Tantric (band)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tantric
Origin Flag of the United States United States
Genre(s) Post-grunge
Hard rock
Years active 1999–present
Label(s) Maverick Records (1999–2006)
Silent Majority Group (2007–present)
Website www.myspace.com/tantric
Members
Hugo Ferreira
Kevin Miller
Joe Pessia
Erik Leonhardt
Marcus Ratzenboeck
Former members
Todd Whitener
Jesse Vest
Joey Stamper
Kevin McCreery
Matt Taul
Bruce LaFrance

Tantric is a rock band from Louisville, Kentucky.

Contents

[edit] History

The band was originally formed by three former members of Days of the New, Jesse Vest, Todd Whitener, and Matt Taul, with the addition of Merge singer, Hugo Ferreira. They were signed to Maverick Records in 1999, and recorded their self-titled debut with producer, Toby Wright in 2000. The record was released in February 2001, which debuted at #193 on the Billboard 200. The record eventually went platinum, largely on the strength of the single "Breakdown" and the band's extensive touring with the likes of Kid Rock and Creed. Follow-up singles "Astounded" and a remixed version of "Mourning" also fared well.

The band's second album, "After We Go", again produced by Wright, was released in February 2004, preceded by the single "Hey Now". Described as heavier than their first record, "After We Go" debuted at #56 on the Billboard 200. Unfortunately, the album did not match the success of their debut, in part due to the poor reception of follow-up singles (the title track "After We Go," and their cover of Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"). Nevertheless, Tantric soldiered on, touring with 3 Doors Down and Shinedown for much of 2004.

In 2005, bassist Jesse Vest left the group, wishing to spend more time with his family. He was replaced by Bruce LaFrance, through mutual friend and touring band member, Kevin McCreery. With Elliott Blakey in the producer's chair, Tantric worked on the follow-up to After We Go, tentatively titled "Tantric III," and scheduled for a May 2006 release. The band finished over a dozen songs for the album such as, "People", "Worth Waiting For", "Stay With You", "Locked Out", and Whitener's lead singing performance, "July." Complications arose in March of 2006, when Tantric parted ways with Maverick Records, which itself was collapsing. Finally, on May 8th, 2007, the release of three songs from "Tantric III" on the band's Myspace was largely overshadowed by Todd Whitener's farewell announcement on the band's website. Ferreira later said in interviews that Whitener, as well as other members of the band had grown agonizingly frustrated with the band's record label complications. Matt Taul also left at this time.

Hugo Ferreira began searching for a new band, enlisting former Fuel drummer Kevin Miller, Joe Pessia (guitarist Dramagods) through mutual friend Nuno Bettencourt, Erik Leonhardt (bassist), and Marcus Ratzenboeck (electric violin) as new members of the band. Shortly thereafter, Tantric announced their deal with the Silent Majority Group record label, and their new management company, JHMP.

Because Ferreira remained the only original member of Tantric, "Tantric III" has been shelved for the time being. Ferreira has said the reasoning for this, other than the logical label complications, was he did not want to produce an album under the Tantric name, that was partially written by Whitener and Taul. [1]Therefore, Ferreira and his new mates recorded 10 new songs, in addition to a totally revamped version of "The One," featuring Kevin Martin of Candlebox, and finally released the band's third album, The End Begins on April 22, 2008.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Album details
Tantric
After We Go
  • Release: February 24, 2004
  • Label: Maverick
  • Sales: 100,000 +
  • Certification: N/A
  • Chart peak position: #56
The End Begins
  • Release: April 22, 2008
  • Label: Silent Majority
  • Sales: 10,400 +
  • Certification: N/A
  • Chart peak position: #91

[edit] Singles

Year Title Peak positions Album
U.S.
[2][3]		 U.S.
Mod[3]		 U.S.
Main[3]
2001 "Breakdown" 106[I] 4 1 Tantric
"Astounded" — 30 7
2002 "Mourning" — 22 18
2004 "Hey Now" — — 8 After We Go
"The Chain" — — 36
"After We Go" — — 30
2008 "Down and Out" — 36 17 The End Begins
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or have yet to chart.

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Hugo Ferreira Interview on Type 3 Media. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  2. ^ Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.
  3. ^ a b c Artist Chart History. Billboard. Retrieved on 2008-03-02.

[edit] External links

Languages