"All About The Album - 15 Questions" - a brand new section at the RockUnited site where any recording artist with an recently released CD is confronted with standard questions (15 of them, duh!). If you'd like to have your material up here, email: urban "at" rockunited.com (simply replace "at" with your standard @ )

TAG: "Foreward"

John Taglieri shouldn't be a stranger to anyone in the melodic rock circles. Ever since the release of his first album "Leap Of Faith", he's taken advantage of the Internet and made his name known to the fans of the genre. Not to mention that he's been touring a lot all over the US of A, and made a lot of friends that way. TAG is the new, snappy name for his band, and "Foreward" is the band's first album. And it's not half bad!

How has the reaction to your latest CD been?

The reaction has been really solid. It's been getting great reviews online and the fans have loved it.

How long did this CD take to make from start to finish, recording-wise?

It was about 20 total days in the studio to get everything done.

What kind of 'sound', production wise, did you have in the back of your mind, prior to entering the studio?

We were looking to go with a cross between Vertical Horizon, Third Eye Blind and My Chemical Romance when we were making this. Of course our AOR rock roots come thru as well.

What kind of input did the producer have during the process?

Well, I produced much of the CD and it was recorded in our own Dowg Pound Studios. We also had some tracks cut in Nashville by Lee J. Turner (Darius Rucker Band) and Jason Gambil l(Lady Antebellum). There were also two tracks and several more guitar parts cut in Congers, NY at Room 56 by Brian Fechino(Pat McGee Band). Brian also produced "Fly" & "Ghost". It was a great mixture of different talented players and producers coming together to make a great finished product.

And are you pleased with the final outcome? (sound - production wise)

Very. I think that we got the sound we wanted on every song. We went for a bunch of different textures throughout each song and worked very hard to get the right tones and the final mixes are everything we hoped them to be.

Did the producer (you) use any (weird) experimental miking and/or recording techniques?

Well, between Brad, Brian and I we definitely tried some cool things. My vocals on "Ghost" were recorded on an old reel-to-reel mic... this little tiny old mic that overdrove as soon as I started singing and gave the vocals that cool 'dirty' quality that they have. I tried several different mic techniques on both the electrics and acoustics to see what flavors we could find. We used about 20 different guitars on the CD & 5-6 different amps, so sonically, we tried to capture all the cool tones we were finding.

How did you go on about capturing your 'live sound' in the studio, or perhaps you didn't

Hmmm, I dont know what we went for a "live" sound in the studio. We were writing and recording so quickly on some of them that we didnt even really do any pre-production. I think we let the songs sorta speak for themselves a lot. If anything, I think mauby we just let the fact that we play live so much just flow as the songs were recording. A lot of the tracks in the songs were 1-2 takes at most, so I guess thats where we brought in the live energy.

Please inform us about your favourite songs and lyrical highlights and why?

I honestly like each song for different reasons. "Ferris Wheel" is the most different song on the CD and I love it for that. "Ghost" just plain ROCKS...we mixed a little rockabilly into a rock song and it came out great. "Fly" just moves me in so many ways. I could go on and on...each song really means something to us and I think that as you listen, you get to hear the different personalities we put into them. 

Any overall theme of mood that you're trying to capture while writing songs?

I don't know that there's a specific theme we went for. We just wrote songs that we believed in and the ones that made us feel the best were the ones that made the CD.

Does your vision for coming up with music get affected at all by time?

I dont know that it gets affected by time. It gets affected by everything that we go through. A lot of this CD was written by Brad and I. We wrote at different times and as different things were going on in our lives and judt as anything, whatever going on in life was surely affecting what our mindsets were. We had a project that we were working on for a while called "LIVES" and some of the songs from that wound up on this CD and they were written at different times with story lines or ideas that we had for them in our heads. Generally, Brad will come up with a riff and we'll sit with that and work until we find the song thats supposed to be attached to it. He'll write a lot of the music and I'll write a lot of the lyrics and then we'll find the spot in between to make each song work. It's been a great collaboration and I love the way we write.

Did the record company interfere with anything on your "sound" and songs?

NOT AT ALL. I would never let that happen...so thats not something I worry about.

Are there any 'crazy' behind the scenes anecdotes from these sessions that you can share with us?

Not really. A lot of the tracking was done the day each song was written. The later tracking or the stuff done in Nashville was done without me there since it was so far. When Brian and I got to work, we really just put our heads down and didnt come up until we were done. So there werent really any craziness during then recording of this CD...sadly! I promised for the next one, we'll do something nuts for us to talk to you about!

How would you describe the sound of your new CD to any potential new fan?

We've been describing it as "If Third Eye Blind & Vertical Horizon had lunch with My Chemical Romance..."

Who are your influences and heroes? (music-wise)

Band wise, we are all over the map as far as influences and what we listen to. Personally, I grew up on a lot of massive arena rock... Triumph, Journey, Kansas, The Cars, etc. Lots of 80s rock as well. My influences are so varied. Right now, I'd say that Pat Monhan from Train is probably my favorite vocalist in the business at the moment.

If there's anything you'd like to add, say, please do:

Thanks to everyone that has bought a CD, come to a show, and checked out the band. We appreciate it greatly and could never do what we do without all you folks! Stop by the website at http://TAGTheBand.com and come visit us on Facebook at http://Facebook.com/TAGTheBand 
Sincerely,
John Tagliari

Interview by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom,
Photos from the band's website
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