After Days of the New egomaniac Travis Meeks fired his band, they trumped him–found a new frontman, called themselves Tantric and went on to more success than they’d yet seen.
Tantric recently finished recording their sophomore disc–or so they thought, until a call from officials with their record company, Maverick.
“Everything sounds great,” they told the band. “We just want a few more songs.”
So Tantric went back to the studio and laid down three more tracks. How they chose to include a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” is fast becoming legend.
“They just wanted some kind of cover song, no matter what it was,” guitarist Todd Whitener says. The band tuned in a classic rock station and picked the first song they heard. We talked with Whitener about that choice and other stuff.
What if that first song on the radio had been something crummy like Styx’s “Come Sail Away”?
Yeah, we were thinking, “This could be a very bad thing by taking this approach.” But we had positive and negative things we could say about all the songs we were kicking around. It’s a democracy here, and we couldn’t find a song where all four of us had only positive things.
What are your New Year’s resolutions?
Last year’s resolution was to kick certain bad habits. Bad drug habits. By halfway through the year, I knocked it all down and so did the rest of the band. We’re all really proud of that. I guess this year’s is to be a stronger person and stay away from the stuff that tears bands apart.
Were you really in a band called Death by Diarrhea?
Yeah. It was a band I was in in high school. We were actually great, I’d like to think. The sound was very similar to a Smashing Pumpkins-like sound. Those were the days when we’d just get messed up, sit back, turn on the black light and start jamming.
Aside from that, what’s the dumbest band name you’ve ever heard?
(Long pause.) I’m drawing a blank.
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Edited by Cara DiPasquale ([email protected]) and Kris Karnopp ([email protected])