INTERVIEW: Tonic
- Al Muzer
Yet another shining example of the return of good, melody-based songwriting and deep, thoughtful lyrics that come straight from the heart; the success of Tonic's 12-song Polydor Records debut, Lemon Parade, really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.
With the first single, "Open Up Your Eyes" holding its own in the Billboard Rock Radio Top 10 charts for more than 25 weeks; the second single, "If You Could Only See," threatening to surpass those figures on the Alternative, Rock Radio and AAA charts; and the album itself netting the group Billboard's top New Alternative Artist title two weeks in a row while rocketing up the magazine's Top 200 charts - Lemon Parade has already been named to year end Top 10 lists by several critics and should reach a sales figure far beyond the wildest childhood dreams of singer/guitarist Emerson Hart.
Formed in Los Angeles by Hart and New York guitarist Jeff Russo with bassist Dan Rothchild (son of the fabled Doors producer) and native Californian Kevin Shepard on drums; Tonic began sharing the bill at the Kibbutz Room in Canter's Deli with the then up-and-coming Wallflowers not long after Russo walked into an L.A. pool hall where Hart was working one afternoon in 1993.
Practicing constantly and playing at just about any club that would let them, the band plastered the town with flyers, recorded a few demos and wound up with a six month-long Sunday night gig at the Mint that eventually drew the attention of A&R representatives from a slew of major labels.
Deciding to cast their fate with Polydor, the group hit the studio in 1995 and spent the next seven months writing and recording what would become Lemon Parade.
Released in the summer of '96, the opening track, "Open Up Your Eyes," immediately began receiving airplay and Tonic soon found themselves supporting Semisonic on a national tour that segued into another North American trek opening for Dishwalla and The Refreshments.
Returning to L.A. for a short break that found them with barely enough time to do their laundry and throw out the spoiled milk and moldy Chinese take-out festering in their refrigerators; Rothchild left the band under friendly circumstances and was replaced by Jersey boy Dan Lavery, videos were shot, the tour bus was gassed up, the beer cooler was replenished - and Tonic hit the road with The Verve Pipe for yet another chapter in their seemingly endless "see all of America" tour. In the midst of that tour, Hart spent some time answering a few questions...
C: It seems as if Tonic has been on tour almost non-stop since the album was released - do you enjoy life on the road? Has the grind begun paying off for you as far as crowds and a fan base goes?
Hart: Oh yeah. Our label and manager are both really behind the idea of us touring as hard as we have been - and so are we. When we were first signed we told them, 'We don't care what clubs we do or what tour we're on, just get us out on the road.'
We've been touring almost non-stop for about a year now. I think I might've had, maybe, four weeks off total over the last year and most of those days off still had something to do with the record. You know interviews, photo shoots, video shoots, breaking in a new bassist. It's all been worth it, though. We're really trying to build up our fan base and get people involved in the band because we're not just thinking about this one record, we're in this for the long haul. It's not just about one song for us. It's about writing and recording as many good songs - and as many shitty ones [laughs], as we can.
When we started out it was like, 'Tonic, taking America three people at a time.' But the hard work seems to be paying off, I think, because each time we come through parts of the country we've played before, we see more and more people out there in the crowd who're obviously there for us.
C: Tonic was signed in late-1994/early-1995, right? The group's sound isn't really typical of what's commercially popular now, and it certainly wasn't what was popular at the time you landed the deal - did you have trouble attracting labels at first?
H: Oh, yeah. We definitely weren't in the running for any of the 'big bidders' because we really weren't what was happening commercially at the time. Our A&R rep at Polydor [Tom Storms] was, thankfully, totally behind us and totally into what we're doing musically. We were even a little surprised by his interest at first, [laughs] but he was like, 'Look, it's good songwriting and that's what we're into, that's what we want.'
C: That's one of the first things that grabbed me about the album as well - the songwriting on Lemon Parade really is top notch. So much of what's popular these days seems to be little more than sound-bites thrown over a cool riff whereas with Tonic...
H: I do like to draw from my Irish heritage when I write. You know, we're constantly being called a 'guitar' band and are often compared to, like, Led Zeppelin or Boston by music critics, which is cool, I guess. I think that's just the fact that critics need to put a label on something or offer something to their readers as a basis for comparison. I mean, sure I listened to those bands when I was a kid, but I also listened to bands like the Cars as well, you know?
We are what we are, we're into melody and we're into songs. I always hoped there would be a few people who liked the record, who understood where we were coming from - but I didn't expect it to do this well.
C: What's it like for you to be featured in the music magazines and on the video channel you grew up devouring?
H: It's really hard to say yet. On one hand you're like 'Hey, wow, that's me!' and you're pretty excited about it all. After a while though, it's kind'a like, 'Wow! I look really ugly in that photo.'
The whole MTV thing is fairly strange as well. I mean, I understand the need for a good video, you know? But it's really weird seeing myself up there on television. I'm like, 'Oh my God! I look like such a dork.' You kind'a get used to seeing yourself - but we try our best not to dwell on the magazine and TV stuff because we don't want that to effect us as a band.
We don't want all that to distract us from what we're trying to do and have always tried to do, as a band - which is simply to make music that we believe in.
