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Not long after Jeff Cerise graduated from Moorhead High School in 1978, his band “The Phones”—a new wave post-punk act active from 1976 to 1989—was touring the country, with frequent shows in the Fargo-Moorhead metro. When he returned for a solo Black Friday show in Fargo on November 28, it was his first gig in the area in 17 years.

“It’s been a long time,” said Cerise, the band’s lead singer, with a laugh. “That’s crazy to even think about!”

The Phones started out as a band named “Flint” when Jeff, a sophomore at the time, suffered a hip injury and couldn’t play for the Spud boys hockey team for a few months. He spent this time hanging out with future bandmate Brad Mattson—also a 1978 MHS grad—watching and learning about producing music.

“Brad was in a country-rock band with his dad and I’d sit in their basement and watch them rehearse and I got really familiar with the process,” explained Cerise. “We decided during my recovery that we would try and start our own rock band. When I got off crutches, we had our first gig at the Dirty Bird in Moorhead and from there we started quickly getting offers to play.”

In the early days, the band was influenced by the major artists of the mid-to-late 1970s, such as Bad Company, Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones. Their style also reflected this: in the 1978 MHS Cho Kio yearbook, both Cerise and Mattson are sporting the long hair that was popular among contemporary rock musicians in their senior photos. Then a figurative and literal new wave of music changed the group’s direction.

“Right after we graduated from high school, we started to hear some things from across the pond that we found pretty interesting. We were listening to new stuff from The Police, Elvis Costello and Ian Dury and the Blockheads,” recalled Cerise, “and we thought this is pretty fierce, for one, and also pretty fresh.

“So we chopped off all of our hair and started doing new wave music!”

In 1979 the band, which also included guitarist Rick Taves, added guitarist Steve Brantseg and bassist Jim Riley and became The Phones. Relocating to Minneapolis in 1981, the band self-recorded its first album, Changing Minds; the album was later re-released in 1983 by Twin Cities-based Twin/Tone Records after signing the band. Twin/Tone would also release The Phones’ second album, Blind Impulse, in 1984.

At their height, The Phones played shows across the country and opened for major artists like R.E.M., Iggy Pop and the Psychedelic Furs. They would release their final album, Stickman, in 1986, and then a shorter compilation tape, Stickman Live, in 1989. The band called it quits later that year following a farewell tour that nearly ended in disaster when Jeff fell through the floor at the Fargo Theater.

After The Phones dissolved, Cerise changed gears and pursued a Twin Cities-based career in advertising that ran from the late 80s through the COVID-19 pandemic. While working in advertising, Jeff tinkered with a lesser-known—but extremely important—part of his time as a touring musician: his mother’s recipe for switchel, a beverage he used to keep his voice fresh.

“When we started the band in 1976, being the singer I would have some throat problems so my mom made me a glass of switchel and told me to gargle it and then drink the whole glass, and it was like ‘wow, I got my voice back’ and felt excellent,” said Cerise. “So after that I would be making switchel in motel rooms and drinking it at night and even on stage.”

Over the years, Jeff would make batches of the drink when he was feeling under the weather or as a cool drink in the summer. In 2017, he made the decision to produce the drink under the label “Switchel Fizz” as a side hustle while continuing his work in advertising. In the aftermath of the pandemic, Cerise found himself in a position to put his full effort behind Switchel Fizz.

“Advertising never really recovered after COVID, with the rise of AI and things like that. Meanwhile, the demand for health and wellness coverages was on the rise so Switchel just took off like a rocket,” he recalled. “So for me, the writing was on the wall and I went full time with Hobby Farmer Foods (Switchel Fizz’s parent company) in 2023.”

As Jeff was promoting the new drink, he would meet with prospective buyers who wanted to hear the brand’s story. When they’d find out about the beverage’s rock n’ roll roots, they’d express excitement and interest in The Phones. This interest brought Jeff to collaborate with the Fargo-based “Full Frontal Nerdity” podcast, co-hosted by 1988 MHS grad Dan Altenbernd, to put on the Black Friday show at The Aquarium in downtown Fargo. The show, which also promoted Switchel Fizz and featured a Q&A session with fans, was a success for Jeff.

“It was a real full circle moment,” he stated, “coming home to play and bringing Switchel Fizz, which started with my mom in Moorhead, with me. The show was really cool; 150 people came and packed the room, filling it with good vibes. It felt good to see how music brings everyone back together.

“And it was good to play on a stage again!”

Jeff’s journey took him across the country and across quite the spectrum of careers but it still brought him home because Once a Spud, Always a Spud!