The Spongetones - Band Members

Band Members

The following are the original and current members of The Spongetones:

• Jamie Hoover (guitars, vocals, occasional bass and drums, songwriting) -- Hoover also has toured and recorded with Don Dixon and Marti Jones, the Smithereens, Graham Parker as a member of "The Small Clubs", and produced Americana artist Rebecca Rippy, as well as playing several instruments on both of her releases. He owns and operates a project studio in Charlotte, NC, called "Hooverama@Liquid Studios". Musician Bill Lloyd collaborates with Jamie Hoover via "through-the-mail writing".. Hoover has produced (or co-produced) all the Spongetones' albums.

• Steve Stoeckel (bass, ukulele, vocals, guitars, songwriting) -- Stoeckel was the band's original bassist. He quit the band in 1985 but rejoined in 1989 and is with the band today. He began playing professionally in the early 70’s before becoming a Spongetone. Stoeckel was instrumental in co-writing much of the band's original material and sang lead on a large number of their songs. He and Hoover continue to write and record under the name "Jamie and Steve".

• Rob Thorne (drums, percussion ) Rob has been the original drummer with the Spongetones for 33 years. He played his first professional gig at 12 years old (1956) with his father who was a trumpeter for the Les Brown Band of Renown.As a teenager Rob joined a band that toured the Chitlin' Circuit backing up all the well known soul artists of the day.He has played with almost every conceivable style music group and spent years doing studio work with many accomplished professional musicians of all genres of music which helped form his versatility.Rob currently performs with The Spongetones, award winning, singer, song writer, Chuck Johnson, (The Charly Horse) and "ace" Honky Tonker, from Austin, Texas, Wink Keziah and The Delux Motel.

• Pat Walters (guitars, vocals and keyboards, songwriting)Pat began playing guitar at an early age; at 14 he was the lead guitarist on The Paragon's garage-rock classic single, “Abba”. Early bands include The Barons, The Paragons, The Good, The Bad & The Ugly and Jeremiah (a band which also included future Wings drummer Denny Seiwell and session guitarist, Dave Spinosa, who played on McCartney's "Ram" LP).Pat was still a teenager when he was called on to play lead guitar on an early Aaron Neville single, “Mojo Hannah”. He's also played in bands backing such artists as Lesley Gore, Bobby Vee, Tommy Roe and others.

Also:

• Greg James (bass, keyboards, backing vocals) -- James took over as the official Spongetones bassist during 1985 and 1986, when Stoeckel left the band for a time. This occurred between the releases of Torn Apart and Where-Ever-Land; . However, James maintained a working relationship with the band thereafter, playing a role in the creation of every Spongetones album from 1987 to 2005, either as a co-writer of original material, or as a session musician (or sometimes both).