Tomato (born Chris Harfenist August 17, 1969) is an American musician who is best known for being the lead singer and drummer for the alternative rock band Sound of Urchin. Tomato was born in New York City, grew up in Rockland County, New York and resides in Brooklyn, New York. He also plays drums in The MoistboyzThe New York Times as well as Dave Dreiwitz from Ween's "Crescent Moon". Tomato was mentored by Gary Chester,Drummerworld.com author of Modern Drummer publication's drum book "The New Breed". Tomato has played drums for Ween, as well as for Ellen Foley and the Dirty Old Men, and recorded drums with Tenacious D for the Comedy Central Crank Yankers version of "The Friendship Song". Tomato also appeared on an episode of the Nickelodeon kids' show The Naked Brothers Band (TV series) as a guest drummer along with Questlove and Claude Coleman, Jr. Tomato is also married to internet celebrity Lori Harfenist, host of The Resident YouTube series.
In 2009, in addition to playing with Sound of Urchin, Tomato opened his own after school music program in New York City entitled "Tomato's House Of Rock" [THOR].Tomato's House of Rock THOR Website Previously Tomato was the music director for the NYC branch of the Paul Green School of Rock.
On April 30, 2010, the formation of DiamondSnake was announced. The heavy metal band's members include Tomato as well as Moby, Dave Hill (Valley Lodge) and Phil Costello (Satanicide, Valley Lodge).Moby gets back to his roots with Diamondsnake
In April 2012, Tomato opened a second branch of Tomato's House Of Rock in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York. As stated in the Village Voice: "New York City is a bastion of educational institutions, but one of its most innovative educators doesn't even have a teaching certificate. What he does have is a lifetime of experience as a rock musician, a passion for imparting real-world skills to kids, and two schools—one in Hell's Kitchen and one in Brooklyn. He goes by Tomato. His school: Tomato's House of Rock, or THOR."
In Fall 2012, the first season of the Louder Education web series debuted on the Metal Injection website, with Tomato and Alex Skolnick as hosts.
Bands Sound of Urchin Moistboyz Crescent Moon DiamondSnake
Discography
Early pre-official SOU 4-track albums (1994-1998) Year Title Label 1994Four Fours From A Calendar FanSteven Records (originally released on Mighty Monster as cassette only) 1995Springtime Makes Me FeelSteven Records 1996Approval – Cob 9Steven Records 1997Earth BlanketSteven Records 1998Willow For Gasoline AlleySteven Records
Official SOU Studio albums (1998–present) Year Title Label 1998All That And A Brandy AlexanderSteven Records 2000The Orange E.P.RCA Records 2001The Jack And Diane E.P.RCA Records 2002You Are The BestRCA Records 2002Blame Canada – Live In TorontoRCA Records promo only 2005The DiamondHybrid Recordings 2008Rejoice CD-Only releaseSelf-Release To Fans Only 2014Black Castle Vinyl-Only ReleaseBaby Gas Mask Records 2015The WoozyFly SessionsBaby Gas Mask Records 2017The Diamond DeluxeSteven Records 2017Jack And Diane DeluxeSteven Records 2019Rejoice Official Extended ReleaseSteven Records/Baby Gas Mask Records 2019Rock n' Roll Is True E.P.Steven Records 2019Black Castle Official Extended ReleaseSteven Records/Baby Gas Mask Records 2019The Crypt E.P.Steven Records
Moistboyz Year Title Label 2010Live JihadMoistboyz
References