Shipwreck Island Studios: The Island was originally online for 7 years. In that time it had grown in popularity a 100 times over. When launched in the summer of 2002 The Island saw 300 to 500 hits a month. But in January 2003 with the release of their Best Of Awards the site hits tripled. Within the first hour of the release the website went down and Tony decided to officially move The Island to a dot com. Every year after The Island got bigger and bigger, 2004 saw a few thousand hits a month where 2005 saw a few tens of thousands a month. 2006 opened with a major bang has over 120,000 people logged on to view the Best Of 2005 Awards. The numbers didn’t lie, The Island was growing at a rapid pace. The Island officially went offline in 2010 due to multiple issues with time management. Real life hit both Tony and Jere hard! This left little time to put into the website they adored. In what was a quick decision the website was scuttled overnight… no going away party… no balloons or streamers… just shut down… As with most things online, ad companies grabbed the original .com name and ran with it for several years. In the summer of 2017, the .com name was repurchased by Tony and locked up for a very very long time. In what was originally a quick decision of walking away turned into regret and therefore Tony wanted the site back. Even if it never came back online in its original form, he wanted to ensure the legacy of the name stayed with the original two members. The website officially came back online 09/14/19 after the passing of musician Eddie Money (09/13/19). Eddie’s music had a huge influence on Tony & Jere.. We Miss You Eddie! Thanks for the music and the opportunities you gave The Island Boys!
Tony (Missouri): Tony found his love for music while in his High School band. Tony enjoys listening to all types of music, though his favorite bands/artists include: Steve Perry, John Waite, FireHouse, Eddie Money, Harem Scarem and many more.
Jere (Michigan): A mid-western guy for a majority of his life Jere discovered one of his greatest passions in life when he was selected as the head photographer of yearbook during his junior year of high school. In the two decades since the camera has become more than a way to express his personality capturing life in a single still frame brings a form of serenity out of the nonstop chaos that can be life. In his free time Jere is a huge movie buff with some of his favorite genres including science fiction, horror and drama and is a advocate for the John Carpenter slow burn style of film making. As for music some of the artists that are constantly found in Jere’s playlist rotation include – Harem Scarem, Queen, Candlebox, Mother Love Bone, Alice In Chains, Guns N’ Roses and Cinderella just to name a few.