BIOGRAPHY
“Jamie and Steve” are Jamie Hoover and Steve Stoeckel, two members of The Spongetones, a NC power pop band which has released 12 CD’s over the past 30 years. In 2009, the two teamed up to record their first duo CD “English Afterthoughts” –a 12 song effort which garnered excellent reviews. They followed this with “The Next Big Thing” which was released in 2011 and also critically acclaimed. These two records were subsequently combined and released in Japan on Air Mail Recordings.
“Imaginary Café” is their third recording, due out Jan. 1, 2013.
Jamie Hoover was a natural choice for The Spongetones’ beginnings as a British Invasion cover band. However, Hoover was also a recording engineer and producer. He became the driving force, pushing the band to record a body of original works that earned its stellar standing in pop music today. Hoover is also a prolific singer-songwriter, and has a significant number of Spongetones songs to his credit, both as a solo writer and as a co-writer with Stoeckel. His instruments include guitar, bass, keyboards, ukulele, mandolin, drums and percussion.
Hoover has recorded and produced many other artists (Including Bob Lind) and has also toured with The Smithereens, Hootie and the Blowfish, Graham Parker, and Don Dixon, among others.
Steve Stoeckel also began playing guitar during the British Invasion of the 60’s and was hugely influenced by the bands of that period, especially the Beatles. After hearing Sgt. Pepper for the first time, he chose the bass guitar as his main instrument and began playing professionally in the early 70’s, joining the Spongetones at the band’s inception . Stoeckel’s songwriting, singing, and playing (bass, guitar, and ukulele) have been major contributions to all these recordings.
Jamie and Steve create, play and record all their material.
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