Gigs and Demo Tapes: Getting gigs never seemed to be problem, it didn’t matter where or what type of venue it was, a gig was a gig, and for a live band that was important. The band would be playing a prestigious venue one night and a back street pub the next night, but it didn’t matter, all that mattered was being a member of the Two-Tone Pinks and having a good time doing it, and the TTP's always had a good time! Although getting gigs wasn’t a problem, securing a record deal was a different story. Even though the music press were giving the band some coverage and getting its fair share of write ups there was no immediate interest from any record companies despite bombarding them with  demo tapes. The first of these being “3 Depressing Tracks” and the second being “Verbal Cock Ups” both recorded at Cargo Studios in Rochdale and produced by Neil Ferguson of The Donkeys. To generate some interest the Pinks decide to release the demos as cassette EP’s. The cassette EP's sold well and seemed to be a great success with audiences and were sold at gigs or via mail order for the princely sum of £1.25 ha!

Drummers:  As the end of 1979 drew near things seemed to be going OK within the band, gigs were being well received, the band had started to build up a small following and had written a good stock of original songs. Then early in 1980 Pete Bates (drummer) a co-founder member dropped a bombshell and told the rest of the band he was leaving. Not only was he leaving he was joining Fast Cars, the TTP's biggest rivals!  Pete Bates played his last gig with the Two-Tone-Pinks at The Zodiac club in Coventry on Jan 2nd 1980 and left. The band quickly arranged auditions to recruit a new drummer and after many auditions Phil Rathbone (Raffy) formally of The Mediators joined the band and played his first gig at The Londoner in Barnsley on Jan 25th 1980. With the band back up to full strength the TTPs  could concentrate on the business of being in a band and trying to get a record deal.

Record Companies:  During the summer of 1980 some record company interest did come from RCA subsidiary called Revolution and EMI. However as the band didn’t have a manager and didn’t really understand the business side to the record industry and were no match for the business savvy people who approached the band. Even the though the band had no business experience they weren't stupid and realised what was on offer wasn't very good so negotiations tended to be fairly brief, for instance if the record people said something the band didn’t like, the stock answer was a unanimous BOLLOCKS which resulted in the record company person and the band coming away with no deal. Although “3 Depressing Tracks” didn’t exactly set the music world on fire it did generate enough money to go back in the studio and record “Verbal Cock Ups” the bands second cassette EP, which gave the band its first mini break through with a record company. Enter VU records a small independent label from London. At this point the TTP's breathed a sigh of relief as they finally made it into the vinyl stakes with “Don’t Lecture Me” which found its way onto a compilation LP called “A Sudden Surge of Sound” released by VU Records. The band were in good company as on the LP were The UK Subs and Laura Logic of X Ray Specs. The band also had its first radio play around this time when Mark Radcliff played “Straight Swap” on Piccadilly radio. At last it seemed as though people were starting to take notice of Two-Tone Pinks.

Band News  A copy of the Thorns video has recently been discovered and to the right I have included a still from the video. Along with the video several audio masters of the Two-Tone-Pinks demo tapes were also discovered. These tapes were thought to be long lost by band members who have now decided to have the tapes professionally restored for possible future releases. Please revisit for future developments.