Tonic was founded by Emerson Hart and guitarist Jeff Russo, long-separated childhood friends who randomly crossed paths at a Los Angeles, California area pool hall in 1993.

[2][3] The pair quickly began collaborating on music writing, and soon added bass player Dan Rothchild, whom they met at a venue named The Kibitz Room.

The newly formed group performed gigs around the Los Angeles, California area prior to signing their first professional recording contract in 1995.

[1][4] Music critic Shawn M. Haney said of the album that, "The record as a whole is full of the heavy, distortion-laden Tonic sound, and guitars that make them who they are.

The single "If You Could Only See" received the honor of being Rock Radio's most played song of 1997, and Lemon Parade as an album reached platinum status.

[8] Dan Lavery replaced Rothchild on bass in December 1996, and around this same time period drummer Shepard ceased full-time activity with the band for family and personal reasons.

On March 1, 1999 the band released the now out-of-print Live and Enhanced CD, which featured an acoustic version of "If You Could Only See" and the previously unreleased music video of "Soldier's Daughter".

...there are no bad songs to be found anywhere on the entire album, each one bearing its own redeeming qualities, whether a driving beat or a tenacious scrap of melody...

[15] The creative and collaborative process spanned several geographic locations including Austin, Texas, and a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana, where actual recording for the album was performed.

[18] With Shepard no longer part of the band, Peter Maloney played drums on the album, although Joey Waronker filled in for the single "You Wanted More".

[7] A cover of the song "East Bound and Down" for the King of the Hill original television soundtrack rounded out the group's output for the year 1999.

[16] In contrast to the "exhausting" experience of self-producing Sugar, producer Rock's "laid-back efficiency" and Hawaii studio location provided a welcome change.

"[24] In March 2003 Tonic embarked on an acoustic tour, and as band member Russo said, they were hoping to, "...bring things back to a level where we remember what it's all about.

[29] Lavery did song writing for projects including the feature-length movies The Passion of the Christ and Elektra, and began playing bass on tour for The Fray in March 2007.

"[25] The first verifiable account that Tonic was reuniting came in November 2008 via an announcement from band member Russo, confirming new tour dates and a forthcoming studio album.

[35] A promotional behind the scenes tour of Conway Studios hosted by Emerson Hart was made available on Amazon.com's Tonic store and YouTube at the time.

In June 2012, Tonic partnered with Hard Rock International to become "Artist Ambassadors," traveling to Haiti to raise awareness of hunger issues still affecting many residents of the country.

[39] As the band continued to tour periodically into the start of the year 2014, Hart announced he was releasing a new solo album, and Russo began scoring the television series Fargo and various other film, TV and video game projects.

In March 2016, Tonic announced that in celebration of Lemon Parade's 20th anniversary, they would utilize direct funding from fans via the PledgeMusic website to record and release an all-acoustic version of that album.

[38] By 2021, the band was still periodically active while each member continued to find success individually, such as Russo's 2017 Emmy win for Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited Series, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score) for his continued work scoring Fargo, and Hart releasing his 2019 solo album, 32 Thousand Days.