DESCRIPTION:
I followed Jamie up the narrow, pitch-black stairway of the club. At the top we reached a room with three couches and infinite graffiti covering the walls. One of the windows was taped shut, and the bathroom door was hardly wide enough for an average-sized person to fit through. We were at the Double Door Inn in Charlotte, N.C., and I was determined to find out how a Beatle band from 1979 remained together 32 years later.

The Spongetones started as a one-night Beatles tribute band, bassist Steve Stoeckel told me. After realizing how much fun playing live could be, the group decided to keep at it. When the final line-up, including Stoeckel, guitarist Jamie Hoover, guitarist Pat Walters and drummer Rob Thorne, came together in 1979, their popularity exploded and the band began to create original material that was loved just as much as their Beatles covers.

To this day, Hoover, Walters, Stoeckel and Thorne are still creating original material, as well as playing live shows as the Spongetones full of original music and Sixties cover tunes.