Tally Hall

Tally Hall is an alternative rock band from Ann Arbor, Mich., known for its colorful ties and expressive music. The band’s latest album, “Good & Evil,” was released in June of 2011 with Quack! Media, featuring “You & Me” and “&.”

“’Good & Evil’ seemed to encapsulate the batch of songs we had for the album,” singer and keyboardist Andrew Horowitz said. “We recorded the album in Los Angeles with producer Tony Hoffer.”

The band’s expressive style is unique.

“A giant cloud made of cotton candy wherein a circus of magical creatures speak in poetry,” Horowitz said.

Tally Hall got its start during college.

“Sophomore year of college, I was introduced to Rob (Cantor, guitarist and vocalist) through a mutual friend,” Horowitz said. “From there, we added members one by one. It grew from a two-person jam session to a band within a couple months.”

With its unique style, the band felt the name Tally Hall suited it well.

“Tally Hall is named after a defunct mini-mall in the suburbs of Detroit,” Horowitz said. “It’s a place of nostalgia for the rest of my Michigan-based band. In Tally Hall, there were arcade oddities sprinkled throughout.”

The band started an internet show a couple years ago called THIS, which featured 10 mini episodes of sketch-comedy.

“The Tally Hall Internet Show was a natural progression from the short clips we were posting online,” Horowitz said. “The short films spilled over to Tally Hall, and we consciously opened up Tally Hall to all forms of creative expression.”

The most important thing that keeps Tally Hall’s music going is themselves and to make something worthwhile.

 “Our hope to create an alternative to the plethora of crap shoved into the public’s minds.”

 

Band members include:

Rob Cantor - Guitar, vocals

Joe Hawley - Guitar, vocals

Ross Federman - Drums

Zubin Sedghi - Bass, vocals

Andrew Horowitz - Keyboards, vocals

SPEAK

SPEAK is an up and coming pop rock band from Austin, Texas. The band released its debut album, “I Believe In Everything,” with Modern Art records this past September featuring the hit “Carrie.”

“We recorded the album with our great friend Frenchie Smith here in Austin. It’s the result of years of songwriting, recording, mixing, and mastering,” Troupe Gammage, lead singer of the band, said.

The band was presented with “Best New Band” from the Talking Heads, one of the band’s biggest influences, at the Austin Music Awards after the release of its debut EP, “Hear Here.”

“We got to meet the Talking Heads a few years ago, which was obviously a huge deal for us,” Gammage said. “It seems no one of our generation isn’t a Talking Heads fan.”

Other influences include Lamount Dozier, Prince and David Bowie. Influences they’ve met on the road are Tigercity, Cage the Elephant, Tally Hall and Passion Pit.

Gammage  got his start in music at an early age.

“Both my parents were musicians, so I grew up around music,” Gammage said. “I started composing soundtracks for video games I was making in elementary school and have been writing music on computers ever since.”

Gammage met the rest of his band in high school and college.

“I first met Nick (Hurt, guitarist) and Jake (Stewart, drummer) when we were in junior high/early high school. Nick introduced us to Joey (Delahoussaye, bassist) when they were at the University of Texas classical guitar program together,” Gammage said.

The band found Modern Art records later on.

“Our manager had been talking to Ben Collins from Modern Art for a couple years before we signed to the label,” Gammage said. “I have no idea how he met Ben, but we’re glad he did.”

The writing process for the band’s music has been a collaborative project.

“We all write, and the process changes song to song,” Gammage said. “Some songs are incredibly collaborative, some are more personal, but we all have a voice in the arrangements and the production, which is really important to us.”

 

The music video for “Carrie,” was produced by Danger Films in Austin, TX.