Tanis brings intense alternative metal to NGT

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By Jason Andreasen

After a few knocks on the front door of local band Tanis’ lead singer Jason Tramonte’s home, the sounds of distorted guitars stopped. The door opened, and I was greeted by a large gray pitbull (Skyler) with a head the size of an over-inflated NFL football. After my heart descended from my throat back to its normal resting place, the guys of Tanis returned to their instruments.

While guitarist Trent Iglehart and drummer Chris Levee started to tear into one of the band’s originals, and the PA’s began to ring, Skyler left the leather couch he had settled into, lifted his massive skull towards the men wielding sonic weapons, and retreated to a bedroom. It was too much. Luckily, for both Skyler and those who might be startled by a 100-pound pitbull, the dog won’t be making an appearance when Tanis headlines North Gate Tavern on Saturday, April 5. You should be.

The band, which got started about eight months ago, has been working to perfect its sound so that, eventually, even Skyler can’t walk away. For those who haven’t heard the band a million times (as Skyler has), one word best sums up their sound: intense. To get an idea of what they sound like, check out Myspace.com/TanisLive to hear their song, “Nightmares,” but don’t be fooled. As Tramonte explains, “That’s one of our slower songs.”

While “Nightmares” (which was written by a friend behind bars) might be one of the band’s slower numbers, it no less shows what they have in mind for their show on April 5. The band has been working on their originals tirelessly, while also working on a few covers to fill out their set. On any given night, you might hear a Tanis take on Marcy’s Playground, System of a Down or Chevelle.

While a few covers sneak their way into Tanis’ sets, it is the collective songwriting of the band that makes Tanis’ music worth keeping an ear out for.

“Everybody in the band plays multiple instruments,” said Iglehart.

“Everybody in the band has written a song,” Tramonte added. “You have all these different ideas, and there’s a cool mixture because it’s his idea that we’re playing, then the next song is [Chris’]. The next one is mine. With us, there’s a lot of different s**t going on.”

It would seem that that might be the case with any band with influences as diverse as classic country and Tool. With influences running the gamut, Tanis has an equally diverse definition of their own style.

While Tramonte emphatically claims they are just a rock band, Iglehart said, “I’m holding on to Alternative Metal.”

Levee disagrees.

“I like to think of it as death-metal-polka,” he joked.

Trying to find a name that would capture the band came a little easier. The idea came to Iglehart after hearing about the “treasures of Tanis” in “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Once the band did a little more investigating about the ancient Egyptian city, a moniker had been chosen.

“I Googled ‘Tanis,’” said Tramonte. “They had all this gold. It was one of the richest cities but nobody knew that it was.”

That seems to fit the band. While they might not yet be a staple of the local scene, Tanis is no less a buried treasure waiting to be excavated. (Note: Shovels are not permitted inside North Gate Tavern)

Opening for Tanis will be Lockport, La.-based Viscera and fellow locals Cataphora. To find out more about the show, call North Gate Tavern at (225) 346-6784.

E-mail the author at JasonAndreasen@tigerweekly.com

Originally Published: Issue 602 - April 2, 2008

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