Tough Tough Skin
Tough Tough Skin takes the stage with a punk sensibility and a strong nod to the Homocore bands of the 90s. This Minneapolis rock trio draws on a range of influences, from classical and blues to riot grrl, and layers playful but propulsive bass and guitar with energetic vocals and breakneck rhythms that will shake you to your feet and get you on the floor.
The project began in 2003, when longtime friends River Gordon (guitar) and Radford Bishop (formerly lead guitar, currently drums) sat down in Gordon's living room with a couple of guitars and some stray song lyrics. Hannah Applegate soon joined on drums, and the trio started performing at a variety of venues around Minneapolis. Upon Applegate's departure, Bishop and Gordon worked with several drummers (including Kieran Holcomb and Jeremy Jones) before Zach McNulty approached them at a show in early 2006 and said, "Hey. I wanna play with you guys." The band became a quartet with Chris Hibberd on bass in the fall of 2006, and they signed to San Francisco-based Queer Control Records in the summer of 2007.
Tough Tough Skin recorded their first full-length album with Mike Wisti at Albatross in Minneapolis over a four-day period in January 2008. Let It Sink Down was released on QCR in March of 2008. Two months later, TTS joined the other four bands on the QCR roster for "Pass the Torch," a ten-day, seven-city tour of the West Coast.
McNulty relocated to Seattle in the fall of 2008, at which point Bishop, Gordon, and Hibberd opted to reconfigure the lineup, with Bishop moving to drums. This exciting challenge promises to propel them into new musical territory while also allowing them to further explore their punk and rock and roll roots.
TTS has performed at cabarets and basement shows, Chicago gay bars and GLBTQIA pride festivals in Minnesota and North Dakota, and numerous venues across the Twin Cities, such as the Triple Rock, the Turf Club, the Hexagon, and the 7th Street Entry. Self-defined as "queernerdcore," they address everything from trans-friendly bathrooms and the f***ing war to romance and booze with irreverent humor and maximum volume.