In The Beginning…

 Sonic Tonic was born on March 1st, 2015. Andrew Paffendorf, Rudy Manahan and Eyal Wigdor got together in Mira Mesa on a beautiful Sunday morning with the goal of completing nine cover songs that day and seeing if there was enough chemistry there to warrant moving forward with a full band project. Hits and misses had plagued us for close to three years at that point and we wanted the vision we had to work out this time. What was that vision? Play an eclectic mix of songs that were not only popular, but we wanted to include some B-Side material and deep cuts as well. If that wasn’t enough, the band wanted to inject some humor into their sets to surprise the crowd. The original nine were as follows:

Fortunate Son - CCR

Get Back - The Beatles

Tuesday’s Gone - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Blitzkreig Bop - The Ramones

Crazy Train - Ozzy

Anyway You Want It - Journey

Dream On - Aerosmith

Creep - Radiohead

Crazy (Nattie and The Casual T’s Arrangement) - Gnarls Barkley

After the three got tight on those songs we felt it was time to find a singer. An ad was placed on Craigslist and one candidate stood out and she was asked to immediately audition. She knocked “Crazy” completely out of the park and was asked to join the band. Shamini Jain was the first singer in Sonic Tonic history.

After developing a few more songs, it was time to add a second guitarist to the band. After searching high and low (well actually Shamini found him) we brought in the very talented Erik Moberly into the fold. Having two guitarists made us really flexible and increased our song choices ten fold. We added a few more songs, deleted others, and even added in an epic or two to really shake things up!

**Fun Fact**Now comes the part where we came up with the band name and why Rudy chose the Midway for our first photoshoot. We had come up with and rejected several names. I was stuck on working the word “Sonic” in there from day one. Sure I loved Sonic Youth back in the day, but didnt really care for the drive in restaurant. I wanted it to reflect a “sonic experience” coming to see us. A wide variety of songs from all genres. I finally threw my hands in the air and left it to a name generator. I typed in Sonic, and let it rip. Of the 20 it gave me, I think five were good, so leaving practice one day I started listing the names. The third one down was “Sonic Tonic” and when I said it, Erik and Eyal said “Yeah, I can live with that.” I liked it already, and Rudy and Shamini thought it worked…and there it was!

Lets Get the show on the road!

We played our first show in Temucula, CA opening for our friends, Xanadoodz, a fantastic Rush tribute band, on August 14th, 2015. We not only got our first paycheck, but our first bar tab…which Rudy’s party promptly used! (Im looking at you Paul Stanley). The show was a success and we had begun the journey!

We were off and running. We picked up gigs in The East County, Cardiff By The Sea, Carlsbad and the South Bay. Our set list grew and so did our friendships with various other San Diego bands and people that had come out to see us play repeatedly. We were learning the ropes, learning how to be professionals and working on our stagecraft…all while having the best times of our lives!

Highway 61, Revisited…

As with any project involving multiple people, be it a team or a band, each individual must carry their share of the load to be successful. As Sonic Tonic entered 2016, there was a member of the band that was being pulled in many different directions and focus on Sonic Tonic was somehow lost in the shuffle, by late spring of 2016 we were in search of a new singer. We didn’t have to look far because our former singer in our previous band was looking for a rock and roll gig. I reached out, she came in, learned the songs and wanted to join the band. Welcome to Sonic Tonic Natalia Hill!!!

With a fresh outlook and a renewed energy Sonic Tonic started getting shows at The Del Mar Fair, up at clubs in Orange County and invites from as far away as Pasadena. Things were now moving along at light speed and we really expanded or set list, until, that is, life came knocking at the door and our little, upcoming band was once again placed back into park. Erik had some life events that pulled his attention away from the band. Erik’s decision was supported by all of us and he was given an open invitation to rejoin us anytime he wanted.

It was at this time, Natalia said, “We should add keys to this band, so while we add a new guitar player, we should also post for a keyboard player.” We all looked at each other and said that would be a cool idea. I know Rudy and I were chomping at the bit to add “Joker And The Thief” from Wolfmother and to actually have “Starlight” from Muse sound like the original version. So the search was on…

Timothy and Tommy The Cat

I posted an ad in the usual places and the search was on! One small issue was that we found plenty of guitar players, and no keyboard players. We moved forward on the assumption that we would find, but, could wait on the keys, as long as we got that much needed second guitarist. Auditions were held and hands down, Tim McCabe was our choice. Not only was he just a good dude, he just fit our band. It was evident right from the get go. We also had another guy come in, young kid, funny as hell, just a great dude AND he played both guitar and keys, but he was there for the guitar spot. While he was a good player, we decided on Tim. As we were about to call Tim, Natalia asked us if there was anyway we could get the kid, Tommy in the band. All of us liked him instantly and thought he was just a great personality fit, so I took a chance. I wrote to him and said “You didn’t get the guitar part, but how would you feel about playing keys?” He said yes, and Tommy Chacon joined Sonic Tonic.

With A Little Luck…

So now you are all saying…OK, I know these guys, seen them play a bunch of times, lets go check out the new guys. The line-up looks solid and they are ready to go! As luck would have it, one of the founders of the band, Eyal, was just starting out his young family and for those of you who have just gotten married, and/or had your first little one, you know there is no time for things like playing in a band. On the eve of the first show with Tim and Tommy, Eyal was forced to bow out. We figured we would just move forward that night with one guitar. Tommy then spoke up and said “I learned all of the guitar parts, I can handle it.” Sure enough, Tommy played his ass off that night and we had a hugely successful night. We were comfortable knowing that Eyal was under no pressure now because Tommy could fill in at any time. We carried on through the winter, spring and into the summer of 2017. It was during the summer that some cracks started showing. We were gaining a bigger following and playing in more places than ever before. In 2015 and 2016 we played 16 shows, in 2017 alone, we were on a pace to play closer to 30 shows. Natalia, who was also the singer in another local band, was starting to run into a lot of conflicts with her schedule, and our push to get into even more places and play even more shows was not working for her. We mutually parted ways in the summer of 2017. So here we were, again, looking for a permanent player in our band.

I COME FROM A LAND DOWN UNDER…

We wanted to get back up to speed quickly after Natalia’s departure. Normally, a three or four month wait to get someone up to speed was acceptable, but we, at this point really were starting to take off locally and we were getting all kinds of gigs thrown at us. We didn’t want to cancel, so we put the impossible task of being ready in less than a month on our new singer. It was basically “You want to join this band, we have a gig in about four weeks up in Encinitas, you gonna be ready?” Those of you who follow us know that we play all over the place. Hard rock, Metal, Alt, you name it, but when a rock star falls into your lap oh those times they are a changin’. That rock star was Kes O’Hara. Bon Scott, Lemmy, Rod Stewart and Wendy O. Williams got together and had a baby, and it was Kes O’Hara from Orange, NSW, Australia. The fit with Sonic Tonic was not exact, and we would have to change up our act a bit to accomodate her, but what the hell, lets go!

The Kes O’Hara era, while fun, was further straying away from what we set out to do. We dropped many of our crowd favorites for songs that fit our singer better. We incorporated more AC/DC, Alice In Chains, Guns N Roses and heavier stuff to make the most of the voice that we had been gifted. We also noted a decline of our regular audience and we needed to get back to what we had set out to do. During this time original member, Eyal Wigdor, could no longer participate as much as was needed to remain with the band. Eyal and Sonic Tonic parted ways at this time. Kes lasted with us about six months before she headed back to Texas, then NOLA permanently.

For our next singer, we wanted to push back into our variety style, multi genre style that people had been acustomed to. We also wanted to integrate some of that humor we had talked about earlier in our formation.

Hail To the King!