Gary Jones
Gary Jones was a punk band from very early in the scene, around 1979-1981. They were quite well known locally and opened up for a few large national acts, such as Iggy Pop.
Members
- Tom Masters - Vocals and Lyricist
- Karen Pocius - Vocals
- Ty Penn - Rhythm guitar and composer
- Mark Coutts - Lead guitar
- J.R. Masters - Bass
- John Davies - Drums
- Tim Remmington - Keyboards
- Ron Tuttle- Keyboards
Releases
- Science Fiction / What in the World 7" (Tyfilm Records, 1980)
- Friction / Underground 7", (Tyfilm, 1981)
History as told by John Davies
"I joined Gary Jones in August 1980 when they were already headlining most of the Chicago punk/new wave clubs, getting press in the Sun-Times, and had one self-produced single out. I resigned in March 1981. So I would guess that they formed in 1979 or early 1980 and probably disbanded in mid-late 1981. During my tenure with them we recorded our second single, headlined most of the punk/new wave clubs in town, opened for a couple of national acts (Iggy Pop at B’ginnings, and The Kings (“Switch into Glide”) come to mind), twice played a live TV show on a Madison, WI NBC affiliate, were twice more featured in articles by Sun-Times rock critic Chuck Pratt, and in an impromptu telephone poll over WNUR radio were voted “Chicago’s Best Band” (we stacked the deck in true Chicago fashion).
If I have to categorize Gary Jones, we weren’t what I would call hardcore punk. We had a synth player and our male lead singer was more of a crooner than a shouter, and some of our original arrangements were sophisticated bordering on epic. But we mixed in plenty of buzz saw guitars, fast tempos and punk/new wave sensibilities. Young, Loud, but not Snotty."