True Tone Records was an Australian based

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...

. It was founded by Michael Crawley in the 1980s. The label was distributed by

Polygram Records PolyGram N.V. was a multinational entertainment company and major music record label formerly based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1962 as the Grammophon-Philips Group by Dutch corporation Philips and German corporation Siemens, to be ...

History

True Tone signed

Gang Gajang Ganggajang (styled as GANGgajang) are an Australian pop rock band which formed in 1984. The four founders are frontman Mark 'Cal' Callaghan (ex-Riptides) on guitar and lead vocals, Chris Bailey on bass guitar, Graham 'Buzz' Bidstrup on drums ...

and released the band's first single "Gimme Some Lovin'" in 1984, as well as their first two albums, ''

'' (1985) and ''

Gang Again ''Gang Again'' (styled as ''gangAGAIN'') is the second studio album recorded by Australian band Gang Gajang (styled as GANGgajang). It was released in 1987 by True Tone Records and distributed by Polygram Records. Track listing All songs by ...

'' (1987). In 1985 the label signed

The Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

but the band never recorded anything for True Tone and went on to sign with the UK label,

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing ...

. True Tone did however provide the Australian release of the Go-Between's fifth album, '' Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express'' (1986), as well as ''The Able Label Singles'' (1987). True Tone also signed

Rockmelons Rockmelons, often referred to as the Rockies, were an Australian pop/ dance/ R&B group formed in 1983 in Sydney. Primary members are Bryon Jones, his brother Jonathon Jones and Raymond Medhurst. They had two Australian top five hit singles in ...

, releasing the band's first singles, "Time Out (For Serious Fun)" (1985), "Sweat It Out", and "Rhymes" (1987), as well as their debut album, ''

Tales of the City ''Tales of the City'' is a series of nine novels written by American author Armistead Maupin from 1978 to 2014, depicting the life of a group of friends in San Francisco, many of whom are LGBT. The stories from ''Tales'' were originally seria ...

'' (1988). When vocalist

Peter Blakeley Peter Blakeley is an Australian white soul/adult contemporary singer and songwriter. Blakeley was a lead singer of the Rockmelons in the mid-1980s. He launched a solo career in 1987 and had a massive hit single in Australia in 1989 with " Cr ...

left the band he was signed by True Tone, which released his 1987 mini-album ''Vicious''. In 1986, the label signed

Ed Kuepper Edmund "Ed" Kuepper (born 20 December 1955) is a German-born Australian guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He co-founded the punk band The Saints (1973–78), the experimental post-punk group Laughing Clowns (1979–85) and the grunge-like ...

( The Saints), releasing his second and third solo albums, ''Rooms Of The Magnificent'' (1986) and ''Everybody's Got To'' (1988).

Stephen Cummings Stephen Donald Cummings (born 13 September 1954) is an Australian rock singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer of Melbourne-based rock band the Sports from 1976 to 1981, followed by a solo career which has met with critical acclaim but ha ...

then signed to the label in 1987, releasing the albums '' Lovetown'' (1988), ''

A New Kind of Blue ''A New Kind of Blue'' is the fourth studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Stephen Cummings. The album was released in March 1989 and peaked at number 53 on the Australian ARIA Charts. At the ARIA Music Awards of 1990, the album was ...

'' (1989), and ''Good Humour'' (1991). After a three-year distribution arrangement with EMI, Crawley chose to take the label to another distributor, but EMI objected and took the label to court. Rather than see the label remain with EMI, Crawley sold off all its assets and left the industry.

Artist roster

The label was responsible for releases by: *

The Celibate Rifles The Celibate Rifles were an Australian punk rock band which formed in 1979 with a line-up that included mainstays Dave Morris on rhythm guitar and Kent Steedman on lead guitar, within a year they were joined by Damien Lovelock on lead vocals. T ...

Shooting School Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missiles can ...

* Steeltown * Clive Young

References

{{Authority control Indie rock record labels Defunct record labels of Australia

History

Artist roster

See also

References