Joey Mazzola

Joseph "Joey" Mazzola (born 1962 in Detroit, Michigan in the United States) is a guitarist, songwriter and is probably best known as a founding member of the American rock band Sponge. He is currently a member of The Detroit Cobras.

Rise & Fall of Loudhouse

Loudhouse signed with Virgin Records in the early 1990s, but was dropped from the label after only one album. "That was five years of hard work," Dombroski told Steve Appleford of Rolling Stone. And Tim admitted to Gaar, "That was a pretty low point in my life." Loud-house gave it one more try, going back into the studio to record an album, but they disbanded before it was far off the ground.

Forming Sponge

Sponge guitarist Joey Mazzola, a Detroit native, spent five of the hardest years of his life on the Los Angeles club circuit. When he decided to return home he hooked up with Vinnie Dombroksi, with whom he had played earlier in his career. Almost a year after the Loudhouse breakup, around the end of 1992, Mazzola sat in on a jam session above a Detroit drugstore with Dombroski and the Cross brothers, Tim & Gaar. The four clicked and Sponge was formed. Since Sponge had already formed before actually finding a singer, Dombroksi filled in at the mike temporarily. "And to my and my brother's amazement, and to Joey's as well," Tim enthused to Gaar, "it was like, 'Man, this guy sounds great! We don't need to look for a singer, let's look for a drummer!'"