BIO

I started making original recordings when I was nine. My first project was called Masters of Music and featured my brother Tony and one of our neighbors. We recorded our four song EP in the Casa Solana basement into a boombox with a built in microphone. That was in 1987, shortly after my parents bought the first Perona family guitar. It was a sunburst Stratocaster copy (Lotus) with a 1x8 Gorilla amp.

After I got my first drum set in 1991, I started recording with a new group of neighborhood kids. I was already consumed by the idea of making and releasing records. Over the next two years, we would record and “release” (which consisted of making tape copies along with hand made inserts and sell them to the other neighborhood kids) three albums: Lava Children, Untitled Jam, and The Time Has Come. Occasionally, we would put on shows in the garage to support the latest release, but some surly neighbors who did not have kids in the band put an end to that in a hurry with calls to local law enforcement agencies.

In the summer of 1993, I joined my first band with a bass player called Deep Blue Perception. We ended up landing a semi-monthly gig at a Naperville coffee house called Caffe Trieste. As no one in the band was 16, my mom or brothers were still driving us to gigs. Deep Blue Perception eventually morphed into Stoneprona during the summer of 1994. Stoneprona released The Book of Barnabee in May 1996. I played drums in both bands, but took an active roll in writing a lot of the original music.

Aside from various short-lived side projects, Stoneprona was my main musical focus until December 1996. That was when I had my first recording/jamming session with Mike Racky and Dave Phipps. This trio would eventually become known as the Morningsides. We played and recorded at a feverish pace until the early fall of 1998. During those two years, the group recorded ELEMENOPE, an unmixed, untitled second album, and a multitude of four-track recordings. Morningsides was a great opportunity for me to step away from the drum set and play some guitar and bass in a live band setting.

Then there are the Champaign years. The Champaign years started with a band called Admiral Freebee with Tom Maslin, drummer Tim Rimbos (currently in the Morningsides) and Paper Tree co-conspirator Brian Sanchez. After a few months with this group, Tim and I joined forces with Jon Harper (of Deep Blue Perception fame) and formed the jamband Wayside School. I played bass and wrote songs for both of these projects. Wayside School existed until December 2000 when I left in order to concentrate on songwriting instead of free-form jam band music. Wayside School recorded numerous live performances and a self titled album in early 2000.

A few months after Wayside School disbanded, Drew Hettinger and I formed the neopsychadelicpoprockduo JellybaNNed. This project was a stark contrast to Wayside. The songs were simple, short, and full of rich harmonies. We have played a few shows here and there, and even recorded the full length record Fist Raisin’ Music.

In the fall of 2002, I moved back to the suburban Chicago area. That’s when my current musical life began. I formed Paper Tree with Brian Sanchez, Algernon with Dave Miller, and continued work with the Morningsides. All this current activity is cataloged in the band sections of the web site. So, peruse and enjoy, my friend. There’s music of all shapes and sizes embedded within these pages. Welcome to tomperona(dot)com!