Tonic
Emerson Hart, one of Tonic's three current members
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, CA
Genres	Post-grunge, Alternative rock
Years active	1993 (1993)–2004 2008–present
Labels	Polydor/A&M/Universal/429 Records
Website	www.tonic-online.com www.myspace.com/tonicband
Members
Emerson Hart Jeff Russo Dan Lavery
Past members
Dan Rothchild Kevin Shepard

Tonic is an American rock band that has earned two Grammy nominations to date. The band was formed in 1993 by Emerson Hart and Jeff Russo. Later members have included Dan Lavery, Kevin Shepard, and Dan Rothchild. Signed to a recording contract in 1995, the band released its debut album Lemon Parade in 1996. The single "If You Could Only See" reached No. 11 on the Billboard Airplay Hot 100, 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, Tonic released its third album Head on Straight in 2002. Tonic received two Grammy 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 continuing to tour on a regular basis into late 2011, Tonic announced they began writing and recording new songs in January 2012.^[1]

History[link]

Tonic was founded by Emerson Hart and guitarist Jeff Russo, long-separated childhood friends who randomly crossed paths at a Los Angeles, California area pool hall in 1993.^[3][4] The pair quickly began collaborating on music writing, and soon added bass player Dan Rothchild, whom they met at venue named the Kibitz room.^[4] The final addition to the band was drummer Kevin Shepard, who was recruited at an L.A. venue named Masker's Cafe.^[4] The newly formed group performed gigs around the Los Angeles, California area prior to signing their first professional recording contract in 1995.^[5] Earning a reputation as a "relentlessly gigging" band, Tonic played over 300 shows in less than two years during the mid-to-late 1990s.^[6]

Teaming with producer Jack Joseph Puig, Tonic released their debut album Lemon Parade on July 15, 1996.^[2][5] 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."^[2] Singles for the songs "Open Up Your Eyes" and "If You Could Only See", 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.^[3] Music videos were created for the songs "Open Up Your Eyes," "If You Could Only See," and "Soldier's Daughter."^[7] The Lemon Parade album spent 57 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching a peak of #28 during the week of August 2, 1997.^[8] By February 2003 Lemon Parade's running total of albums sold had reached 1.3 million copies.^[9]

Dan Lavery 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.^[10] The year 1997 marked the band's first contribution to an original soundtrack, recording the song "Eyes of Sand" for the Scream 2 soundtrack.^[11] 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'" for the Clay Pigeons soundtrack.^[12][13] Tonic also performed a cover of the song "Second Hand News" for the album "Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac's Rumours."^[14] 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. 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".^[15] 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, which was directed by Academy Award-winning director Davis Guggenheim. 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[link]

The band returned to the studio to self-produce their second album.^[17] Released on November 9, 1999, the album title Sugar shared the same name as the fifth track on the recording.^[16] The creative and collaborative process spanned several geographic locations including Austin, Texas, and a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m²) mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana, where actual recording for the album was performed.^[18] "Knock Down Walls" and "You Wanted More" were charting singles released off the record, with the latter having first appeared on the soundtrack to the movie American Pie.^[19] With Shepard no longer part of the band, Peter Maloney played drums on the album, although Joey Waronker 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.^[7] Tonic appeared on the television shows Late Night with Conan O'Brien and "The Martin Short Show" in late 1999 as part of additional promotion.^[20][21] Sugar spent eight total weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, reaching a peak of #81 in its first week of release.^[8]

A cover of the song "East Bound and Down" for the King of the Hill original television soundtrack rounded out the group's output for the year 1999.^[22] The band later contributed a performance of "Mean To Me" to the fourth installment in the charitable Live in the X Lounge album series.^[23]

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.^[17] In 2002 the band began collaborating with producer Bob Rock on their next studio recording.^[17] In contrast to the "exhausting" experience of self-producing Sugar, producer Rock's "laid-back efficiency" and Hawaii studio location provided a welcome change.^[17] The resulting studio album, Head on Straight, was released on September 1, 2002.^[24]

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.^[10] 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 #141.^[8] In its review of the album, Rolling Stone described it by saying it was, "...less rootsy and harder-rocking than previous efforts."^[25] 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."^[9]

Hiatus[link]

While Head on Straight had sold 34,000 copies by February 2003, in 2003 the band received two Grammy 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.^[9][27] While the band's activity began to diminish, they participated in the annual The Rock Boat music-themed cruise, performing there in 2004 for instance.^[28] The grind of constant touring over the previous seven years had taken its toll on the band, and each member needed some space.^[26]

Tonic went on hiatus beginning in 2004, all three members began working on other projects unrelated to Tonic.^[26] Hart released a solo album entitled Cigarettes and Gasoline on July 17, 2007.^[29] Russo became part of the band Low Stars, who released a self-titled CD in 2007.^[30] Lavery did song writing for projects including the feature-length movies The Passion of the Christ and Elektra, and began playing bass on tour for The Fray in March 2007.^[26] 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."^[26]

Band reactivation[link]

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.^[31] "We're [planning on] getting together to write some new material," Russo said.^[31] "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."^[31]

Officially active again, Tonic had already played their first show together in many years on September 16, 2008 at a venue in Antioch, Illinois.^[33] As part of the band's 2009 tour, a greatest hits compilation titled "A Casual Affair:The Best of Tonic" was released.^[34] The album featured live versions of the songs "Irish" and "Sugar" in addition to an acoustic version of "You Wanted More."^[34] November 2009 marked the band's inclusion in the video game Band Hero, as the track "If You Could Only See" was a playable song in the game.^[35]

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.^[32] Pete Maloney also continued his longtime association with the band by playing drums on the album.^[32] The album was jointly produced by Tonic and Nathaniel Kunkel, with the song "Release Me" chosen as the first single from the album.^[36] A promotional behind the scenes tour of Conway Studios hosted by Emerson Hart is available on Amazon.com's Tonic store and YouTube.^[37] 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."^[36] The self-titled album spent one week on the Billboard 200 chart, where it ranked 150.^[38] Tonic continued to tour in conjunction with the release of their self-titled album into late 2011.^[32]

2011 and beyond[link]

Tonic continued to actively tour into 2011. As 2012 began, the band made official announcements via their Twitter feed that writing and recording on new songs had begun.^[1] With the new project only days old, other information about the upcoming studio album remains unknown.

Current personnel[link]

• Emerson Hart - Lead and Backing Vocals, Rhythm acoustic and Electric Guitars.
• Jeff Russo - Lead and Rhythm electric and acoustic Guitars, Backing Vocals, Rhodes, String machine, and Slide Guitar.
• Dan Lavery - Bass Guitars, Backing Vocals, Rhodes, Piano.

Additional touring personnel[link]

• Pete Maloney - Drums
• Miles McPherson - Drums

Discography[link]

Studio Albums:

• Lemon Parade (1996)
• Sugar (1999)
• Head on Straight (2002)
• Tonic (2010)
• TBA (?)

Other Albums:

• Live and Enhanced (1999)
• A Casual Affair: The Best of Tonic (2009)

External links[link]

• Official site
• Official Myspace Page
• Tonic's official Twitter page
• Tonic at Allmusic

References[link]

Look up tonic in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Tonic may refer to:

• Tonic water, a drink traditionally containing quinine
• Soft drink, a carbonated beverage
• Tonic (physiology), the response of a muscle fiber or nerve ending typified by slow, continuous action
• Herbal tonic, a herbal medicine with tonic effects
• Tonic (music), a concept of musical theory
• Tonic (band), an American rock band
• Tonic (Tonic album), 2010
• Tonic (music venue), a New York City music venue, 1998–2007
• Tonic (Medeski Martin & Wood album), 2000
• Tonic (radio program), Canadian radio program

See also[link]

• Patent medicine that claims to have tonic properties

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Look up band in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Band may refer to:

Clothing, jewelry, and accessories[link]

• Bands (neckwear), two pieces of cloth fitted around the neck as part of formal clothing for clergy, academics, and lawyers
• Bandolier or bandoleer, an ammunition belt
• Belt (clothing)
• Wedding ring or wedding band
• Strap, an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of fabric or leather

Science and technology[link]

• Band (radio), a range of frequencies or wavelengths used in radio transmission and radar
• Rubber band, a short length of rubber and latex formed in the shape of a loop
• Möbius strip or Möbius band, an artifact with interesting topological features
• Band (mathematics), an idempotent semigroup
• Spectral bands, part of the optical spectra of polyatomic systems
• Metals and semiconductors
  • Valence band
  • Conduction band
  • Band gap

Medicine and biology[link]

• Bird ringing, or bird banding, placing a numbered bands of metal on birds' legs for identification
• A group of animals, such as gorillas or coyotes
  • Herd
  • Flocking (behavior)
• Band cell, a type of white blood cell
• Protein band, see Coomassie
• Gastric band, a weight-control measure

Organizations[link]

• Bands (Italian Army irregulars), military units once in the service of the Italian Regio Esercito
• Brazilian broadcast television network Rede Bandeirantes, nicknamed Band or Band Network
• The Band (wrestling), the Total Nonstop Wrestling name for the professional wrestling stable New World Order

Society and government[link]

• Band society, a small group of humans in a simple form of society
• The primary unit of Native Americans in the United States
• Band (First Nations Canada), the primary unit of First Nations Government in Canada

People[link]

• Band (surname)

Places[link]

• Band, Mureş in Romania
• Bánd, a village in Hungary

Music[link]

• Band, a company of musicians—see Musical ensemble
  • Rock band
  • Concert band
  • School band, a group of student musicians who rehearse and perform instrumental music together
  • Marching band, a group of performers that consist of instrumental musicians who generally perform outdoors and incorporate some type of marching (and possibly other movements) with their musical performance
• The Band, a Canadian-American rock and roll group
  • The Band (album), its eponymous album released in 1969

See also[link]

• All pages beginning with "Band"
• All pages with titles containing "Band"
• Banding (disambiguation)
• Drum and bugle corps (disambiguation)
• Stripe (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Demetri Martin
Demetri Martin at Northeastern University on April 11, 2007
Born	(1973-05-25) May 25, 1973 (age 39) New York City, New York, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	Since 2002
Genres	Observational comedy, surreal humor, musical comedy, wit/wordplay, sketch comedy
Subject(s)	Everyday Life, American Culture, Random Subjects
Influences	Steven Wright, Eddie Izzard, Emo Philips, Mitch Hedberg, Socrates
Notable works and roles	· Demetri Martin. Person.  · Correspondent on The Daily Show  · Himself/Various on Important Things with Demetri Martin  · Elliot Tiber in Taking Woodstock (2009)
Website	www.demetrimartin.com

Demetri Martin (born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, artist, musician, writer and humorist. Martin is best known for his work as a stand-up comedian, contributor on The Daily Show and for his Comedy Central show Important Things with Demetri Martin.

Early life[link]

Demetri Martin was born to a Greek American family^[1] in New York City, New York, and grew up in Toms River, New Jersey. He is the son of Lillian, a nutritionist, and Dean C. Martin, now deceased, a Greek Orthodox priest.^[2] Martin graduated from Yale University in 1995. Although he was accepted into Harvard Law School, he went to New York University School of Law after he received a full scholarship.^[3]

Career[link]

In 2001, Martin caught his first big break in stand-up comedy when he appeared on Comedy Central's stand-up showcase Premium Blend. At the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe he won the Perrier award with his show If I....^[4] The show was turned into a British television special in 2004. From 2003 to 2004, Martin wrote for Late Night with Conan O'Brien.^[5] In 2004, Martin had his own Comedy Central Presents stand-up special. His special was divided into three parts. In the first, he performed in traditional stand-up comedy fashion. In the second segment, he used humorous drawings as visual aids, which would serve either as the punchline or a background. During the third segment, he played a guitar and put on a pseudo-play where he would strum his guitar while alternating between playing harmonica and talking; some of his comedian friends dressed as fairies and dragons acted according to the story he was telling, detailing the magical land where his jokes came from. Martin's mother and grandmother also appeared.

Since late 2005, he has been credited as a contributor on The Daily Show, on which he has appeared as the named "Senior Youth Correspondent" and on which he hosts a segment called "Trendspotting". He has used this segment to talk about so-called hip trends among youth such as hookahs, wine, guerilla marketing and Xbox 360. A piece about social networking featured his profile on MySpace.^[6] On March 22, 2007, Demetri made another appearance on The Daily Show, talking about the Viacom lawsuit against Google and YouTube.

He has recorded a comedy CD/DVD titled These Are Jokes, which was released on September 26, 2006. This album also features Saturday Night Live member Will Forte and stand-up comedian Leo Allen.

Martin returned to The Daily Show on March 22, 2006, as the new Youth Correspondent, calling his segment "Professional Important News with Demetri Martin". In 2007, he starred in a Fountains of Wayne music video for "Someone to Love" as Seth Shapiro, a character in the song. He also starred in the video for the Travis single "Selfish Jean", in which he wears multiple t-shirts with lyrics written on them.

On September 2, 2007, Martin appeared on the season finale of the HBO series Flight of the Conchords. He appeared as a keytar player named Demetri.^[7]

He also had a part in the movie The Rocker (2008) starring Rainn Wilson. Martin played the part of the videographer when the band in the movie was making their first music video.

In 2009, he hosted and starred in his own television show called Important Things With Demetri Martin on Comedy Central. Later in June, it was announced his show had been renewed for a second season.^[8] The second season premiered, again on Comedy Central, on February 4, 2010. Martin has stated that Important Things will not return for a third season.

Prior to completing work on his second season, Martin starred in the comedy-drama film Taking Woodstock (2009), directed by Ang Lee, which premiered at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival. In the film Martin plays Elliot Tiber, a closeted gay artist who has given up his ambitions in the city to move upstate and help his old-world Jewish family run their Catskill Mountains motel. The film is based on the book written by Tiber.

On April 25, 2011, Martin released his first book, titled This Is a Book by Demetri Martin.

Martin was slated to portray Paul DePodesta as Oakland Athletics assistant GM to Billy Beane in the 2011 movie Moneyball, however was dropped and Jonah Hill took his place in the movie.

Plans[link]

Martin sold his movie concept Will to DreamWorks; he is expected to play a key supporting role.^[9] He will play the lead in the film Moon People, a pitch that he sold to Columbia Pictures.

Martin also signed a blind script deal with CBS in October 2010 to produce, write, and star in his own television series.^[10]

After CBS was shown the pilot for the series, they decided not to air it.^[11]

On August 11, 2011, Fox ordered a presentation of a new animated show they might air.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] If I

If I is a Perrier Comedy Award-winning comedy one-man show written and performed by Demetri Martin at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.^[12] It was also aired on British television as a special. The show is an autobiographical examination of Martin's life, as seen through various definitions of the word "if."

The title of the special comes from a lengthy palindromic poem that Martin wrote; the words "if I" are at the center of the poem.^[13]

Comedic style[link]

Martin is known for being an unconventional stand-up comic. He uses one-liners and drawings on a "large pad", as well as accompanying his jokes with music on either guitar, harmonica, piano, keyboard, glockenspiel, toy bells, ukulele, or tambourine, sometimes all at once.^[14] He has cited comedian Steven Wright as an important influence (both use deadpan one-liners in their acts) and he is also a fan of Bill Cosby.^[15]

Personal life[link]

According to a July 2011 interview on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast, Demetri had a short-lived marriage to a girl he knew from high school. They began dating after high school and got married when he was in NYU Law School and she was attending NYU Medical School. He was aged 25 and in the end of his marriage when his stand-up career began.^[3]

He is extremely allergic to nuts and peanuts.^[16]

Martin moved to Santa Monica, California in 2009.^[17]

Filmography[link]

• Invite Them Up (2005)
• These Are Jokes (2006)
• Demetri Martin. Person. (2007)
• Important Things with Demetri Martin (2009–2010)

Filmography and television work[link]

Written works[link]

• This Is a Book, April 2011, ISBN 978-0446539708.

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Official website
• Demetri Martin on Myspace
• Demetri Martin at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview from November, 2006, in Onion AV Club
• Interview from October 2006, in The DePaulia
• Article, in The Scotsman
• Article, in Gelf Magazine
• Interview by Brian M. Palmer
• MP3 Audio Interview on The Sound of Young America public radio show and podcast
• Interview Believer Mag
• New Jersey Monthly Magazine
• Fresh Air, NPR.org