Spoonful (band)

Spoonful is a blues band based out of Tampa Bay, Florida, led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Tony Weber.

Early history (1965-1982)

Tony Weber was born August 19, 1965, in Memphis, Tennessee. Tony's father played in a Jazz and Blues band called Ed Weber and the Spiders. Tony's younger brother, Tommy Weber, was born on July 10, 1967. In the summer of 1971, the Webers moved to Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. At the age 8, Tony took piano and guitar lessons from his father. In 1980, Tony and Tommy started becoming infatuated by blues, and rock and roll. Using his limited knowledge of guitar playing, Tony taught his brother how to play bass. Tony and Tommy immediately started looking for a band. The first person enlisted to join the band, was local guitarist, and classmate, Cedric Young. While still searching for a drummer, Cedric recommended 19-year-old Matthew Friedman. The band called themselves Spoonful (after the famous Willie Dixon blues standard), and started writing straight away. The songs came together on a demo tape called "Blues Clues." By January of 1982, the band had shipped their demo to over 100 different record labels with no luck. By mid-1982, Cedric Young quit the band. He was soon replaced by Eric Dover.

The ZAP! years (1982-1988)

By late-1982 the band caught the attention of independent blues label ZAP! Records. They got signed immediately. The band started writing furiously, and recorded their debut album "Spoonful". There was actually so much material, the band released two albums simultaneously and sold as a set for $10. They were "Spoonful" and "Spoonful II". To this day both albums combined have sold in excess of 3,000 copies. On March 1, 1983, the band went on a statewide tour to support their albums until January 1984.

On this nearly one year tour, the band had built up a good bit of material. Only two months after their return they went into the studio to record "Spoonful III". The album was already completed by June 1984. "Spoonful III" was released on October 6, 1984, and was an instant hit with the band's fanbase. One controversial song was Spoonful III's "Bitchin' Train", a 10-minute blues about dating a female murderer. On May 17, 1985, the band embarked on their 1st nationwide tour. But people started wondering if the band was ever going to go mainstream. Tommy Weber said of this concern, "We go out there to make music. Who gives a shit if we aren't famous? We love playing blues, regardless of if the mainstream public likes it. Right now, there's a lot of shitty stuff going on the music industry, so I'm kind of glad we aren't a part of it. But this is blues, and we went into this knowing we weren't going to be millionaires." It was on this 1985 tour that the band was exposed to drugs, and it would quickly become a demon that ensued the band.

In August 1987 the band started went into the studio and knocked out some acoustic blues covers. This album was released in December 1987 as Unplugged and by January 1988, the band's contract with ZAP! had expired.

In Spring of 1988, Tony won over $500,000 in the Florida Lottery. He then quit his job as a restaurant waiter. He decided to put half of his small fortune in the bank and keep the rest. He then dedicated his life to making music for a living.

Silver Spoons (1988-1990)

In the Summer of 1988, the band decided to go on tour again. Tony used his new found fortune and financed the "Silver Spoon" tour. It was a 16-date tour across the state of Florida. Two of the shows were recorded and would appear on the live album Silver Spoons. Also, on this tour the band recorded demos for what would become the Royalty album.

In February 1989, the band got signed to Blues Bay Records. Within a month, they started recording material. Blues Bay was a smaller label, and therefore, couldn't fund huge, long tours. In a heated negotiation with the company, the band demanded enough funds to pay for at least one nationwide tour. Blues Bay accepted and the band was given $75,000 to buy new gear, and fund a tour. Due to struggles with addictions in the band, as well as struggles with each other, writing was delayed for almost a year. Both Tommy and Tony have said that these conflicts were so ugly, that the band was very close to breaking up. "I remember days when we'd schedule recording dates, and people wouldn't show. I remember Eric (Dover) literally pummelling the shit out of Matt (Friedman)", Tommy said of the feuds. But the band were forced to put their differences aside to tour. The band hit the road on February 6, 1990, for the Royalty Tour. Royalty was released while the band was on the road. The tour was supposed to be a great new era for the band, but instead it ended in tragedy.

In mid-November 1990, while the band was on tour in Texas, Matthew Friedman came down with what appeared to be food poisoning. "He was so sick. I couldn't believe it. He would sleep in the bathroom of hotels because he was vomiting and stuff all night. He was sick for so long, we were wondering if he'd ever get better", said Eric Dover. After fainting onstage, he was taken to the hotel and slept. It was the last time anyone would see him alive. Tony recalls of the incident, "We put him to bed, and the next morning we knocked on his door and no one was answering. We called the front desk to open the door, and we went in, and he...was white. The hotel manager felt for a pulse and there was nothing." Matthew Friedman died in Eastland, Texas at the age of 27. The band called off the tour and all the members went into reclusiveness.

The comeback (1992-1998)

By 1992, the band became even more hooked on drugs after Friedman's death, the Weber brother's knew they had to fix their lives. The brothers went into rehab. After they were cured it was time to start the band up again. Eric Dover declined when he was asked to rejoin the band. He said, "It just didn't feel right at all without Matt. When he died, I stopped playing music all together." At the time of this writing Dover has still not picked up a guitar. He now works as a school teacher in Georgia. In August of 1993, the brothers came across James DePaula. They soon asked him to join the band. "Well my band was going to complete crap, so I joined up." George "Doc" Pan also joined on drums. The band started to record right away, because the Webers had written quite a bit of material in the past two years.

In April 1995, the band released "Element", an epic double album. I contained the song "Keep It Up", a tribute to their fallen friend and drummer. It was never performed live, because, as Tony put it, "It was kinda like our last farewell. The last hurrah. Only to be played once." In addition to this, Tommy retired his favorite bass, in memory of his best friend. After Element was recorded and released, it was time for the band to tour again. As the tour dragged on, Tony had a son, Michael. Tommy had had a daughter, Michelle, as well. After the tour was over, the band went on a small hiatus to raise their families. While the band was on hiatus, the record label kept asking for another album. The band didn't have any new material, so they released a double live record called Silver Spoons.

In a small recorded rehearsal, the band recorded acoustic versions of some of their best known songs. While the songs weren't anything serious, it was later released on June 1, 1998, as "Unplugged II".

Deep In Blues (1999-2002)

In 1999, the band embarked on the "Deep in Blues Tour", which kicked off on January 1. The band went across the entire nation, and, to the band's surprise, had many fans. "We would go out there, and there were people in Minnesota, who actually knew the band. It was insane. I mean, we had released albums and stuff but there were people who had copies of the first two records, and asked us to sign them. I remember some woman down in Virginia and she had a collection. She had the first album signed by the original members, posters, T-shirts. She even had a copy of their 1st demo", recalls James DePaula. In May of 1999, the band recorded the bombed LP, Paper Lunchbox. This was viewed as many to be the worst. Doc Pan remembers "We were having problems with James and his drinking and stuff. It started conflicts. Usually volatility fuels music, but not this time. Even our fans hated it." The album sold only 65 copies.

In mid-2000, James DePaula was arrested for possession. His band members did not feel for him and left him in jail. This caused further tensions in the band. Tony recalls, "James was arrested and he got himself into that mess. At that point, he was very distant from the group. We felt no need to help him. Eventually the band and his girlfriend got the funds together and bailed him out. Only because we wanted to do some more work."

In February 2001, the band went on the "Platinum Anniversary" tour. It was a pure celebration of 20 years of music and being a band. But the tour wasn't filled with the fun that the band was known for. Tommy recalls, "Me and Tony knew that the 20th anniversary was coming up, but we didn't want to deal with James' crap. But there wasn't enough time to get a replacement." The band ended the tour in Tallahasse, Florida, playing to a crowd of over 1,000 people. But there was still trouble ahead.

In August 2001, James DePaula was arrested again for a DUI. He was then fired. He was replaced by Brian Ivy, but this was a fruitless union, and he was in the band for only six months. When asked why he quit in an interview he said, "I wanted to sing, but Mr. Weber, wanted the spotlight to him self, so I quit." Ivy was then in turn replaced by 31-year old Cory Greys.

Impact (2002-present)

The band did extensive gigging with Greys. The brothers began to write some material for a new album in early-2005. In December of that year the band was ready to go on another statewide tour. The record label demanded the band go on tour with a second supporting act. The band chose fellow Blues Bay band, Scrapyard. Doc Pan said, "Well, we chose Scrapyard because, they were an all together great band. They were really young guys, but still played blues. They drew in a lot of young people to the shows." Just as the tour began financing ran short.

In December 2005, Blues Bay Records went out of business. The funding for the tour was cut short, and it ended. Since he no longer had a record deal, Cory Greys quit the band. "Cory has chosen to leave the band, for personal reasons and is no longer associated with Spoonful", the band stated in a press release. In January 2006, Scrapyard guitarist Greg Davis joined the group. "Greg was the perfect choice. He was great in Scrapyard and we knew he'd be great with us", Tommy said. On February 19, 2006, the band celebrated 25 years together. "That was one hell of an induction. I joined the band for a month and had to play a 25th anniversay show", Greg said. Almost immediately after the shows, Doc Pan quit. He was quickly replaced by ex-Scrapyard drummer, Will "Ginger" Allan. The band has been gigging sparsely since early 2006, working on a new album called Impact. The progress and release date of this album is unknown. It will be released on The Webers' independent label Spider Records.