Tone & Niche
(tone & neesh), an original pop/rock band based out of Detroit, MI. consists
of singer/songwriter Anthony Retka, violinist Nicole Varga, bass guitarist
Patrick Gallagher and drummer Roger Dutcher.
Tone and Niche’s eclectic mix of violin-led pop/rock and singer/songwriter
styles stems from the influence of performers like The Beatles, Bob Dylan,
Radiohead, Andrew Bird, Elliott Smith and others.
Tone and Niche frequently perform in Nashville, Chicago, Cleveland, Toledo,
Ann Arbor and have become a driving force in the Detroit music scene. The
band has shared the bill with several national recording artists including:
Martha Wainwright, Mike Errico, and Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers.
Over the last five years Tone and Niche have released three albums, a single
and two EP's. These recordings emit a mysterious brilliance of creative song
structure, lyrical depth and polished performance.
2009 plans to be a busy year for the band. In the summer, Tone & Niche will
release a new single and plan to go back out on the road. Also included in
2009 are plans to follow up their 2008 House Of The Rising Sun EP
with a new studio record. Tone and Niche have recently released
a double CD called Tone and Niche Live. Recorded over two
nights, the album captures the powerful sound of the four piece band and the
stripped down grace of the original duo.
Purchase The New Album At Live Shows or Online at
ToneAndNiche.com
"If you’ve made it the past six years without
hearing Tone & Niche count yourself a rare find—and dreadfully unlucky.
They’re really good."
Click
Here For More
- Adam Leroy, Popwreckoning
"These days in Detroit music, it
seems like you can't drunkenly stumble through one smoke-clogged bar without
getting smacked in the face by a violin..."
Click
Here For More
- Megan O'Neil, Metro Times
"There's a truism among the devoted,
those who spend a good portion of their scratch and large chunks of spare
time haunting hole-in-the-wall music venues..."
Click
Here For More
- Eve Doster, Metro Times
"The
sound of Tone & Niche burns with spellbound somberness..."
Click
Here For More
"Getting Tone & Niche to play a gig in
Lapeer took some work..."
Click
Here For More
The Story - Video (Audio from the
album On The Streets Of) Misc. Live Performance Shots
Quotes
"...Think
Revolver-era Beatles, Andrew Bird's string-laden neo-folk-pop and the
heartache-poetics of Elliot Smith"
- J. Milo, Deep Cutz/Real
Detroit Weekly
"...If
the song 'medallion' doesn't rush images of spring into your head then maybe
the Michigan winter has killed the sparkle in you. We've seen moth-nibbled
fedoras, gently swaying hips and a room full of closed eyes at T&N shows.
It's literate pop deserving of a much wider audience."
- Metro
Times Blowout - March, 2008
"The
distinct texture and sound of the music of Tone & Niche is created by the
wonderful interplay of Anthony Retka's straight forward singing and guitar
playing balanced with Nicole Varga's soaring violin and viola, producing a
unique folk-rock fusion."