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Original Stylus Staff Bio

If we're doing the math correctly, Tony Van Groningen was conceived on New Year's Eve of 1977 and was born nine months later into Modesto, one of the most average towns in California. The first 11 years of his life were spent there and consisted almost completely of school and baseball. Even then, though, a love of music was making itself evident, as Tony would commit every Sunday morning to taping new songs off Casey Kasem's Top 40 while he organized his baseball cards, which he now estimates are worth millions of dollars. The mixtapes from these sessions are equally valuable, but for different and more humorous reasons. Music faded from Tony's life as he grew older, broke his boombox, and moved to a new town in the Sierra Nevada mountains, where the scenery was beautiful and life still consisted of school and baseball and the occasional awkward attempt to get a girlfriend. But in 1993, an almost magical confluence of events transpired, and Tony once again found himself addicted to music, this time for good. It went down like this: 1) his best friend got Dr. Dre's The Chronic, and after 147 repeat listenings Tony realized that he liked the beats as much as the rapping; 2) the insanely cute girl that sat next to Tony in art class convinced him that Nirvana was more than a "Smells Like Teen Spirit" novelty act and let him borrow In Utero, Tony let her borrow a sweathsirt; 3) while visiting a cousin in Sacramento, Tony attended his first concert, an all-ages Deftones show, and was absolutely blown away; 4) Tony's parents decided to buy him a CD player and give him $100 to spend on cd's for his birthday, and it was on from there on out. Four years of college and two Bachelor's degrees saw Tony live life as a starving artist/art student, develop a taste for Jaegermesiter, and expand his musical tastes and knowledge at an exponential rate. Tony currently resides in San Diego, where his life consists of work, baseball, the occasional art project, and a long-term girlfriend. He still enjoys Dr. Dre, Nirvana, and Deftones.

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