It's been nearly six years since the members of Tonic have toured together, but according to guitarist Jeff Russo, the band will reunite in 2009 for a national tour and begin work on a new album.

"We're [planning on] getting together to write some new material," Russo told Alternative Addiction in a recent interview.  "Over the last 6 months or so we've been talking about it.  We've been doing different things for the last 6 years, and we all decided that we missed rocking."

Since touring in support of their last studio album, Head On Straight, the members of Tonic have been working on projects outside of the band.  Lead singer Emerson Hart released his solo debut album Cigarettes and Gasoline in 2007, which featured the hit song 'If You're Gonna Leave.'  Bassist Dan Lavery had been playing bass for The Fray on tour, and Russo formed a band called Low Stars, and has produced Live EPs for iTunes sessions for Ingrid Michaelson and Matt Nathanson.

The news of a reunion comes as somewhat of a surprise, following Hart's comments posted on his MySpace page in 2007, stating that he was "not making records with Tonic anymore."   Whatever the issue was between the two musicians, all appears to be resolved now; Russo seems to be excited about working with Hart again.

"In deciding to do another Tonic record we all agreed that we wouldn't try to be something that we're not," said Russo. "We don't want to be some band that we never were before; we're not going to go make some electronica record."

Russo says the band is due to go back into the studio in December to start work on the new album.  He anticipates that the album will have the same elements that made their previous three records so successful.

"We make good rock and roll songs, and we have an acoustic flavor to it, with harmonies," explained Russo.  "We're just going to do what Emerson and I have always done best, which is play music and sing.  That's really all we ever did, and that's what we want to do."

Tonic's first show back together will be on the Rock Boat in January.  A full national tour is expected to be announced shortly after that, and should run through the spring and summer of 2009.

Listen To Alternative Addiction's Interview with Tonic's Jeff Russo