This Louisville, Kentucky, USA-based modern rock outfit was formed by three-quarters of the original line-up of Days Of The New. Todd Whitener (b. 25 May 1978, Louisville, Kentucky, USA; guitar), Jesse Vest (b. 10 May 1977, Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA; bass) and Matt Taul (b. 30 August 1978, Jeffersonville, Indiana, USA; drums) enjoyed critical and commercial success with Days Of The New’s self-titled 1998 debut. Shortly afterwards the trio endured an acrimonious split with vocalist Travis Meeks over musical direction. Unbowed, they continued to make music as Carbon 14 with the addition of new vocalist Hugo Ferreira (b. 7 March 1974, Luanda, Angola, ex-Merge). The quartet re-named themselves Tantric and signed a recording contract with Maverick Records in late 1999. Their melodic self-titled debut did not stray too far from the post-grunge alternative sound popularised by bands such as Alice In Chains and Creed.
The belated 2004 follow-up, After We Go, spawned the mainstream radio hit ‘Hey Now’ but was ultimately a commercial failure. By 2006 the band had parted company with Maverick and in the next year the line-up underwent several changes, with Vest, Whitener and Taul all leaving. Ferreira abandoned the album the band had been working on for several years and recruited a new set of musicians, Kevin Miller (drums, ex-Fuel), Joe Pessia (guitar), Erik Leonhardt (bass), and Marcus Ratzenboeck (violin), to help him record the new studio collection The End Begins.
