Tonic's first album in eight years came together without drama or coercion, according to frontman Emerson Hart.
"I don't think we ever considered it over; we all wanted to take time off to do our own things," Hart tells Billboard.com about the trio's hiatus, which started in 2004 after touring to promote the "Head On Straight" album.
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We kind of sat down and had some dinner, and it was like...'I think we have something to say now. Maybe we can say it as a band.' That's kind of how it works."
Hart and bandmates Jeff Russo and Dan Lavery started writing material for "Tonic" - due out May 4 on 429 Records - in the summer of 2009, mostly at Hart's home in Nashville.
The group recorded over a month in the fall at Conway Studios in Hollywood with Nathaniel Kunkel co-producing and longtime associate Pete Maloney on drums. The album's 11 tracks the towards the hooky, melodic pop sound of Tonic's three previous releases, mixing rockers ("Bigger Than," "Release Me," "She Goes Down," "Feel It Now") with mellower fare such as "Nothing Is Everything" and "Resolve" - but also throwing in some curve balls like "Precious Little Bird," which Hart wrote after unpacking some Smiths albums during a household move.
Tonic won't be hard to find once "Tonic" is released, Hart says, as the group plans to be on the road all summer.
Read the entire article at Billboard.com.
