POSTPONED --Tauk

To our amazing fans:

It is with a heavy hearts that we are cancelling all dates for the remainder of March and April Squad Tour due to the risks of the spread of coronavirus / COVID-19. As you are probably aware  information is changing daily, even hourly. One thing is clear, the most important thing is keeping our fans, friends, crew, and by extension their loved ones and the broader community safe.  If you’re wondering why so many shows and events have been cancelled lately, this is a valuable article to read about “flattening the curve” of the growth of this virus and how that can help keep our healthcare system functioning for those in greatest need:  https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation [vox.com] [vox.com]

Our team has been working  with every promoter and venue and discussing all options. As of now, some of the dates will be rescheduled later this year and into 2021, and some will unfortunately have to be canceled. We will communicate more information as we proceed. 

All tickets will be honored at rescheduled shows. Any tickets for shows that cannot be rescheduled will be refunded. If you cannot attend a rescheduled date when it is announced, you can request a refund. 

While we are in this period of social distancing and cancelled events, we still want to bring you the music… we’ll be joining with you as a band, or individually on TAUKing Tuesdays, to give you an inside look at some full shows, insight on individual technique, and hopefully into some of our creative process for our next round of new tunes.  We’ll see you online tomorrow night where we’ll be rebroadcasting our set from Denver’s Mission Ballroom on our Facebook page.  Matt and AC (and possibly others) will be joining the chat to talk with you all while the show plays back.   We can’t wait to see you back on the road when the time is right.

TAUK

About TAUK:
New York-bred TAUK has been laying down an all-instrumental blend of progressive rock, hip-hop and jazz on stages across the U.S. for the last several years, and recently released several iterations of “Real TAUK”, to document some of the great moments from each tour. Though fans have clamored for each “Real TAUK” release (now up to Volume 3) they’ve also reveled in the deep sonic explorations from the band’s studio forays.

Their most recent studio album Shapeshifter II: Outbreak, offered an unsettling but ultimately exhilarating look at artificial intelligence and its potential to upend our world. With its dynamic sense of tension and cinematic mastery of mood, it proved to be an album that’s both powerfully hypnotic and intensely thought-provoking.

“We’re all very much interested in A.I., and this idea of machines getting out of the hands of the people trying to control them,” notes TAUK guitarist Matt Jalbert, whose bandmates include bassist Charlie Dolan, keyboardist Alric “A.C.” Carter, and drummer Isaac Teel. “This album felt like a good setting to tell that kind of story, but in a way where we could have fun with it and let the listener escape into a whole other world.”

Equally inspired by classic sci-fi like Blade Runner and more recent films like Ex Machina, Shapeshifter II: Outbreak embeds that narrative into TAUK’s most sonically adventurous, emotionally expansive work to date. A continuation of their early-2018 EP Shapeshifter I: Construct, the new album picks up its predecessor’s narrative thread with “Prelude”: a fantastically unsettling intro track whose frenetic keyboard work and chilling vocal samples set the tone for what’s to come. “The idea is that in the EP you’re seeing the construction of this being, and in the album you’re seeing it break out and become something that you can’t ignore anymore,” Carter explains.

Free-flowing yet elaborately composed, Shapeshifter II: Outbreak came to life in collaboration with TAUK’s longtime cohort Robert Carranza—a Grammy Award-winning producer/mixer/engineer also known for his work The Mars Volta, Ozomatli, Marilyn Manson, and Taj Mahal. In a departure from their previous releases (including 2016’s Sir Nebula), the band shunned the typical studio environment and holed up for weeks in a long-abandoned, century-old home that Teel describes as “the Jumanji house meets Addams Family meets Amityville Horror.” Located in their homeland of Long Island, the house turned out to be the
ideal spot for their makeshift studio, allowing for a creativity-enhancing seclusion.

Inspired by their work on Shapeshifter II: Outbreak TAUK has taken to broadening their live sonic palette to include a vast spectrum of synth sounds and programmed effects (such as those exquisitely eerie vocal samples heard in “Prelude”)Esteemed musicians who contributed to the album such as The Naughty Horns and Ghost-Note’s Nate Werth (a percussionist who’s also played with David Crosby, Q-Tip, and Snarky Puppy) have also joined the band onstage.

Each Real TAUK release showcases the potent chemistry they discovered in childhood, when longtime friends Dolan, Jalbert, and Carter formed their first band in seventh grade. After playing together in various projects, the trio brought Teel into the fold in 2012, cementing the final lineup. Since then, TAUK have shared stages with acts like Umphrey’s McGee, Widespread Panic, and Lettuce, appeared at festivals like Electric Forest and Bonnaroo, and earned acclaim from major outlets like the Washington Post (who praised TAUK for “creating a hard-charging, often melodic fusion that—thanks to a penchant for improv—offers limitless possibilities”). As Teel points out, the band’s incessant touring over the years has significantly strengthened their musical connection. “The four of us as individuals are all very animated souls in our own right,” he says. “We each have our ideas and our perspectives, and when it all comes together, it creates this collective statement that takes on a life of its own.”

About Free Union:

Free Union is a Charlottesville-based collective helmed by Michael Coleman (vocals/rhythm guitar) and Rob Dunnenberger (drums). The collective’s first EP, produced by Devonne Harris and Adrian Olsen, features music and vocals by Carrie Coleman (background vocals), Parker Hawkins (bass), John Markel (bass), and Butch Taylor (keyboards/background vocals).

The history behind the collective’s name gives context to its message. Free Union, Virginia—originally named Nicksville after a free African American blacksmith—sought to unite people of all races at a time when the country was inherently divided. These principles of inclusivity are the underpinnings of this collective. Free Union brings people, musical styles, and ideas together to inspire a message of unity.  You will get that sense from lyrics like If I could push a bit more, maybe we’d come out as equal. ‘Cause love is not dead; it’s just missing all of the people (“Good Day to Cry”).

Free Union’s goal is to deliver good music that is a true representation of its members and where they come from. For that reason, the collective’s sound is not distillable. Its ever-evolving music is rooted in soul and incorporates rhythm and blues, rock, and pop into its sound. The hope, according to its front man, is that “when you hear it, when you feel it, you won’t be able to keep from moving” and that “you’ll wake up the next day with it still in your mind.” The music will move your body and your heart; it will keep you thinking about what it will be like to one day have it all in the free world (“Free World”). 

-Chet'la Seebree