2025 Competition Entry:

Two Tone Summer by The Owls

Genre

Pop

Artist

Co-writer(s)

no

Performer(s)

John Ramsay, lead vocals and keyboard. Mike Lee, guitar and backing vocals. Rory Connaghan, bass guitar and backing vocals. Mikey Maclennan, drums and backing vocals.

Description

Two Tone Summer was totally self financed and produced. We released the single on 7” vinyl and to our absolute amazement it entered the UK physical single charts in October 2024 at number 9. It shared the top ten charts that week with Queen and Motley Crew!
Despite gaining rave reviews nationally we failed to gain any national radio play, although Greatest Hits Radio did run a bulletin on the chart position.

Bio

The Owls – Biography and Press Release
The Owls hatched around 3 years ago, when 4 musicians from wildly varying sides of the musical
spectrum, got together over a shared love of ska and reggae and decided to take the music from their
home town of Perth, Scotland to the top of the UK charts!!
Starting off with small shows in their hometown of Perth, Scotland, The Owls are now fully fledged and
have taken the show on the road, picking up many new fans along the way thanks to their incendiary live
performances at recent events such as Glasgow Merchant City Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe, Rewind
Festival, Blam Blam Fever Festival and Scotland’s largest Ska and Reggae Festival, Skalloween in
Dumfries
The band also host their own special annual events in Perth, the last being a sold out St Skandrew’s
Night all day event. They also have some enviable support slots under their belt, having opened for the
likes of The Beat, Bad Manners and Specials guitarist, Roddy Radiation with his band the Rockabilly
Rebels. 2024 also saw the band perform on Network TV for the first time appearing on a popular Channel
4 reality show.
Their love of classic R&B, Pop and Ska and Reggae music, and its message of love and unity, spurred
them on to create their own sound, and parallels between now and the political horizon at the time of the
original 2 tone and punk movements, proved to be the catalyst for the band’s first original material.
The Double A Side single “Two Tone Summer” and “Skandal” served up 2 of the most infectious,
politically aware, and thoughtful pop songs you will have heard in a long time! Released by Parliament
Records and distributed by the legendary Last Night From Glasgow, the single was an instant hit
entering the Official UK Physical Singles Chart at Number 10! The single was also well received by the
critics, with many reviewers and DJ’s placing the tracks in their favourite lists of 2024!
The band toured the single throughout Scotland last year and made new fans up and down the country.
They are now taking bookings across the UK and Europe for 2025. As always, their shows promise to be
jam packed with unique versions of ska, mod, and R&B classics, as well as chart bothering originals
making The Owls a must see live band!

Lyrics

VERSE 1
We need a two tone summer
With a little bit of Strummer in the mix
the sounds of the ghost town
the glory of the teenage kicks


VERSE 2
We need a two tone summer with a little bit of Terry in our hearts.
Seeing different faces out in different places is a start

BRIDGE
Cause this town gets colder, as this boy grows older every day
But the pain and suffering is just modern living so they say .


VERSE 3

Get the 45’s on, to the sounds of the moonstomp songs
Dancing all night long, yeah you know that you can’t go wrong

BRIDGE
it’s time for a new wave, the energy the sweat and the fun
Let the new generation lead us in the movement to come



We need a two tone summer
And it’s Just around the corner,
Gonna grab my girl
Gonna tell her that I love her
If it’s black and white, it’s gonna be………..alright


VERSE 4
get yourselves ready….
For a bit of Rocksteady.
Get yourselves tight….
For a Saturday night

We need a two tone summer
And it’s Just around the corner,
Gonna grab my girl
Gonna tell her that I love her
If it’s black and white, it’s gonna be………..alright.

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