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JamRag Mention - June, 2006
Crispus

Tone & Niche seem to be finding their legs these days. They have added a bass guitar and a drummer , and seem to be making the transition from Coffee House Favorite to rising-star-in-the-club scenevery well. They got some good reviews on one of the local weekliesand are gaining popularity fast. Their six song preview ep "From Your Hands" is available now and the new double release will be out soon.

Jam Rag Media: VOL XXI NO. 1 - June 2006 EDITON ©2006 - Utica, MI.
JamRag Feature - Januauy, 2006
Strangers turned songwriters: Tone and Niche
Nicole Akopian

Tone and Niche were only the nicknames of two strangers before Anthony Retka (Tone), guitar and vocals, and Nicole Varga (Niche), violin and viola, met. Roughly six years ago, Retka was working at Che Cosa, a coffeehouse in Mount Clemens, and Varga was attending college. “I was working there, and she was going there to study when she was going to Wayne State for music. I wanted to get piano lessons, and she said she could give them to me,” says Retka.

Their stories vary on just how they came to spending time together, but they concur that somehow they began speaking and subsequently getting together. “When I went over there (for piano lessons) we never even sat at the piano,” remembers Retka, in his version of the story. “I was curious and said, pull your violin out and let’s do something.” This essentially spurred what would become Tone and Niche, the band (as a sidenote: Tone and Niche also play with a drummer and bassist, though not constantly, and not always the same musicians).

The two have a very sibling-like bond apparent to any outsider as well, however, they didn’t necessarily have a movie-style meeting; sparks certainly did not fly. “We clashed big-time when we were getting to know each other,” says Varga. Their clashing is still apparent today, though only though lighthearted bickering. However, they did discover a parallel love for music, only not all the same kind. “Musically, our influences are very different,” says Retka. Varga admits to loving ska in high school, and keeping a place for it in her heart to this day. They do agree on their essential influences though. Bands like The Beatles and songwriters like Bob Dylan along with The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Billie Holiday and Radiohead. “We’re a little out of the box,” says Varga.

Varga began playing the violin at the age of nine. “I wanted to do it for the whole purpose of learning to play the guitar,” she says. After a few years, it stuck. Today, she teaches violin lessons to children as a living, and of course, lends her skill to Tone and Niche. “I had always wanted strings, I just was nervous about it. Like, ‘Oh, she’s a classically trained student.’ It’s intimidating when you’ve got an educated musician and you’re coming in with lyric sheets…” says Retka, pleasantly cut off by Varga. “I teach in a closet, come on! How intimidating can I be?”

Over the past year, Tone and Niche have put out one full length CD titled On the Streets Of, which Varga calls “Our pride and joy,” along with one EP. Furthermore, they embarked on a small tour through parts of the south and the east coast. “Over the summer we went to Nashville and Louisville, Chicago, Cleveland, Oswego, Buffalo,” recalls Retka. Varga interjects with Cleveland again, and they concur that they must be forgetting one more place they visited. “Nashville and New York were the farthest we ever went with the band,” says Retka. “We do tours in increments,” says Varga. “We can’t afford to just go,” she adds. “It all depends on if we have money or not, if we take the band,” laughs Retka. “Can we afford more than peanut butter and jelly for seven days?” Varga interjects.

The summer of 2005 was the first summer in which Tone and Niche traveled as much as they did touring, and with a rather rewarding surprise. “We didn’t even realize, we’d booked this place in Nashville, called The Basement, and Martha Wainwright (sister to Rufus Wainwright and nationally known recording artist), we actually opened up for her,” remembers Retka. “We thought we were just going to play for some local band or something.” Though their experiences proved interesting, the traveling and coping with being away from home got to them. “We almost stayed in a place that was a trucker motel and had free Playboy until we realized how dirty it was. That was the first time we had to pay more than $35 for a motel because we couldn’t stand it,” remembers Varga.

This year, back in Michigan and already recording, they plan to release a double-disc in the spring. The first disc will be Tone and Niche’s regular pop rock and folk, new songs and re-workings of previously released ones. The second disc will contain all of their instrumentals, and more experimental Gershwin-esque songs.

Jam Rag Media: VOL XXI NO. 1 - JAN/FEB 2006 EDITON ©2006 - DETROIT, MI.