Tantric

Tantric is a post-grunge band from Louisville, Kentucky. The group has released four studio albums since 2001; although, their last two albums only retain Tantric's original singer, Hugo Ferreira. Having previously recorded albums for Maverick Records, including their platinum-selling debut, they are currently under Silent Majority Group.

History

The band was originally formed in 1999 by three former members of Days of the New, Jesse Vest, Todd Whitener, and Matt Taul, with the addition of Merge singer, Hugo Ferreira. Beginning under the name C-14, a short name for radiocarbon, they soon changed to Tantric and were signed to Maverick Records that same year. Tantric recorded their self-titled debut with producer Toby Wright in 2000. Released in February 2001, the record debuted at #193 on the Billboard 200. Tantric 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 2006, when Tantric parted ways with Maverick Records, which itself was collapsing. In 2007, Matt Taul was arrested on drug related charges, which would further postpone any chance the band had at obtaining a new label. Finally, on May 8, 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, which cited a feeling of stagnancy, causing him to grow tired of the band's struggle to succeed. 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. Taul was imprisoned in later months, but has since been released. Bruce LaFrance was replaced.

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] However, in recent interviews, Ferreira's comments have severely increased the likelihood of Tantric III's release. He has stated that although he does not plan to release it in grand style, he would like to leak it out to the fans as a potential Christmas, 2008 gift for their support. With the indefinite shelving of "T3," 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.

On March 9 2009, Tantric announced through MySpace that their new album will be entitled Mind Control and that the band were in the process of recording the album. Produced by Brett Hestla (Creed), they announced a release date of August 4, and it was released in stores, as well as all digital retailers.

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

• Live in the X Lounge - a charity album to which Tantric contributed live performances.
• Tantric Live private performance in Orlando 6/30/08

Notes

External links

• Tantric at MySpace
• Tantric at Purevolume
• Tantric at the Open Directory Project
• Check out Tantric's LIVE performance at WJRR.com from Monday, June 30, 2008!
• Hugo interview on MT