Tantric Finds Inspiration in 'Breakdown'
March 14 -- When Travis Meeks summarily dismissed the three musicians he was playing with in the original Days of the New lineup — Todd Whitener, Jesse Vest, and Matt Taul — the trio returned home to Louisville, Ky., trying not to despair as it figured out its next move.
"There was definitely a break period of about a month or so where we had to catch our breath," says guitarist Whitener. "I was at home, doing nothing, debating whether I wanted to go back to fast food or try to get into school. Jesse and Matt were flinging wings at Hooters; I was up there trying to get free food all day, the unemployed bum."
Ultimately, Whitener says, "We decided we had something to write about. We had a lot of pent-up energy from having the shit fall apart on us. Most people never get the chance to do what we did once, much less a second time. But it didn't take long for us all to realize we had a job to complete within ourselves, if you will."
Recruiting singer Hugo Ferreira from the Detroit band Merge, which had opened some shows for Days of the New, the trio formed Tantric (known initially as C-14) and set to work on its debut album, coming up with more than 40 songs, from which 12 were culled for the group's self-titled debut, which was produced by Toby Wright (Alice in Chains, Korn).
Whitener acknowledges that more than a few of the songs were drawn from the angst of the Days of the New situation — "There's some of that feeling on there," he says. "But it's not a pointing-your-finger type of thing." — and as rock radio latches on to the album's first track, "Breakdown," the members of Tantric say they're comfortable with the inevitable comparisons to the previous band.
"It would be foolish not to expect us to have a similarity considering 75 percent of the band was part of [Days of the New]," notes Ferreira. "We weren't worried about it. We just went with the flow and went where it took us."
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