørklund. (Magrethe came from a countryband called Darleens) for a while. When she quit, Laurent went back to Copenhagen and were back in the band. When the first album Viking Attack came out, Taggy Tones got a lot of airplay on it, and were in a lot of TV shows. The album got some very good reviews in the Danish press. The material differs a bit from recording to live performance. The audience in Denmark are very mixed, so the band had to play quite a lot of covers. Some Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Elvis, Carl Perkins and Johnny Burnette are always there to keep everyone happy. About two thirds of a set was always covers. On the recordings though the material is more or less all original. All the members of the band are have been composing the songs and are very communal in this as with the arranging. Taggy Tones bases their sound around the big modern sound of bands like Stray Cats rather than what they refer to as the thin British Rockabilly sound. Today it's more thier own recordings than the covers that are played live. The band has been appearing on a lot of compilations, such as Rumble Party, some tribute cd's and a many others. Taggy Tones has played a lot of shows in Denmark, on pubs, clubs, concert halls, and stadiums and on a lot of American Car Meets. They play 2-6 gigs every month, and they love to be out there on the stages. Taggy Tones played some good shows outside Denmark such as appearing with Narvel Felts, The Razorbacks and Johnny Powers in Sweden in 1990. Yhey played the Big Rumble's in England, and a couble of shows in Paris with a local Rockabilly band. Taggy Tones have been supporting Johnny & The Roccos in Copenhagen, and the highlight of the carrier was when we supported Stray Cats in Copenhagen. Upon arrival they had to wait for 10 minutes to get in because at that time the Stray Cats and their organization had no idea we were to support. We played a great gig and left the crowd chanting "Taggy Tones" so loud that we were asked to appease the audience. Brian Setzer whose Danish wife and her family were also present, had much praise for them that night, and so did Roy Williams from Nervous Records who had flown out to see the band. Later on they also played support to Brian Setzer 68 comeback special. In the early 90's Taggy Tones teamed up with the Danish entertainer Mek Pek and did a lot of great shows together with him. He was also the man behind the Randers Rock'n'Roll Festival where they performed with a lot of Danish and international bands." In December 2000 Rene & Laurent decided to quit the band. Rene wanted to use his time on his other band Wild Wax Combo and Laurent needed more time with his family. Jakob who used to be a bass player took over the upright bass, Frank who has played with Taggy Tones at some occasions, was now the new drummer, and Jakobs brother Emil whom also played several times with the band, became the new lead guitarist. So then the new Taggy Tones was born. The first gig with the new line-up was in February 2001. Besides a lot of giggin' the band started a long recording process for a 5th album. Ulf Taube who recorded the first demos for the band (and a good friend) was hired for these many sessions. 23 tracks was recorded over a period of 18 months, and 16 of those was released on the Rockin' album in 2003. Taggy Tones attended on a lot of compilation albums in Europe and South America. It was time to re-build the band name again. In 2001 they supported Brian Setzer (once again) in Copenhagen. Raucous Records in the UK wanted to release the Staying at Heartbreak Hotel and the 72.28 Live at Eigens album, but the band was not interested. Instead Raucous Records released the Unplugged, Unreleased & Unexploited with both new and old tracks on it. The band did two shows in 2015/2016 with the original lineup. In 2017 Laurent teamed up with Jess, and wrote 4 new songs. Bassplayer Rasmus and drummer Peter was new memebers in the group, even Peter had played a lot of shows with the band way back. An EP was recorded, and will be released in 2018 The previos experience: Jess' first band was called The Wolfpack which also featured Kim from Nekromantix, on drums. Then Jess played in rock'n'roll / rockabilly band called Candymen (which also featured Kim Nekroman, but this time on upright bass), and then a stint in a band called The Shakin Clefs which didn't really work out. In the late 90's Jess played in a neoswing band called the Swangsters which had Peter Sandorff from Nekromantix on leadguitar. Jakob played as an electric bass player in a band called Fat Elley that started doing heavy rock Thin Lizzy style, before diversifying into the songbooks of Stray Cats and Robert Gordon. At this time Jakob had long hair, but he promises that it will never happen again. When Jakob left Fat Elley his little brother Emil (later too join Taggy Tones) took over the bass. Laurent had been in a Parisian band called The Tennyboppers that played pretty standard 80's based rockabilly (Stray Cats meet Cochran influence). Today Jakob and Emil are playing in the Grumpynators, while Rene is in Wild Wax Combo. Frank Rothstein is doing his own solo thing

Members

	Jakob Øelund bvoc, dr DK
	Jess Møller Rasmussen voc
	Emil Øelund voc, g