215music Q & A with Charlie Dolan of TAUK
by Sean Sabo
If you went to a major festival or attended a show in the jamband scene during 2016, then you may likely have heard about or seen performing the band TAUK, a New York City four-piece “dirty funk” instrumental band. Relentless playing and almost non-stop touring, staples to bands in this musical landscape, have been the name of the game for TAUK over the past couple of years … and it doesn’t look like the band will be slowing down anytime soon. They just released their most recent studio album, Sir Nebula, in the fall of 2016 and have already been announced for Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival, Summer Camp Music Festival, both weekends of Electric Forest, and LOCKN’. But even before performing at those events, they will be playing nearly 40 shows over 90 days starting at the beginning of February. Perhaps most relevant to us concert-goers in the 215music area is their early January 2017 show at The Theater for the Living Arts where they will be opening for Lettuce on the 5th as part of Lettuce’s “Mt. Crushmore” tour.
Lifelong friends Matt Jalbert (guitar), Charlie Dolan (bass), and A.C. Carter (keyboards) had been kicking about as a band for several years since high school before adding Isaac Teel (drums) in 2012 and solidifying the band as TAUK. The band released two albums in 2013; Pull Factors and Homunculus, before beginning their heavy touring binge in 2014 in support of their 7/22/14 release of their studio album Collisions. In the fall of 2015, the band released their first live album HEADROOM which exemplified their explosive live performances. They even collaborated on a fusion project called TAUKing McGee, which featured a rotating cast from the Umphrey’s camp. Then, in September 2016, they released their fourth studio album, Sir Nebula, before heading out on the road again.
Through all the hectic scheduling and holiday rush to the end of the year, I was able to ask bassist Charlie Dolan a few questions about the craziness surrounding all of the touring and recording.
Lifelong friends Matt Jalbert (guitar), Charlie Dolan (bass), and A.C. Carter (keyboards) had been kicking about as a band for several years since high school before adding Isaac Teel (drums) in 2012 and solidifying the band as TAUK. The band released two albums in 2013; Pull Factors and Homunculus, before beginning their heavy touring binge in 2014 in support of their 7/22/14 release of their studio album Collisions. In the fall of 2015, the band released their first live album HEADROOM which exemplified their explosive live performances. They even collaborated on a fusion project called TAUKing McGee, which featured a rotating cast from the Umphrey’s camp. Then, in September 2016, they released their fourth studio album, Sir Nebula, before heading out on the road again.
Through all the hectic scheduling and holiday rush to the end of the year, I was able to ask bassist Charlie Dolan a few questions about the craziness surrounding all of the touring and recording.
Photo: Dylan Langille
215music: The year 2016 really turned into a breakout year for you guys between constant touring and releasing your newest album Sir Nebula. I am sure there were many standouts, but what was one highlight from 2016 for you?
Charlie Dolan: It's definitely hard to pick one out! Red Rocks with String Cheese and our Brooklyn Bowl CD release show come to mind but I would say our sold-out show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta likely takes the cake. It was our biggest headlining show yet and we didn't see it coming at all! It was a very humbling experience to get that kind of support from our fans. Thank you guys!
215: You have been supporting a bunch of great bands recently, like Umphrey’s McGee in early 2016 and now Lettuce to start 2017. What has been a highlight of playing with many different bands over the years? Any specific collaboration onstage or antics offstage that still resonate with you?
CD: It's alway great to open for bands like those because we use it as a true learning experience. With the Umphrey's guys we really were impressed by their preparation before they went on stage. Every night they do a mini-practice in their green room right before they go on so there are warmed up and in the right mindset. Every part of the operation is efficient from the band to crew to management. Doing the TAUKing McGee shows still resonates with all of us I think. There was a lot of spontaneity to those shows and that made it exciting and led to a change in mindset for our own shows to just try and get outside the box more than we already were.
215: If you could jam/collaborate with one musical artist, living or passed, who would that be and why?
CD: There's a lot of them, but since I have been listening to him a lot the past few days I would say Derek Trucks! Amazing musician and one of the best guitar sounds to hit my ears!
215: Is there a specific goal you will try to achieve in 2017, such as writing some more material or working with a specific festival/band/etc.?
CD: I think the goal is to just continue to progress the way we have been the past few years. More originals, more covers, more shows, more collaborations, and hopefully get started on recording another record!
215: You recently released the album Sir Nebula. Can you pick anything in particular surrounding the album that has left a lasting impression, such as the recording of a specific track, the response from fans to the album, or how certain songs have made an impact on your live sets?
CD: I loved our approach to recording Sir Nebula. We took a good chunk of time to just get it all done in one swoop rather than breaking up the process among touring. I think it kept us in a consistent mindset and feeling throughout the process. Getting that focused really allowed us to get as tight as possible and I definitely felt like once we got back on the road everything was dialed in from that hard work.
215: Speaking of releasing albums, let’s turn to a more aloof question: If you could will a new album into existence, what artist, either alive or passed, would you have release an album into 2017? Why?
CD: Jaco Pastorius without a doubt! He left us too soon and I felt like he had a lot more genius to put out to the world!
215: Supporting live music and emerging artists is something both myself and 215music.net strive to do. I was fortunate enough to see you guys open for Umphrey’s at Penn’s Peak and have since told people about the band and checking out your music. In that vein, is there any new artists you feel people should give a solid look and listen to going forward into 2017?
CD: I have been really impressed with the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra! Jonathan is an amazing steel pan player and the groups he has been bringing out with him lately have been nothing short of mind blowing! Jonathan is also one of the nicest and hardworking people out there and deserves all the appreciation and success he can get! Check em out!
Charlie Dolan: It's definitely hard to pick one out! Red Rocks with String Cheese and our Brooklyn Bowl CD release show come to mind but I would say our sold-out show at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta likely takes the cake. It was our biggest headlining show yet and we didn't see it coming at all! It was a very humbling experience to get that kind of support from our fans. Thank you guys!
215: You have been supporting a bunch of great bands recently, like Umphrey’s McGee in early 2016 and now Lettuce to start 2017. What has been a highlight of playing with many different bands over the years? Any specific collaboration onstage or antics offstage that still resonate with you?
CD: It's alway great to open for bands like those because we use it as a true learning experience. With the Umphrey's guys we really were impressed by their preparation before they went on stage. Every night they do a mini-practice in their green room right before they go on so there are warmed up and in the right mindset. Every part of the operation is efficient from the band to crew to management. Doing the TAUKing McGee shows still resonates with all of us I think. There was a lot of spontaneity to those shows and that made it exciting and led to a change in mindset for our own shows to just try and get outside the box more than we already were.
215: If you could jam/collaborate with one musical artist, living or passed, who would that be and why?
CD: There's a lot of them, but since I have been listening to him a lot the past few days I would say Derek Trucks! Amazing musician and one of the best guitar sounds to hit my ears!
215: Is there a specific goal you will try to achieve in 2017, such as writing some more material or working with a specific festival/band/etc.?
CD: I think the goal is to just continue to progress the way we have been the past few years. More originals, more covers, more shows, more collaborations, and hopefully get started on recording another record!
215: You recently released the album Sir Nebula. Can you pick anything in particular surrounding the album that has left a lasting impression, such as the recording of a specific track, the response from fans to the album, or how certain songs have made an impact on your live sets?
CD: I loved our approach to recording Sir Nebula. We took a good chunk of time to just get it all done in one swoop rather than breaking up the process among touring. I think it kept us in a consistent mindset and feeling throughout the process. Getting that focused really allowed us to get as tight as possible and I definitely felt like once we got back on the road everything was dialed in from that hard work.
215: Speaking of releasing albums, let’s turn to a more aloof question: If you could will a new album into existence, what artist, either alive or passed, would you have release an album into 2017? Why?
CD: Jaco Pastorius without a doubt! He left us too soon and I felt like he had a lot more genius to put out to the world!
215: Supporting live music and emerging artists is something both myself and 215music.net strive to do. I was fortunate enough to see you guys open for Umphrey’s at Penn’s Peak and have since told people about the band and checking out your music. In that vein, is there any new artists you feel people should give a solid look and listen to going forward into 2017?
CD: I have been really impressed with the Jonathan Scales Fourchestra! Jonathan is an amazing steel pan player and the groups he has been bringing out with him lately have been nothing short of mind blowing! Jonathan is also one of the nicest and hardworking people out there and deserves all the appreciation and success he can get! Check em out!
For more information on the band, please visit http://www.taukband.com. To check out their newest album, Sir Nebula, head to bandcamp at https://tauk.bandcamp.com/album/sir-nebula. Finally, be sure to check them out as the opener for Lettuce on 1/5/17 at The Theater for the Living Arts in Philadelphia.
For information about the show, visit http://venue.tlaphilly.com//EventDetail?tmeventid=0200516ACDBB4F8C&offerid=38571
Sean Sabo and 215music would like to thank all of TAUK, specifcally Charlie Dolan for answering these questions, and also thank Shelly Reed at Mason Jar Media.
For information about the show, visit http://venue.tlaphilly.com//EventDetail?tmeventid=0200516ACDBB4F8C&offerid=38571
Sean Sabo and 215music would like to thank all of TAUK, specifcally Charlie Dolan for answering these questions, and also thank Shelly Reed at Mason Jar Media.
Photo: Kristine Condon