Since forming earlier this decade in Long Island, Tauk has built a steady live following with their unique blend of instrumental rock improvisation and fusion. Having had the privilege of opening for moe., Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Tea Leaf Green along with having performed sets at Gathering of the Vibes, Hangout Music Fest, Peach Festival with The Allman Brothers and the small stage at Bonnaroo, Tauk is getting out there in an old school grass roots way that we don’t see enough in this era of Pitchfork quick hype.
Legendary sound engineer, Dave Natale (Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac), invited Tauk into his studio in late 2011 to record the band’s previous album, Pull Factors. After touring, the band then teamed up with Grammy-winning producer Robert Carranza (Jack Johnson, Mars Volta) to harness the band’s eclectic vision creating entirely instrumental tracks for their new album, Homunculus. Consisting of Matt Jalbert (guitar), Charlie Dolan (bass), Alric “A.C.” Carter (keyboard/organ), and Isaac Teel (drums), the band’s chops prove their experimental prowess is limitless. And just so we couldn’t help ourselves by saying it, Glide recently had a chance to talk to Tauk.
Do you feel that your music has been shaped at all by the Long Island culture or scene?
Long Island is home, but it’s not really our scene. It definitely pushed us to head into the city to check out other places where there was a lot more competition and to become part of the scene. Long Island was known more for cover bands and punk bands. There aren’t too many places to play out on the island where people are going to be willing to drive out to the shows.
I’ve read that you’ve been categorized as a jam band like a Phish or Lotus. Do you agree with that?
There’s some truth to it, but it’s not the whole picture – but we’ll take that as a compliment. We were huge fans of Phish and that in turn turned us on to a lot of different stuff, which provided a launching point for what we’re into now. Some call Phish a jam band and some call the Grateful Dead a jam band, but they’re very different. One can take away from Phish and Lotus that they are a “touring band”, playing 100 to 150 shows a year. And, even if they take any time off – they continue to build a larger fan base. (editors note – Phish no longer plays anything close to 100 shows a year)
Have you been influenced by any of them or are there other influences that you’d like to mention?
There isn’t one band that we want to be in the same vein with. We’re always shifting. Everyone in the band has their own preferences and there may be some aspects of bands like Zappa, that we may all like. However, we’re all open-minded. Ultimately we’re interested in what each other listen to. There are two bands that we agree upon: Kneebody and Stevie Wonder.
What makes TAUK stand out?
The fact that we are an instrumental band puts us in our own. There are other instrumental bands out there, but not that many as bands with vocals. We focus a lot on composition and melody. We put a lot of effort into that and it’s a big part of our sound. We are able to dip into many different genres and incorporate them into our music and make it sound authentic. We think that’s hard to do and it may even be hard for some people to comprehend sometimes.
What are some challenges that you face as an instrumental band?
One challenge might be waiting for the audience to get over the expectation of having someone sing. We used to keep a mic on a stand to talk back to the audience and people started getting a little freaked out by it because they didn’t know how to respond. We took that down because we noticed that there was this expectation for someone to sing and then we’d get to the end of the set and people didn’t seem sure about what they just heard.
This is one reason why we feel that the melody is so important. When people are at a show where they haven’t seen the band before, the easiest thing for them to latch on to is the words. One thing that helps is that we do some covers – instrumentally of course. We play the vocal lines and with songs like our version of the Beatles’ “She’s So Heavy”, we find that the audience sings along. We sing along too.
Robert Carranza produced Homunculus. He has worked with Jack Johnson & The Mars Volta. How did you connect with him and what was that experience like?
We’ve known him for a few years and back when we had a singer for our album. He was on a list of people that we really wanted to reach out to. He was one of the first people to get back to us and we hit it off right away. The band has gone through a lot of changes since then and he’s always been there to mentor us. He’s been in our corner at every point. It’s nice to have someone like him and it was a no brainer when it came time to record this new album. He feels like another member of the band as he’s totally taken us under his wing. Musically, he’s got a great ear. We’ve sent him some stuff that was in the initial stages of mixing and he takes it, sends it back with his changes and we wonder how he did it? He understands our music and is able to make everything fit together.
How would you describe the new album with one word?
Cinematic.
Would you like to expand upon that?
It’s the best representation of where we are at as a band now and what we’re all about. That’s kind of the idea behind the title of the new album, Homunculus – a representation of one’s self.
Tell me how you made this album? Did you do anything differently?
It took about two and a half months. We went out to L.A. to Brushfire Studios, a solar powered studio, to lay down the drums and some basic parts for the beginning of the recording. And then went back to New York and work on the rest of the instruments at our rehearsal space to finish up keys, guitar, bass and all of the overdubs. Then we returned to L.A. to mix it with Robert. It was a really great experience all in all. We had a really great vibe going the whole time as we figured out what we wanted to do. We also went in with a good amount of material that we had written and had been playing on the road. Then we had about four or five songs that we just worked out in the studio. That was something new to us. We had never done that before.
Please describe your song writing process.
For some songs, they’re really thought out ahead of time. We’ll send songs to each other as well as bringing ideas to rehearsal and we’ll flesh out all the parts. “Dead Signal” is one of those songs that took shape once we continued to experiment with the arrangement.
“The Spot” has a “Bohemian Rhapsody” and or “Band on the Run” composition quality to it, where it seems there was more that one song idea rolled into one.
That’s funny. That one was written when Matt was just foolin’ around on his guitar. It just kind of happened. He came up with the main riff and the chorus. The whole middle section where it goes somewhere completely different took shape once the song was brought the ensemble – so it does have similar aspects to it.
Are there any particular songs that you feel stand out on the new album?
That’s hard. “The Spot”, especially after the way it came out on the recording. It has a different vibe, being a little more laid back and a little more open. “Dead Signal” and “Carpentino’s Rebirth” whether listening to it on the record or playing live.
You’ve been opening for some great bands. What have you been able to take anything away from watching them play?
It’s great to see how others run their business. We get to see the small band and the big bands and we think that you can figure out who you want to be in between until you’re self sufficient enough to make your own rules. Also, paying attention to the different aspects of professionalism, including how you treat everything from the load-in to leaving the gig and how your high level of professionalism needs to stay the same.
With Robert Randolph, he’s such a crazy performer on stage and you can learn how something like that can take you. He really gets people into it. The last show we watched, we saw him bring girls up on stage to dance and he even hand picking people out the audience to play guitar. Being a performer and making the connection with the audience is really important. As is making sure that you let the audience know that you’re having fun.
