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 Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band

Sound of Urchin The Sound of Urchin (Sound Of Urchin / SOU / TSOU / Urchin) is a musically diverse "outsider arena-rock" band from Brooklyn, New York and New Hope, Pennsylvania. SOU is known for their eclectic songs, for energetic, spontaneous live shows, and fo ...

. Tomato was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, grew up in

Rockland County, NY Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of t ...

, and presently resides in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, NY. He also plays drums in The

Moistboyz Moistboyz is an American hard rock band formed in New Hope, Pennsylvania in 1991 by Guy Heller and Mickey Melchiondo. Moistboyz music is typically fast-paced punk/metal, combining stream-of-consciousness lyrics with aggressive rock guitar riffs ...

as well as Dave Dreiwitz from

Ween Ween is an American Rock music, rock band from New Hope, Pennsylvania, formed in 1984 by Gene Ween, Aaron Freeman and Dean Ween, Mickey Melchiondo, better known by their respective stage names, Gene and Dean Ween. Generally categorized as an al ...

's "Crescent Moon". Tomato was mentored by Gary Chester, author of

Modern Drummer ''Modern Drummer'' is a monthly publication targeting the interests of drummers and percussionists. The magazine features interviews, equipment reviews, and columns offering advice on technique, as well as information for the general public. ''Mo ...

Publication's drum book "The New Breed". Tomato has also played drums for

, as well as for Ellen Foley and the Dirty Old Men, and recorded drums with

Tenacious D Tenacious D is an American comedy rock duo formed in Los Angeles, California in 1994. It was founded by actors Jack Black and Kyle Gass, who were members of The Actors' Gang theater company at the time. The duo's name is derived from "ten ...

for the Comedy Central

Crank Yankers ''Crank Yankers'' is an American adult puppet television show produced by Adam Carolla, Jimmy Kimmel and Daniel Kellison. It features actual crank calls made by show regulars and celebrity guests, while re-enacted onscreen by puppets for a vi ...

version of "The Friendship Song". Tomato also has appeared on an episode of the Nickelodeon kids show

The Naked Brothers Band (TV series) ''The Naked Brothers Band'' is an American musical comedy television series created by Polly Draper, which aired on Nickelodeon from February 3, 2007, to June 13, 2009. It depicts the daily lives of Draper's sons, who lead a faux world-renowned ...

, as guest drummer along with

Questlove Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born January 20, 1971), known professionally as Questlove (stylized as ), is an American musician, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman (with Black Tho ...

and Claude Coleman, Jr. Tomato is also married to

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social ...

Lori Harfenist, host of The Resident. 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" HOR Previously Tomato was the Music Director for the NYC Branch of the

Paul Green School of Rock School of Rock is a music education program. This for-profit educational company operates and franchises after-school music instruction schools in the United States, Chile, Canada, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, South Africa, Mexico, Australia ...

. On April 30, 2010, the formation of DiamondSnake was announced. The heavy metal band's members include Tomato as well as

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

Dave Hill David John Hill (born 4 April 1946) is an English rock musician. He is the lead guitarist, a backing vocalist and the sole continuous member in the English band Slade. Hill is known for his flamboyant stage clothes and hairstyle. Early life B ...

( Valley Lodge) and Phil Costello (

Satanicide Satanicide are an American, New York City-based mock metal/glam metalLindgren, Hugo. (September 7, 2003) The New York Times Cranking the Volume to 11, Just Like Their Heroes.' Section: 9; Page 96. band formed in 1999 that styles themselves and ...

, Valley Lodge). In April 2012, Tomato opened a second branch of Tomato's House Of Rock in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, NY. 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. "Louder Education, their just-announced new web show, will follow hosts Alex Skolnick (from Testament... like you didn’t know that!), Chris “Tomato” Harfenist (Sound of Urchin), and a different special guest every week as they educate (see what I did there?) the students at T.H.O.R. (Tomato's House of Rock) about the music business and artistic growth, and, of course, lead “a kick-ass jam with the kids.” GET A LOUDER EDUCATION FROM METAL INJECTION
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Bands

* Crescent Moon * DiamondSnake

Discography

Early pre-official SOU 4-track albums (1994-1998)

Official SOU Studio albums (1998–present)

Moistboyz

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomato Living people American rock singers American male singers Singers from New York City 1969 births 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians