“Tone is the single best thing to happen since sliced bread” senior Henry Glavin said.
But what does the future mean for our musical chums? Hopefully the band will continue being awesome until they are forced to quit or until distance affects their ability to make music. “I’m more of a jazz guy. I’m planning on going to school for jazz” Trautman said. His aspirations are something we wish him well with “I’m interested in the music industry too”. As a man of music, Nick hopes to stick around it more in the future. Nick is looking at Boston College, Bucknell, Skidmore, and Bard College, where he will be able to spread his wings.
Stovall just hopes the band gets together whenever they can after they all go their separate ways. “I consider it as kind of like a family in some respects…we all love each other, but we also all hate each other. It’s a unique experience.”
Weiss is looking forward to his future in music. “Musically in the future I'd love to see myself on a stage playing in front of a lot of people but the likelihood of that happening is slim. So in reality I see myself in a classroom teaching kids music.” These realistic aspirations show a down to earth, level headedness, but anyone who’s seen him play will think otherwise – eventually, he’ll be onto bigger things than just teaching kids.
Nelson also wants to continue his musical career after school. “I'll definitely try to stay musically active in college. Music is a great way to meet people and make friends so I'll definitely try to get my foot in the door of my school's music scene as soon as I can.” He’s eager to start, and can’t wait to get out into the hearts of millions.
Tone warms our hearts, and tugs on our souls. We will never forget them. But it seems that unfortunately, there have been no mentions of the secret weapon - The “crème de la crème” of lip syncing, chord playing individuals. Alex “The Man” Wildish. With his awesome sunglasses and quirky personality, Wildish lights up the stage when all else fails. His powerful guitar playing stance evokes a strong mood, as if he has managed to empower everyone around him. “On stage…there’s a lot of energy” Stovall said, and I believe most of this comes from Alex. “Maybe he’s born with it…Maybe it’s Maybelline,” senior James Payne said. “It also might be divine power….one of those.” “That kid is muscular, and really intimidates me…but I’m still the leader of his fan club” senior David Hickey said.
This powerhouse uses his sex appeal to spice up any song, and is considered one of the best guitarists of all time…OF ALL TIME. Naturally, because of major publicity issues, Alex has to look good at all times. “He’s just a good individual with a sweet heart, he’d never do anyone wrong. He’s got the looks to boot too” senior Andy Brewer said.
On the football field, Alex takes his music to a whole new level. “I watched him run one time….It looked like he was dancing. I asked him afterwards, and he said he was,” senior Alex Bair said. “Yes I remember that,” senior Joe Maccarone continued. “He said it helped him break people’s ankles…and then something about a dangle-sesh.”
The band members also had a lot to say about Wildish. “I think maybe he has been graced by the hand of God himself. I mean, we've always struggled to explain it. Maybe it'll just remain one of those unsolved mysteries of life.” Nelson said. There is some dispute as to where his power comes from though. “Alex is very attractive just because of his beard. It completes him and secretly that's where all of his musical ability is hidden.” Weiss said. “You'll notice when he shaves, he sucks.”
“Alex has great energy on stage, although he’s usually off to the side…looking cool…wearing sunglasses…inside,” Trautman said. “Alex is the one who’s more behind, everybody knows that…we do love him though,” Stovall added.
Weiss had one last thing to contribute. “We're one big dysfunctional family.” Need I say more?
Band Sets Tone for DHS Music Scene
NEIRAD enilno edition
“Tone is the single best thing to happen since sliced bread” senior Henry Glavin said. Boy, oh boy, does he know about sliced bread. This is the story of Tone: their mission, and their legacy.
From the depths of 8th grade creativity burst a sound so uniquely put together that one could only experience the full flavor after going through puberty. Tone hit the ground running in October of 2005, although the band did not have an official name until March of 2006.
Senior Chris Stovall captained his set of drums. Senior Nick Trautman “slappa de bass.” Senior Scotty Nelson shredded so hard that it made his hair curl, and senior Alex Wildish played chords. From these combined musical powers Tone was formed, and continues to woo the hearts of all ages even today. But there’s a lot more to Tone fans probably don’t know. Ready for a history lesson? Things are going to get messy.
The year of 2006 was really a building year for Tone. They explored the talents of Stovall, Nelson and Trautman, and got to know their style of playing. At this point it was mainly classical rock – the greats really – Van Halen, Zeppelin, The Who, and maybe even some Jimi Hendrix for mellower days. “We all had different personal genres” Stovall said.
Come the band’s freshman year in 2006, also came Nelson’s need to take a sabbatical for a semester. He attended a ski academy for the winter leaving Tone sans a talented guitarist. Trautman scouted big man Kenny Weiss, who, needless to say filled the gaping hole that Nelson had left. (Tone is not Weiss's only claim to DHS fame. Weiss is also very influential.) Kenny brought a blues background and some nice charisma to the band, not to forget another set of stunning locks, fit only for a classic rock oriented band. “Sometimes it's hard just because we all have many different influences and we all want something to sound a certain way so, we clash sometimes but all in all I love all those guys.” Weiss said.
The spring of 2007 brought Nelson’s return to Darien High School, bumming around mountains and being one of the sickest skiers ever was put aside for a formal education that didn’t involve shredding slopes. He still managed to shred guitar though. Scotty returned to the band with good spirits. But there was one problem – the band now had three guitarists – two of which were good. This called for some drama (it was freshman year, what do you expect?)
"At this point it was a bit hectic” Stovall said. “We had some drama…you know, some drama-lama”. This however, did not stop the band’s forward progress, as they were able to start playing gigs that summer. Things were looking good. 2007 however was to bring another trick up its sleeve for Tone: Nelson was leaving school for good. He would take up residence at Holderness School, a place for those who are gifted on the snow in Plymouth, N.H. This meant Kenny would be coming in full time, by which point he was ready to be a bigger part of the band.
Throughout the next year, Tone would work on more exploration, more gigs, and more creativity. They branched out into their own styles, and tried a bit of everything. “We all had our different personal genres” Stovall said. “Kenny was always a big blues guy, you can tell that in a lot of his solos”. Tone gigs had started to get more numerous and not as much set in The Depot, and the word was getting out. They also started writing their own tunes, including songs written by a group effort from the whole band, the first being called “Forget” and their smash hit “Breaking It”.
Fall 2008 brought about another change. While popularity had steadily increased, the want for an amazing singer was strengthened. “Everybody in the band can sing…except for Alex, so we were always able to get by”, Stovall said. But that didn’t mean they weren’t interested in a new singer. Eventually, Weiss scouted out junior Elizabeth Leimkuhler, one of those voices that give you shivers down the spine. Her powerful sound gave the band an even wider genre of music to try, and she added an amazing assonance to an already good band.
As time went by, Tone became more powerful and more popular. Playing private gigs at parties last year gained them even more fame. Now all they have to do is keep up the good work, and hopefully they’ll be headed places in the future.
Alex Wildish
Nick Trautman
Chris Stovall
Elizabeth Leimkuhler
Kenny Weiss
