Tally Hall
| Tally Hall | |
| |
| Place of Origin | Ann Arbor, MI |
|---|---|
| Genres | Rock, Indie Rock |
| Years Active | 2002-Present |
| Label | Quack!, Atlantic Records |
| Website | Official Band Website Tally Hall's Myspace Tally Hall's YouTube |
| Band Members | |
| Joe Hawley: Vocals, Guitar Rob Cantor: Vocals, Guitar Ross Federman: Drums/Percussion Andrew Horowitz: Keyboards, percussion, vocals Zubin Sedghi:Vocals, Bass | |
| Past Members | |
| Steve Gallagher: Drums/Percussion
Honorary Members | |
Tally Hall is an American rock band formed in December 2002 in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is often recognized by their trademark colored ties. The band is made up of 5 members:
- Rob Cantor (yellow tie - vocals/guitar)
- Zubin Sedghi (blue tie - vocals/bass)
- Ross Federman (grey tie - percussion)
- Joe Hawley (red tie - vocals/guitar)
- Andrew Horowitz (green tie - vocals/keys)
Now under the Atlantic Records recording label, Tally Hall was previously signed to indie label Quack! Media who helped finance and nationally distribute their studio debut album, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum which is known for its upbeat melodies and whimsical lyrics; the band members themselves having described their musical style at the time as "wonky rock."
History
Andrew, the only member not originally from Michigan, began writing songs when he was eight years old and eventually headed to the University of Michigan to study composition. There he met Rob and Zubin, who both attended the same high-school and played in a band called listedBlack. The three formed a band (name unknown) and played small shows around the University of Michigan dorms, where all 5 members went to school.
Rob met Joe on campus and as they began to become friendly, Rob learned of Joe's musical abilities and asked him and Steve Gallagher to join the band as lead guitarist and drummer, respectively. Later, they played a few gigs under the name Gallagher and then as 540 (the address of their house at the time). Joe originally suggested the name of the band be "Tally Hall" and everyone agreed (except Andrew, who was not from the area and didn't grasp the magic of what the REAL Tally Hall meant to people in the Detroit area).
Tally Hall was the name of an indoor shopping plaza on Orchard Lake Road in Farmington Hills, Michigan. A wonderous arcade/museum of coin-op machines and oddities called Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum was a popular establishment within Tally Hall and is now all that remains after the Tally Hall complex was torn down.
Eventually, they all agreed to name the band Tally Hall and they began to record some EP's and play small shows around the UofM campus.
In 2004, when Steve Gallagher left the band, they recruited Ross, who went to high school with Joe.
From 2005 until 2010, the band was managed by The Hornblow Group (They Might Be Giants, OK Go) but they changed management in Spring/Summer of 2010 to Stiletto Entertainment.
Complete Demos
The LP known as Complete Demos is essentially just a compilation of the songs they recorded for the two EP's they previously released (Party Boobytrap & Welcome To Tally Hall) with the addition of the unnamed hidden track, referred to as Hidden In The Sand. But unlike the EPs, they put effort into manufacturing and packaging, officially released the album in September 2004 and sold the CD at shows and from their website.
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
The band began touring in 2005, promoting their album, with shows mostly featuring tracks from the album. However, their live concerts often feature a couple cover songs. They're probably best known for their cover of Biz Markie's "Just A Friend", which they used to end every set with. As of 2008, it was said to be "retired" from their set but they will still perform it from time to time. A live version of Just a Friend can be found on The Pingry EP. In 2006, a studio version was recorded and was considered one of a few bonus song provided by Atlantic Records and was distributed via download codes handed out at live shows and through the Twitter account of hiddeninthesand.com (A.K.A. HITS).
The band has received an amount of national media attention, performing their song "Good Day" on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on August 2, 2006 as well as appearing in MTV's segment You Hear It First in September 2006. The band appeared at the 2007 South by Southwest Music Festival. On August 3 2008, Tally Hall was a performer on the BMI stage at Lollapalooza.
Tally Hall was invited back by The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on September 16, 2008 to help promote the launch of Tally Hall's Internet Show. They performed "Welcome to Tally Hall" in newly donned black vests over top of their traditional colored ties, white shirts, and black pants.
The band worked on several projects after the completion of "Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum", including covering the song "Smile Like You Mean It" by The Killers for the sixth The O.C. soundtrack: Music from the OC: Mix 6.
The band re-released Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum on April 1, 2008 with their new record label, Atlantic Records after some re-recording and re-mixing was done.
Discography
LPs
EPs
Compilations
- Songs From The O.C. Mix 6
Singles
Miscellaneous Collections Of Songs
Side Projects & Old Bands
- Tally Hall's Internet Show
- Happy Monster Band
- Mr. F
- listedBlack
- Toy Orchestra
- The Baker Bros.
- The Robbie Cook Band
- anonyMous
Equipment List
The following is a list of equipment the members of Tally Hall use or have used.
Percussion
- Ross uses a Pearl drum set.
Guitars
- Joe has used a Fender Stratocaster in the past, but now uses a Rickenbacker.
- Rob uses a Les Paul.
Bass Guitars
- Zubin uses a black Fender Jaguar bass.
Keyboards
- Andrew uses a Roland keyboard.
Mics & Amps
- Roland amps.
- Seeking info on mics.
Misc.
- Andrew uses a Macbook for some sampling.