THE TOONERS
The Tooners are a multimedia rock and roll band from Los Angeles who not only produce their own original music but also illustrate their songs. In the 1980s they were named WOMANIZER and released their songs on Flexi-Disc Soundsheets© inserted in PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine which also included the songs' lyrics illustrated in comic book style. They also produced award winning (Chicago International Film Festival) fully animated music videos. When changing times, tastes and personnel instigated a change in name from WOMANIZER to THE TOONERS they continued to produce enhanced CDs which included music, videos, cartoons and games and then combined it all in their live, multimedia stage show, Rock & Roll Rehab.
Over the years there have been band members who have come and gone. The band was originally conceived by musician/animator Neal Warner who formed it with his cousin and childhood bandmate, Monte Solovy. Two more old friends, Corey Harris, a talented artist himself, as the third guitarist and Don Coorough on bass. An ad in the local newspaper brought in Tom Patrick as the lead singer and they found drummer Steve Bianchi when he participated in the Guitar Center Annual Drum-off Competition. This line up didn't survive till their first gig as Monte soon left the band.
The remaining five members began playing the L.A. Newwave club scene including multiple gigs at Madame Wong's, Club 88 and The Troubadour. After the third performance drummer Steve Bianchi left to join a Heavy Metal band. Patrick Meehan was a neighborhood kid who played in psychedelic bands with Neal while in Junior High School and with Neal, David Nigel Lloyd and John Bugbee in the proto Newwave band, Wild Oscare. He joined to replace Bianchi in time for the Wong's and Troubadour shows.
Womanizer was invited to be one of the house bands at the Troubadour on KWST nights, sponsored by a local radio station, and played regularly at Wong's West and Club 88 until bassist Don Coorough quit. It took six months to find his replacement, Michael Montrose, and another six months before singer Tom Patrick left to return to Rhode Island to be replaced by another of Neal's boyhood friends, Greg Piper.
Womanizer played the L.A. club scene off and on for a decade during which they produced PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine and animated music videos. In the early 1990s the core of the band, Neal Warner, Greg Piper, Patrick Meehan and a former band mate of Greg Piper's, Richard (Buzz) Brissette, recorded the CD, Rocktasia and named the new version of the band The Tooners due to their multimedia productions.
Neal, Greg and Pat continue to record, produce videos , enhanced CDs and the live multimedia stage show, Rock & Roll Rehab.
Over the years there have been band members who have come and gone. The band was originally conceived by musician/animator Neal Warner who formed it with his cousin and childhood bandmate, Monte Solovy. Two more old friends, Corey Harris, a talented artist himself, as the third guitarist and Don Coorough on bass. An ad in the local newspaper brought in Tom Patrick as the lead singer and they found drummer Steve Bianchi when he participated in the Guitar Center Annual Drum-off Competition. This line up didn't survive till their first gig as Monte soon left the band.
The remaining five members began playing the L.A. Newwave club scene including multiple gigs at Madame Wong's, Club 88 and The Troubadour. After the third performance drummer Steve Bianchi left to join a Heavy Metal band. Patrick Meehan was a neighborhood kid who played in psychedelic bands with Neal while in Junior High School and with Neal, David Nigel Lloyd and John Bugbee in the proto Newwave band, Wild Oscare. He joined to replace Bianchi in time for the Wong's and Troubadour shows.
Womanizer was invited to be one of the house bands at the Troubadour on KWST nights, sponsored by a local radio station, and played regularly at Wong's West and Club 88 until bassist Don Coorough quit. It took six months to find his replacement, Michael Montrose, and another six months before singer Tom Patrick left to return to Rhode Island to be replaced by another of Neal's boyhood friends, Greg Piper.
Womanizer played the L.A. club scene off and on for a decade during which they produced PaperCuts, The Illustrated Lyrics Magazine and animated music videos. In the early 1990s the core of the band, Neal Warner, Greg Piper, Patrick Meehan and a former band mate of Greg Piper's, Richard (Buzz) Brissette, recorded the CD, Rocktasia and named the new version of the band The Tooners due to their multimedia productions.
Neal, Greg and Pat continue to record, produce videos , enhanced CDs and the live multimedia stage show, Rock & Roll Rehab.
Greg Piper - Bass, Vocals
Greg Piper was born into a show business family whose parents were traveling actors in their own theater company, performed with Red Skelton on his television series and later co-created the hugely popular TV game show, Concentration. Greg, a singer and songwriter, has been leading original and cover rock bands since high school and started his theatrical career as the lead role of “Villain” in the melodrama production of Curse You, Villain. Since the Eighties Greg has toured the world with the leading Beatle Tribute act Revolution with whom he performed at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio in connection with the premiere of the John Lennon exhibit. He has appeared as an actor and musician in the live musical stage shows, One Night Only, A Day in His Life and Just Imagine. The Rock & Roll Rehab Show is based partially on his life as a hard core Rock & Roll addict.
Neal Warner - Guitars
Writer, director, animator and musician Neal Warner began his professional career as an underground cartoonist and became a professional animator and animation director for Disney TV, Klasky-Csupo Productions, Marvel Productions, Universal Cartoon Studios, Fred Wolf Films and many others. He wrote and directed the live stage play, A Day In His Life, represented by the William Morris Agency and produced award winning animated music videos (Chicago International Film Festival). Awarded an Emmy Award for his work as director on Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies TV series, he also was a winner of the MTV Character Screen Test Competition, a finalist in the 3M New Talent in Music Video Competition and was awarded a Certificate of Achievement from the Billboard Magazine Songwriting Competition, and Certificates of Participation from the Denver International Film Festival and the First and Third Los Angeles Animation Celebration. He is the author of The Official Rock & Roll Rehab Handbook, The Official Rock & Roll Rehab Members Guide and the novel, The Haight, available on amazon.com and for Kindle.
Patrick Meehan - Drums & Percussion
Multi-instrumentalist Meehan started playing drums in bands while in Junior High School inspired by the Who's drummer, Keith Moon, to whom he is often compared. Ironically, he got the opportunity to meet and talk with his idol at a beach party. He is considered by the band's fans the most dedicated musician of the group while Neal is considered the historian/philosopher and Greg Piper the Rock & Roll party animal.
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