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TONIC
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TONIC
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REVIEWS For
further info on Tonic please contact Ken Phillips Publicity Group, Inc.
at (323) 845-9997 or kpgroup@yahoo.com
Music Sample: "Head on Straight"
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At one point during Tonic's acoustic performance at the NorVa on March 28th, singer/guitarist Emerson Hart commented to the audience, perhaps unnecessarily, "This is kind of a different show. Are ya'll alright with a different kind of a show?" The response, of course, was decidedly positive. Tonic first came together back in 1993, but it wasn't until their debut album, Lemon Parade, came out in 1996 that they broke into the world of major-label success, courtesy of the hit single, "If You Could Only See". It should be noted, though, that Lemon Parade was released during an era when semi-soundalikes like Vertical Horizon, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox Twenty, and all those sorts of folks were also climbing the charts. Sure, they kept in the public eye after that by contributing tracks to various soundtracks, but when Universal Records released the band's sophomore effort, Sugar, three years later, the label probably figured the odds were only about 50/50 (tops) that it'd be even half as popular as its predecessor. Fortunately, someone at Universal had the common sense to put "You Wanted More" on the soundtrack to American Pie as well as on Sugar, and, bam, suddenly, the song was a hit and Tonic was riding high on the charts for their second consecutive album. Come 2002, the band managed to pull yet another rabbit out of their hat, releasing their third album, Head On Straight, pulling off another hit single with "Take Me As I Am", and scoring a couple of Grammy nominations in the process: one for Best Rock Performance By A Duo or Group With Vocal (for the aforementioned "Take Me As I Am"), and one for Best Rock Album. They didn't win, but that's really beside the point; after all, surely you've heard the cliché about how the honor is just in being nominated.
So how are they celebrating those nominations? By going on an acoustic tour. And, lemme tell ya, it's a pretty sweet show. The evening started off with a performance from a trio of hometown boys called Virginia Creeper; they've also opened for Carbon Leaf and Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, and their song, "Café", is scoring a bit of regional airplay. After taking the stage, lead singer Luke Taylor noted that their first song, by sheer coincidence, shared its title with a Tonic song: "Take Me As I Am". Since Virginia Creeper tend to favor a more organic sound anyway, performing in an acoustic setting came naturally to them, and they put on an extremely strong performance, with highlights including the two songs already referenced, as well as "Get Off Your Knees". A cover of Radiohead's "Creep" also brought a strong crowd response. The band showed a tendency to fall into sounding a bit too much like Dave Matthews, something which colored the second half of their set more than the first, but, overall, both their material and performance was strong. When Tonic took the stage, Hart, Jeff Russo, and Dan Lavery each sat on a stool: Russo left, Hart center, and Lavery right. With little in the way of a preface, they launched into "Open Up Your Eyes". It was gorgeous. The sound was crisp and clear, the harmonies were exquisite, and the blending of guitar and bass was stellar. If you think this is somewhat hyperbolic, all I can tell you is that before I walked into the concert, I couldn't have told you more than a handful of songs by Tonic. I walked out of there a solid fan of the band, wondering about the odds of their releasing a document of the tour, perhaps a live CD. Apparently figuring they had an audience full of folks who weren't just there to hear the hit singles and then leave, the group followed "Open Up Your Eyes" with two such singles back to back: "Take Me As I Am" and "You Wanted More". After performing "Head on Straight", the band unveiled the drum kit behind them, heretofore unperformed on. "Straight from Toys 'R Us," the audience was assured, "and brand new. We keep going through them." The addition of percussion was a pleasant change, but it wasn't overused; although Russo and Lavery each took their turn behind the kit during the evening, its use was sporadic. The evening, as noted in this review's opening paragraph, provided a different kind of show. It was casual and laid back. After "On Your Feet Again", Hart announced to the crowd, less than proudly, that he'd just gotten a haircut. "I'm a little concerned," he admitted, "that it looks like Lego hair. Like you could just pop it right off my head." With that, one of his fellow bandmates gladly contributed an appropriate vocal effect to clarify exactly what that'd sound like. "Have you seen or heard about the backstage area of this place?" Hart then asked the audience. "There's a bar, there's foosball, there's a hot tub...frankly, it's too good for the likes of us." The set list mixed things up between the group's three albums, but they also reached into their pile of soundtrack contributions at one point, performing the Fred Neil / Harry Nilsson classic, "Everybody's Talkin'", which Tonic recorded for Clay Pigeons. Before they began the song, they admitted it was a request for someone in the audience and hadn't played it live in ages, warning, "We are now officially entering Utter Chaos Mode; this could be a train wreck." As it turned out, their fears were completely unfounded. After a lovely blending of the band's song "Count on Me (Somebody)" with the Cure's "Pictures of You", Tonic decided to really get loose, opting for an extended round of Name That Tune. Lasting the better part of a half-hour, the group performed portions of songs by Led Zeppelin, Rush, Rick Springfield, and the Beatles, then performed "Sweet Home Alabama" in its entirety. The audience loved every minute of it, and Hart declared the game to be, "as they say in Memphis, funner than Hell." "If You Could Only See", the band's signature song, followed, with "Casual Affair" finishing off the proper show. When the band returned for the encore, it was with three songs: "Soldier's Daughter", "Waltz With Me", and "Sugar". As noted above, the best thing Tonic could possibly do for their fans is release a live album culled from some of these acoustic dates. It's as good as the band's ever sounded (this has been confirmed by several folks who've been fans for much longer than I have), and the acoustic setting really makes the melodies in the group's songs stand out. If you've written off Tonic as "one of those bands that all sound the same", don't make your final decision until you've had a chance to catch them on this tour. It could well make all the difference. —
9 April 2003 People
Magazine (Song - by Sona Charaipotra)-
"Kiss me for believing/Love me now for always knowing/When to let
you go," Tonic frontman Emerson Hart sings in his nuanced, heart-wrenching
baritone on "Count On Me
(Somebody)," a ballad as melodic and radio-ready as the band's
1997 No. 1 single "If You Could Only See." It's Hart's earnest
lyrics and soaring choruses, set against a country-tinged blend of guitars
- a bit of steel here, a bit of mandolin there - that makes this the
group's strongest album to date. But while there are plenty of three-minute
love songs, the L.A. trio doesn't forsake other emotional territory.
The desolate "Let Me Go" is punctuated by pangs of melancholy.
And the politically charges "Irish," an impassioned story
song about Ireland's freedom fight, shows just how much Tonic has going
on in its Head. Bottom Line - drink up Tonic! Billboard (Reviews & Previews)- There's a good reason why the first single from Tonic's fourth album, "Head On Straight," sounds so effortless and relaxed. Group delegates Emerson Hart, Jeff Russo, and Dan Lavery decided to luxuriate on the island of Maui, Hawaii to write and record. While most rock-rooted bands are pushing to bang their heads as hard as they can in light of current radio trends, the easy breezes and tropical views apparently steered Tonic in a more melodic direction. Guitars are still there in plentitude, thanks to production props from Bob Rock (Metallica, Veruca Salt), but "Take Me As I Am" is more sophisticated than much of what's coming down the pike. Because it's not all about the decibel level, you're actually able to discern the thoughtful lyric about isolation and loneliness and savor a truly well-manicured hook. Tonic's got the goods here to score at home on rock radio with an easy evolution to mainstream and adult top 40. This sounds like the biggest hit from the band since "If You Could Only See" way back in '97. This Tonic is ready for consumption. |
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Nowhere does the trio's current musical statement resound more strongly than in granite-edged first single "Take Me As I Am," which opens with a weighty guitar riff then reveals the pop hooks that first separated the band from the pack in 1997. The single shipped to rock radio Aug. 20. "It's a bridge; it's a great way to experience the next step of Tonic," singer/songwriter/guitarist Emerson Hart says. "It's a great way to start, lyrically. We're not about image. We stake our entire career on the strength of our songs." Bridging the band's previous work--its platinum-plus debut album, Lemon Parade, and the follow-up, Sugar--with the new album is at the heart of Unviersal's marketing campaign. "The band has such a strong base. They've done all the work already. So it's just a matter of connecting the dots between their previous album and this new one, which isn't hard to do," says Tom Derr, Universal Records' VP of marketing. Label reps got out their felt-tip pens this summer during the Jeep World Outside festival, in which Tonic dished up old and new material alike alongside rockers Sheryl Crow, Train, and others. Anticipation has also been high at radio, with which Universal will be working a variety of promotions around dates on the band's U.S. tour, which kicks off in October. "Rock radio is still dealing with the aggressive rap/rock trend," says Howard Leon, Universal VP of rock radio promotion. "But the meat and potatoes of rock and alternative radio still lies in the craftsmanship and appeal of artists like Tonic." "This song rocks," says Greg Patrick, PD at WAVF Charleston, S.C., who is trying to book the band for a radio show. "They write great rock songs, and hopefully this one will take off," he says. "I am firmly of the belief that some of these core bands from three or four years ago are still relevant. I'm not willing to cast them aside just because they're more mainstream." For the band, early mainstream success ushered in not only tremendous opportunity but also the desire to step back and take it all in. For one, Hart bid farewell to Los Angeles, where bandmates Jeff Russo and Dan Lavery still make their home, and hung his shingle in Nashville. Much of Head On Straight was written during an initial year "Off," in which Hart says he holed down and let Nashville's "bucolic setting" wash over him. "I needed that time to get my head together. We had always been touring, always on the road," he explains. "I wanted to make sure the next record would be coming from fresh eyes and ears." The trio hammered out finishing touches in Hart's basement during a rendezvous, and found their creative muse leading them down a harder-edged road. "We wanted to make a rock record," Hart says. "Sugar had rock moments but it was a little more introspective musically, a little more mellow. We wanted to punch it heavy this time." To get the job done, they turned to veteran producer Bob Rock, whose "laid-back efficiency" and Maui, Hawaii, studio-setting provided a welcome change after the draining experience of self-producing Sugar, according to Hart. Of that experience, Hart says, "It was exhausting. We couldn't stay focused and there was really no neutral party. This time it was a great experience. We enjoyed recording music again, and he was able to bring things out of us--and particularly out of me as a singer--that we hadn't been able to capture before." Tonic found another new partner in manager Irving Azoff, with whom the band signed after Sugar. Of the relationship, Hart says, "Irving came to us and said, 'Lets take the band to the next level.' I can't say enough good things about the way he's helped me as an artist." Pulse (Hype - Tom Lanham)- Trying to shake his hard-partying ways, Tonic team-leader Emerson Hart moved from fast-paced New York to Los Angeles long ago. He quickly discovered that he didn't exactly click with any clique. "There was the porno set, the rich inherited money set, the rock musician set," he sighs. And his straightforward songwriting style (jangly, narrative pop with cheery vocals and heartwarming hooks) didn't exactly scream Sunset Strip. So two years ago, he and his wife, Nicole, relocated to a more creatively conducive locale - Nashville, Tenn., right in the heart of the Music Row metropolis. Stetson-brimmed, silver belt-buckled Nashville?! Hart claims he knew exactly what he was doing. And it's added a farm-fresh vitality to the summery tracks on Head On Straight (Universal), Tonic's new, third outing. Confessional chimers like "Count On Me," "Take Me As I Am," and the picture-perfect "Believe Me" were rooted in a more relaxed, artistic process, Hart notes. "I moved into a real old neighborhood called Green Hills, and I've got an acre-and-a-half, an old Southern Colonial 1930s home and Emmylou Harris lives right down the street. And when I wake up in the morning, I have peace. I walk down to the basement with my coffee and I just create. It's kind of like Pollock moving out to the country -- I had to find that clarity." Hart also shaved his trademark beard ("I actually get carded now!"), and he and the missus hang out with a kindred couple - Sixpence None the Richer's Leigh Nash and her hubby, Mark. So Nashville's not nearly as bad as non-twangy outsiders would imagine? Hart guffaws. "There are actually three different worlds there. Number One, there's the glossy, glammy country world, with hit songs listed on the front of BMI and ASCAP and congratulations to the composers. Two, there's the world of Emmylou, Steve Earle and my wife's father, Chris Gantry - an old Kristofferson-type songwriter. And third, there's Bell Meade, one of the largest concentrations of old money in the States. So socially, the three never mix. Everybody just co-exists, and you choose to make it what you wanna make it. And even though nobody ever mingles, there's no weirdness. For me, this is just a great town."
Elle
(Elle.com, Daily Essential Monday)-
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Billboard
(Artists & Music - by Catherine
Applefeld Olson)- While elixirs often mellow with time, guitar-driven
melody maker Tonic cranks it up on its third set, Head on Straight,
due Sept. 24 from Universal Records.