Bands listed in reverse order:
1 Euphoria
2 Strikes Twice
3 Hidden Pictures
4 Bang Theory
5 Crying out Loud
6 Romeo Jones
7 The Reactions
8 The Lee Ryon Band
9 Wild Life
10 Boys Nite Out
11 Out of the Blue
12 Tony Lonely Band
13 The Defectors
14 The Scam
15 The Electric Toys
16 Fazor
17 Stallion
18 The Expressers
Bands listed in chronological order:
1. The Expressers 1972-74
.. Well it all started here. This was a band I started with a friend when
I was 12 years old, Jimmy Doane on guitar, Jerry Roach on Drums and Tony
Stoufer on guitar and vocals. We were just 12 year old kids but we played
a lot of Creedance Clearwater and Ventures and original surf type tunes
like Guitar Rumble .. It was fun and we played a lot of hippie parties
and strange gigs but it was fun and very eye opening.
Members:
Jimmy Doane - guitar
Jerry Roach - Drums
Tony Stoufer - guitar and vocals
2. Stallion-1976
This was a band I formed with a High school friend Mark Fratti.. We
played old Styx tunes along with Rush, and Peter Frampton tunes. It was
short lived but we had fun playing at parties and Jr. high school
dances..
Members:
Mark Fratti - Guitar
Ron Montgomery - Drums
Mike Lufgin - Bass
Tony Stoufer - Guitar and Vocal
3. Fazor -1978
Well this was one of the wild party bands I formed with guitarist Art
Peterson..We did a lot of beer bash 5 kegger type parties and played
songs by Rush, Pat Travers, AC/DC, Kansas, and a few originals, It was a
bit dangerous because there a lot of fights at those events .. The band
also was known as Fazor and Beer , from the flyers that circulated..
Members:
Art Peterson - Guitar
Bob Cassero - Bass
Ron Montgomery - Drums
Tony S - guitar, Vocals
4. The Electric Toys- 1979 -80
Well this was the first real Professional Band I was asked to join and we
had a real managers and great gigs, Speicially built rehearsal studio
and Cool clothes, We Played Sonoma County clubs and high schools and
some great gigs in San Francisco, at the Palms ..
I consider this to be among the Best Bands I ever played with, and Phil
Holden to be one of the best Guitarist / Songwriters ever..I learned a
lot then. What to do and what not to do to have a professional band..We
did some great demos ..
Members:
Phil Holden - Guitar, vocals
David Payne - Bass, Vocals
Joe Murazzo - Drums
Tony Stoufer- Guitar, vocals
5. The Scam- 1981-82
Very Short lived band I formed with Mike G we did a
few gigs and played tunes by Tommy James, Joe Jackson and some
Originals..
Members:
Ron Montgomery- drums
Mike G - Bass
Tony Stoufer -Guitar and Vocals
6. The Defectors -1983.
Here's where my dates get shaky-I started to record a demo with Friends
Joey Aquilla on drums, and Kevin
Mathis on Bass, which turn out to be the Tony Lonely Band Demos.. Joe
Brinkman helped me finish the vocals and I joined The Defectors to do
some real gigging.. This Band played all Originals and had more gigs than
any Band in Sonoma County. We traveled all over California. to some
really great clubs .. And across country for some gigs in the Midwest..
Some really great memories from Traveling with this band..
Members:
Joe Brinkman- Keyboards, Vocals
Dave Anderson- Drums
Chris Leshington - Bass
Tony Stoufer - guitar, Vocals
Stephen Byron Zar- guitar
7. Tony Lonely Band -1984 - 85
And now it was time to try it myself.. . Using the demos I had recorded,
pre Defectors. along with Ron Montgomery, I used these demos, to recruit
Dennis Hewlett on guitar and Mike Whittington on bass. To Form Tony
Lonely Band we did a lot of gigs in Sonoma and Marin counties Opening for
Eric Martin, and were building a good following. It was really fun to
front a band doing all my own tunes and pushing my strong lyrical writing
ability. But sad to say all good things come to an end and that band
split and went their separate ways. Many people round Sonoma County think
this was the Best band I was ever associated with .. and I have to say,
they might be Right..
Members:
Ron Montgomery - Drums
Mike Whittington -Bass, vocals
Dennis Hewlett -Guitar Vocals
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, keyboards, Vocals
8. Out of the Blue- 1986
Well coming out of 10 years of doing original music, I became slightly
disillusioned with the music Biz and felt at the time that I should try
and make a living playing cover music .. At this point I formed many
cover bands with friends and started playing other peoples hit songs. I
refer to those years as The Dark years, I did have a lot of fun but
wasted a huge 5-year gap of my life generating money and not Original
Music.. Looking back I really regret selling out and wonder what kind of
tunes I could have been writing then.. Making money playing seemed like
the thing to do at the time.
Mike G, and John Shoester and I put together a band called "Out of the
blue" and played Billy Idol, Romantics, and the Clash, Rocky Horror
themes and more punky new stuff at the time.. It was fun.
Members:
John ( SHU ) Shouster - bass, vocals
Mike Guinero- guitar, vocals
Tony Stoufer - guitar, Vocals
Jamie Lease - Drums
9. Boys Nite Out
My friend Phil Holden restarted this local cover band and asked me to
join playing guitar keyboards and singing. This long time successful
Sonoma County Cover band. It Included Mark Chole from The Eric Martin
band, a High School mate of mine, and a few other guys. My stay was short
lived but I learned a lot from the Ordeal.. And earned beaucoup bucks..
Members:
Allen Keller - Vocals
Phil Holden - Guitar Vocals
Mark Chole- bass
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Jerry ( Jewie) Fox - drums (Thanks Bud )
10. Wild Life
And then The Party Really Started, wow I am lucky I made it through
these days / nights. This bands antics were enough to kill a man, and
nearly did. It featured a few friends of mine from local Santa Rosa Bands
and we did all covers including, Heart, Jackson 5, Tom Petty, Hewy
Lewis.. You get the Picture . Once again I grew unhappy not playing my
original music so I asked to be replaced by my friend Danny Meblin on
guitar and keyboards, Thanks Dan
Members:
Lief Roades - Bass, Vocals
Scott Saturday - Drums Vocals
Rob Cunningham - Guitar Vocals
Tawney Ray - Vocals, hairspray
Tony Stoufer - Guitar , Keyboards , Vocals
11. The Lee Ryon Band
Well At this point I was starting to really wondering what the Hell I
was doing playing in cover bands, So this guy approached me named Larry
(LEE RYON) Robinson. He agreed to do a 50/50 split of covers and my
originals in the set list .. I thought this would work out good because I
could do real music in real clubs and get back into the Game. Well it
didn^Òt quite work out that way. Week after week, Lee axed my tunes till
there were only 2 tunes in the entire 4 sets and this is when I jumped
ship. My music meant more to me then the money. Although money was pretty
good at the time. Once again Dan Meblin replaced me on guitar and
Keyboards.. Thanks again to Dan^Åhe was my ticket out of Coverband hell
for a second time .
Members Included:
Lee Ryon - Guitar, vocals
Mike Whittington - Bass Vocals
Louie Rodregez - Drums
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, Keyboards Vocals
12. The Reactions
At this point I was still playing in The Lee Ryon Band and thought I
would join Phil Holden and Joe Brinkman from two former bands, and Start
a 60 Psychedelic cover band The Reactions, I was burning my candle at
both ends. Playing 5 nights a week with Lee Ryon band and rehearsing a
lot with the Reactions.. Man looking back, I don't know what I was
thinking.. I thought the Reactions was a great idea but trying to play 2
bands simultaneously on top of a day job, almost wiped me out, We Only
actually played a few gigs and were way ahead of our time.. Nowadays
bands like this with a special Niche are making tons of money .We played
a lot of really cool covers like, Pictures of matchstick man, 96tears,
physcotic Reaction, DR Roberts, And your bird can sing, etc.
Members:
Phil Holden -Guitar, Vocals
Joseph Brinkman- Vocals, Harp, Keyboards
Tray Long - Bass, Vocs
Dave Anderson - Drums
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, Keyboards, vocs
13. Romeo Jones
Ah yes back to playing Original Music.. At This point I was Ready to get
into the thick of real music again so I started up a band with Gary
Stipe, Kris Keefer and Jim Hicks. We wrote some really good tunes and
played / and won a few Battle of the bands. This band had a lot of
potential but due to my money worries and debts at the time. I was
offered a job playing in yet another cover band "Crying out loud" so I
didn't stay long. I really regret leaving this lineup. But would re-group
with them years later to record a CD worth of tunes
Members were:
Jim Hicks - Bass Vocals
Gary Stipe - guitar, vocals
Kris Keefer - Drums
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
14. Crying Out loud
This band was formed with members of a semi successful Santa Rosa Band
Miles Long and we played a few gigs in the local clubs. More hard rock
covers Def lepard, Billy Idol, and many tunes I didn't like at the time.
We did do some Originals and planned to do Original gigs but that never
happened and so we only lasted a short time..
Members:
Tim Paragrena - guitar , vocals
Jim ( Jet ) Spalding - Bass
Tony Ray - lead Vocals
Dean Rhodes - Drums
Tony Stoufer - guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
15 Bang Theory
Most of the members of the Crying out loud lineup wanted
to go all Original at this point so we reformed and Tony Ray, Jimmy (Jet)
Spalding and I started writing tunes for this new band. We Started out OK,
and did a few demos, Played some local gigs, but I felt it didn't really have a
fresh enough sound to compete in the radio market of the time. I was a
big Cure fan and wanted to do more tunes that sounded dark and mysterious
so after a year of band member changes and recruiting many different bass
players and Drummers. I then decided it was time to move on to doing a
newer sounding type of music. It was a pleasure playing with a talented
musician like Jimmy Spalding.
Members:
Jim ( Jet ) Spalding - Bass
Mike Whittington - Bass
ShirtlessBill -Bass
Tony Ray - lead Vocals
Dean Rhodes - Drums
Bill Rydinour - Drums
Tony Stoufer - guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Martha Braum - backing Vocals
Rob Cunninghan -Guitar , Vocals
16 Hidden Pictures
At this point I wanted to do this new sounding type music I was hearing
in my head, and so Rob and Bill and I decided to try a new approach and
sequence all the Bass and Keyboards and do live shows as a three piece.
We had a big sound for 3 guys and I wrote some interesting tunes for this
line up.. As expected Robs guitar playing was top notch and we had some
fun gigs before Bill Bailed for another local band that had a CD out.
Members:
Bill Rydinour - Drums
Tony Stoufer - guitar, Keyboards, Vocals
Rob Cunninghan -Guitar, Vocals
17. Strikes Twice
From this point, another member of the Sonoma county scene, Larry Vonn,
from the band Miles long, asked me to join his new band, playing guitar
and keys. Along with other former old Band Mates Dave Payne and Jerry
Fox. They did originals and covers and I thought it might be a better mix
if I could introduce my tunes to this line up of good players. We did a
few of my tunes but not enough to keep me happy .So off I went. This
bands line up was also ever changing, before long Dave and Jerry bailed,
but I couldn't really care because this style of music was not my cuppa
Joe, Not a real Big Brian Adams fan and the material reminded me of them
old records.
I needed to be more experimental
Members:
Larry Vonn - Guitar
Dave Payne - Bass
Martin Stansbury - Bass
Heidi Olsen- vocals
Jerry Fox - Drums
Tom Palmer - Drums
Tony Stoufer - Guitar, Keys Vocs
18.Euphoria
During the year with Strikes Twice, I Talked to friend Piki Chapell about
trying to do a newer fresh sounding band and so the works were in, to
form this new Band Euphoria.. It was meant to be a pop kinda thing but
had the oddest transition of any Band I ever played in. We started off
with Piki's pop tunes and then did a lot of Jamming and experimenting
with grooves and time signature changes. It was more of a musician^Òs band
and would Impress all the players in the audience, but what it developed
into was a strange mixture of styles that sounded slightly disconnected.
It was an interesting sound, but not up to the Caliber of bands I had
been associated with in earlier years. After a while Todd Reitzell joined
in on guitar and soon after we all went different directions.
And that brought a long deserved break to my live playing of music.
Members:
Todd Reitzell - guitar
Kerry Garlough - Drums
Piki Chapel -Bass, vocals
Tony Stoufer - Guitar Vocals
After Euphoria split up, I did reunite with former Romeo Jones members
and along with John Lindsey on Keys. We Recorded 10 tunes at a local
studio.. They were all the best tunes we had written over the years and
could prove to be a really good record, but I was completely burnt out on
the Band scene at this point and let the guys finish the Project without
me. I still hope one day to hear the finished product. It should prove to
be a masterpiece if it's mixed right and not over produced..
In 1995 I decided to write a jazzy album of keyboard tunes called "To
Exist as a Shell". I got some interest from an LA label but after signing
contracts, nothing ever happened and I collected my master tapes after a
year of being on the shelf. These tunes were really good and well
constructed and are a proud addition to my collection of original tunes..
Keeping a very open mind, I started writing a new style of originals. As
they were coming together I decided to put out an experimental acid jazz CD
called "One Swell Foop", and to promote my music myself, I started my own
label (ABSOLUTE OBSCURITY RECORDS). After playing all keyboards and
self-producing this entire project, I was happy when it received lots of
radio airplay across the US and Overseas and was praised by many radio DJs.
I had 3 tunes from "One Swell Foop" used as backing music for MTV's The
Real World Los Vegas Episode 15, 16, and 1 tune (Artifacts) added to
NAV CD Sampler, as well as 2 songs selected for local Sonoma County TV
commercials.
At This Point I have over eight hours of experimental acid Jazz flavored
original music in my collection with more to come. I am happy to see my
tunes working their way up in the charts on a website called
Garageband.com. I believe in sites like this, where it is a blind review
system.. Where the music is honestly is rated, and charted. Where the
cream of the crop rises to the top. Only the Best songs can make it there.
So it's a comfort to see 4 of my tunes in the top 40 charts. (Electronic
music category).
From 2005 on I've been busy writing songs with the new band Waking Eve
and finishing the Romeo Jones recordings with Jim Hix.
TS.
