Tantric (band)

Tantric

Tantric is a rock band from Louisville, Kentucky.

History

The band was 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.

For much of 2005, armed with Elliott Blakey in the producer's chair, work commenced on the follow-up to After We Go. The band finished over a dozen songs for the album, which at the time had the tentative title "Tantric 3," including "People," "Worth Waiting For," "Stay With You," "Locked Out," and Whitener's lead singing performance, "July." Additional tracks, "Fall Down", "The One", and "Letting Go" were made available to fans on the band's Myspace for about a 3-month period beginning in May of 2007. Up until that point, the road had been rocky for Tantric, having parted ways with Maverick Records in March of 2006, and the 2005 departure of bassist Jesse Vest.

Because Vest had left before Taul, Ferreira, and Whitener entered the studio, Whitener recorded the bass tracks for the album. The band's dropping from Maverick shelved the third album indefinitely, and the band's infrequent touring hiatus was plagued by internal problems. May 8th, 2007, the release of the three aforementioned tracks on the band's myspace was largely overshadowed by Todd Whitener's decision to leave Tantric. Reasoning behind his departure remains largely unknown, although Whitener's farewell message cited his desire to move on from the stagnant point he'd reached in his life. He, along with newly acquired bassist Bruce Lafranc went onto form Interchange, a light-rock band based out of Louisville, KY. Matt Taul also left the band soon after, solidifying what would presumably close the book on Tantric for good.

Left without a band, Hugo enlisted former Fuel drummer Kevin Miller , Joe Pessia (guitarist Dramagods), Erik Leonhardt (bassist), and Marcus Ratzenboeck (electric violin) as new members of the band. Tantric subsequently announced their deal with Jeff Hansen's Silent Majority Group record label, and JHMP, their new management company. Because of the change in the band's line-up, the entire album has been scrapped, replaced by songs written by the new lineup, and recorded in September 2007. The record has a scheduled release date of April, 2008 and will be titled The End Begins. This album leaked onto the Internet on February 22, 2008.

Hugo Ferreira has recorded a remake of Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" with Fosterchild's Danny Beissel, which was released on the JHMP MySpace page July 10th, 2007.

Albums

Release Date	Title	Label	US Peak
2001	Tantric	Maverick	#71
2004	After We Go	Maverick	#56
2008	The End Begins	Silent Majority

Singles

Year	Song	U.S. Modern Rock	U.S. Mainstream Rock	Album
2001	"Breakdown"	4	1	Tantric
2001	"Astounded"	30	7	Tantric
2002	"Mourning"	22	18	Tantric
2004	"Hey Now"	-	8	After We Go
2004	"The Chain"	-	36	After We Go
2004	"After We Go"	-	30	After We Go
2008	"Down And Out"	-	39	The End Begins

See also

• Live in the X Lounge - a charity album to which Tantric contributed live performances.

External links

• Tantric's Purevolume Page
• Tantric at Curlie
• Tantric Lyrics
• Tantric at Myspace