Emerson Hart
Emerson Hart (born July 21, 1969) is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and producer. He is the lead singer and songwriter of the alternative rock band Tonic.
Biography
Emerson Hart was born in Washington, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Atlantic ...
and
Jeff Russo
Jeff Russo (born August 31) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of American rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars.
Russo is a ...
. Later members have included
Dan Lavery
Dan Lavery (born June 11, 1969) is an American professional musician, who has been nominated for two Grammy Awards as part of the band Tonic. Lavery joined Tonic after the band had recorded '' Lemon Parade'', and has been a part of Tonic ever s ...
, Kevin Shepard, and Dan Rothchild. Signed to a recording contract in 1995, the band released its debut album ''
Lemon Parade
''Lemon Parade'' is the debut album of American rock band Tonic, released on July 16, 1996, by Polydor Records. The album has sold 1,300,000 copies to date and reached platinum status in the United States. ''Lemon Parade'' featured three single ...
'' in 1996. The single "
If You Could Only See
"If You Could Only See" is a song by American rock band Tonic from their debut studio album ''Lemon Parade'' (1996). It was released to radio as the third and final single from the album on March 18, 1997, by Polydor Records. Frontman Emerson Ha ...
" reached No. 11 on the ''Billboard'' Airplay Hot 100 in 1997, and ''Lemon Parade'' itself reached platinum status.
Tonic spent much of the next two years touring, adding to its reputation as a relentlessly gigging band. In addition to extensive touring Tonic produced other work, including songs for feature film soundtracks. After self-producing its 1999 album ''
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
'', Tonic released its third album '' Head on Straight'' in 2002. Tonic received two
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
nominations from ''Head on Straight'', including one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Take Me As I Am", and one for Best Rock Album. The band then went on hiatus beginning in 2004 while its members pursued other musical endeavors. It wasn't until late 2008 Tonic became active again, embarking on a tour and releasing a greatest-hits compilation, all of which served as a prelude to their fourth studio album, 2010's '' Tonic''. After the release of that album, Tonic has continued to tour and remain active, utilizing direct funding from fans to make an all-acoustic version of ''Lemon Parade'' titled ''
Lemon Parade Revisited
''Lemon Parade Revisited'' is the fifth studio album by American post-grunge band Tonic. The project was originally announced on March 22, 2016 as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Tonic's first album, ''Lemon Parade'', with recording and p ...
'' in 2016, and debuting their first non-album single with 2021's "To Be Loved".
History
Tonic was founded by Emerson Hart and guitarist Jeff Russo, long-separated childhood friends who randomly crossed paths at a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
area pool hall in 1993. The pair quickly began collaborating on music writing, and soon added bass player Dan Rothchild, whom they met at a venue named The Kibitz Room. The final addition to the band was drummer Kevin Shepard, who was recruited at an L.A. venue named Masker's Cafe.
Hart later said the original choice for the band's name was ''Radio Flyer'', but upon learning that name was unavailable, selected ''Tonic'' instead (the band later referenced the term ''Radio Flyer'' in their song "Top Falls Down"). The newly formed group performed gigs around the
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
area prior to signing their first professional recording contract in 1995. Earning a reputation as a "relentlessly gigging" band, Tonic played over 300 shows in less than two years during the mid-to-late 1990s.
Teaming with producer
Jack Joseph Puig
Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...
, Tonic released their debut album ''
Lemon Parade
''Lemon Parade'' is the debut album of American rock band Tonic, released on July 16, 1996, by Polydor Records. The album has sold 1,300,000 copies to date and reached platinum status in the United States. ''Lemon Parade'' featured three single ...
'' on July 15, 1996. Music critic Shawn M. Haney said of the album that, "The record as a whole is full of the heavy, distortion-laden Tonic sound, and guitars that make them who they are." Singles for the songs "Open Up Your Eyes" and "
If You Could Only See
"If You Could Only See" is a song by American rock band Tonic from their debut studio album ''Lemon Parade'' (1996). It was released to radio as the third and final single from the album on March 18, 1997, by Polydor Records. Frontman Emerson Ha ...
", were released in 1996 and 1997 respectively. The single "If You Could Only See" received the honor of being Rock Radio's most played song of 1997, and ''Lemon Parade'' as an album reached platinum status.
Music video
A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
s were created for the songs "Open Up Your Eyes," "If You Could Only See," and "Soldier's Daughter." The ''Lemon Parade'' album spent 57 weeks on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, reaching a peak of No. 28 during the week of August 2, 1997. By February 2003 ''Lemon Parades running total of albums sold had reached 1.3 million copies.
Dan Lavery
Dan Lavery (born June 11, 1969) is an American professional musician, who has been nominated for two Grammy Awards as part of the band Tonic. Lavery joined Tonic after the band had recorded '' Lemon Parade'', and has been a part of Tonic ever s ...
replaced Rothchild on bass in December 1996, and around this same time period drummer Shepard ceased full-time activity with the band for family and personal reasons. The year 1997 marked the band's first contribution to an original soundtrack, recording the song "Eyes of Sand" for the ''Scream 2'' soundtrack. Continuing their work on film soundtracks into 1998, Tonic recorded the song "Flower Man" for '' The X-Files: The Album'', and performed a cover of the song ''
Everybody's Talkin'
"Everybody's Talkin (Echoes)" is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966 and released two years later. A version of the song performed by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, reachin ...
'' for the ''
Clay Pigeons
''Clay Pigeons'' is a 1998 black comedy film written by Matt Healy and directed by David Dobkin. The film stars Joaquin Phoenix, Vince Vaughn, and Janeane Garofalo.
It is the second film on-screen collaboration between Vaughn and Phoenix, the f ...
'' soundtrack. Tonic also performed a cover of the song "Second Hand News" for the album "Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours." The band finished 1998 by contributing a live version of the song "Open Up Your Eyes" to the charitable album ''
Live in the X Lounge
Live in the X Lounge is a series of albums released by Birmingham, Alabama's former alternative rock radio station, WRAX.
Though the station can no longer be found on the air, this series of live performances was produced while the station wa ...
''. On March 1, 1999 the band released the now out-of-print '' Live and Enhanced'' CD, which featured an acoustic version of "If You Could Only See" and the previously unreleased music video of "Soldier's Daughter". In 2000, Tonic allowed their song "Mean To Me" from their album ''Sugar'' to be released as a single from the soundtrack album for the Warner Bros. film ''
Gossip
Gossip is idle talk or rumour, especially about the personal or private affairs of others; the act is also known as dishing or tattling.
Gossip is a topic of research in evolutionary psychology, which has found gossip to be an important means ...
'', which was directed by
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning director
Davis Guggenheim
Philip Davis Guggenheim (born November 3, 1963) is an American writer, director and producer. His credits include ''NYPD Blue'', '' ER'', '' 24'', ''Alias'', ''The Shield'', '' Deadwood'', and the documentaries ''An Inconvenient Truth'', ''It M ...
. The band appeared in the music video for the song, which featured clips from the film as well as actors from it, who seemingly appear to be interacting with the band via webcam as they perform the song.
1999–2003
The band returned to the studio to self-produce their second album. Released on November 9, 1999, the album title ''
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
'' shared the same name as the fifth track on the recording. The creative and collaborative process spanned several geographic locations including
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
, where actual recording for the album was performed. "Knock Down Walls" and " You Wanted More" were charting singles released off the record, with the latter having first appeared on the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
to the movie '' American Pie''. With Shepard no longer part of the band, Peter Maloney played drums on the album, although
Joey Waronker
Jon Joseph Waronker (born May 20, 1969) is an American drummer and music producer. He is best known as a regular drummer of both Beck and R.E.M., and as member of the experimental rock bands Atoms for Peace and Ultraísta.
Background
Waronker w ...
filled in for the single "You Wanted More". Music videos for the songs "You Wanted More" and "Mean to Me" were created as part of the album's promotion. Tonic appeared on the television shows ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...
'' and ''
The Martin Short Show
''The Martin Short Show'' is a syndicated talk show, based on the late night model, hosted by Martin Short with announcer/sidekick Michael McGrath. The talk show aired for one season from 1999 to 2000. It was produced by King World Productio ...
'' in late 1999 as part of additional promotion. ''Sugar'' spent eight total weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching a peak of No. 81 in its first week of release.
A cover of the song "East Bound and Down" for the ''
King of the Hill
''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...
'' original television soundtrack rounded out the group's output for the year 1999. The band later contributed a performance of "Mean To Me" to the fourth installment in the charitable ''Live in the X Lounge'' album series.
Tonic took a break from constant touring and recording, time which Hart used to, "...make sure the next record would be coming from fresh eyes and ears" after he moved to a new home in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the List of muni ...
. In 2002, the band began collaborating with producer
Bob Rock
Robert Jens Rock (born April 19, 1954) is a Canadian record producer, sound engineer and musician, best known for producing rock bands and music artists such as Metallica, Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, The Tragically Hip, the Cult, 31 ...
on their next studio recording. In contrast to the "exhausting" experience of self-producing ''Sugar'', producer Rock's "laid-back efficiency" and
Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...
studio location provided a welcome change. The resulting studio album, '' Head on Straight'', was released on September 1, 2002.
While still billed as a three-piece band, Joey Waronker performed much of the drumming on "Head On Straight," and the band also utilized drummer Kevin Murphy for some live performances during this time period. The band also enlisted the help of Keyboardist Will Holis. Hart and Russo both also played piano and Rhodes synth respectively on the record. ''Head on Straight'' charted on the Billboard 200 for one week, where it was No. 141. In its review of the album, ''Rolling Stone'' described it by saying it was, "...less rootsy and harder-rocking than previous efforts."
In March 2003 Tonic embarked on an acoustic tour, and as band member Russo said, they were hoping to, "...bring things back to a level where we remember what it's all about."
Hiatus
While ''Head on Straight'' had sold 34,000 copies by February 2003, in 2003 the band received two
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...
nominations, one for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Take Me As I Am", and one for Best Rock Album. While the band's activity began to diminish, they participated in the annual
The Rock Boat
The Rock Boat is an annual rock music-themed "floating music festival at sea" aboard a cruise ship. It takes place in different locations each cruise, with several dozen bands performing in each cruise.
Tonic went on hiatus beginning in 2004, all three members began working on other projects unrelated to Tonic. Hart released a solo album entitled ''Cigarettes and Gasoline'' on July 17, 2007. Russo became part of the band Low Stars, who released a self-titled CD in 2007. Lavery did song writing for projects including the feature-length movies ''
The Passion of the Christ
''The Passion of the Christ'' is a 2004 American epic biblical drama film produced, directed and co-written by Mel Gibson and starring Jim Caviezel as Jesus of Nazareth, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, mother of Jesus, and Monica Bellucci as Mary M ...
'' and '' Elektra'', and began playing bass on tour for
The Fray
The Fray is an American rock band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2002 by schoolmates Isaac Slade and Joe King. Their debut album, ''How to Save a Life'' released in 2005, was certified double platinum by the RIAA and platinum in Australia, ...
in March 2007. Commenting on this time period, Russo said, "It wasn’t like we broke the band up. Everyone just went to their own corner and did their own thing. We figured when it was time to get back together it will happen."
Band reactivation
The first verifiable account that Tonic was reuniting came in November 2008 via an announcement from band member Russo, confirming new tour dates and a forthcoming studio album. "We're lanning ongetting together to write some new material," Russo said. "Over the last 6 months or so we've been talking about it. We've been doing different things for the last 6 years, and we all decided that we missed rocking."
Officially active again, Tonic had already played their first show together in many years on September 16, 2008 at a venue in Antioch, Illinois. As part of the band's 2009 tour, a greatest hits compilation titled '' A Casual Affair: The Best of Tonic'' was released. The album featured live versions of the songs "Irish" and "Sugar" in addition to an acoustic version of "You Wanted More." November 2009 marked the band's inclusion in the video game ''
Band Hero
''Band Hero'' is a spinoff video game as part of the ''Guitar Hero series'' of music rhythm games, released by Activision on November 3, 2009, for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS consoles. The game is structu ...
'', as the track "If You Could Only See" was a playable song in the game.
After the year 2010 began, Tonic announced that their self-titled fourth studio album, '' Tonic'', would be released on May 4, 2010. The album was primarily recorded over the span of a month during fall 2009 at Conway Studios in Hollywood. Pete Maloney also continued his longtime association with the band by playing drums on the album. The album was jointly produced by Tonic and Nathaniel Kunkel, with the song "Release Me" chosen as the first single from the album. A promotional behind the scenes tour of Conway Studios hosted by Emerson Hart was made available on Amazon.com's Tonic store and
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
at the time. In an official press release for the album, bandmember Hart said about Tonic that, "When we play music together it feels like going home. Getting together, playing some rock-n-roll, it's the best feeling in the world." The self-titled album spent one week on the Billboard 200 chart, where it ranked 150. Tonic continued to tour in conjunction with the release of their self-titled album into late 2011.
2011 and beyond
Tonic continued to actively tour into 2011. As 2012 began, the band made official announcements via their
Twitter
Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
feed that writing and recording on new songs had begun. The band continued periodically playing shows throughout the course of 2012, with mention of some vocals for new songs being recorded on July 21. In June 2012, Tonic partnered with Hard Rock International to become "Artist Ambassadors," traveling to Haiti to raise awareness of hunger issues still affecting many residents of the country. Hart provided an update to the band's studio recording work in December 2012, saying the band was debating whether to release their upcoming studio recordings as either an EP or a full studio album. As the band continued to tour periodically into the start of the year 2014, Hart announced he was releasing a new solo album, and Russo began scoring the television series '' Fargo'' and various other film, TV and video game projects.
In March 2016, Tonic announced that in celebration of ''Lemon Parades 20th anniversary, they would utilize direct funding from fans via the
PledgeMusic
PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...
website to record and release an all-acoustic version of that album. This funding platform method allows purchasers to pre-order the album in various formats, including marking the first time any Tonic album has been commercially available as a
vinyl record
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts nea ...
. Other incentives and items offered by the band included handwritten lyric pages for the purchaser's choice of one track from the album, access to exclusive video and content updates showing the behind-the-scenes creative process, and even an offer to purchase a private concert by the band.
By 2021, the band was still periodically active while each member continued to find success individually, such as Russo's 2017
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
win for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) for his continued work scoring Fargo, and Hart releasing his 2019 solo album, ''32 Thousand Days''. During the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the band worked together to record new music. As the music industry continued to evolve, it had become increasingly common for artists to periodically release stand-alone digital music singles, especially on popular music streaming services such as
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
and
Amazon Music
Amazon Music (previously Amazon MP3) is a music streaming platform and online music store operated by Amazon. Launched in public beta on September 25, 2007, in January 2008 it became the first music store to sell music without digital rights man ...
. To this end, Tonic released their first non-album single on February 12, 2021 with a track titled "To Be Loved", followed shortly after by the release of their first music video in nearly 20 years with the debut of the official lyric video for the track. This was followed shortly thereafter by the release of "If You Could Only See (25th Anniversary) as another single, consisting of a new recording of the band's single from Lemon Parade.
Current members
*
Emerson Hart
Emerson Hart (born July 21, 1969) is a songwriter, vocalist, guitarist and producer. He is the lead singer and songwriter of the alternative rock band Tonic.
Biography
Emerson Hart was born in Washington, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Atlantic ...
- lead vocals, rhythm guitar (1993–2004, 2008–present)
*
Jeff Russo
Jeff Russo (born August 31) is an American composer, songwriter, guitarist, vocalist and music producer, and one of the two founding members of American rock band Tonic. He is also a founding member of acoustic rock band Low Stars.
Russo is a ...
- lead guitar, backing vocals (1993–2004, 2008–present)
*
Dan Lavery
Dan Lavery (born June 11, 1969) is an American professional musician, who has been nominated for two Grammy Awards as part of the band Tonic. Lavery joined Tonic after the band had recorded '' Lemon Parade'', and has been a part of Tonic ever s ...
Lemon Parade
''Lemon Parade'' is the debut album of American rock band Tonic, released on July 16, 1996, by Polydor Records. The album has sold 1,300,000 copies to date and reached platinum status in the United States. ''Lemon Parade'' featured three single ...
'' (1996)
* ''
Sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double ...
Lemon Parade Revisited
''Lemon Parade Revisited'' is the fifth studio album by American post-grunge band Tonic. The project was originally announced on March 22, 2016 as a celebration of the 20th anniversary of Tonic's first album, ''Lemon Parade'', with recording and p ...