TasteFull is here to show people what jamming is all about.
TasteFull, a Cincinnati and Athens-based rock group, formed about a year ago Hunter Brookbank, vocalist and bassist of TasteFull, said.
The band started one night after a house party, Brookbank, who is also a sophomore studying neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati, said.
“We hopped on our instruments randomly and it was amazing,” Brookbank said. “That was (the beginning). By winter break last year, we all (started) playing as a serious band.”
The band mostly started by playing covers. But pretty soon, they were writing original material.
“We started writing original songs and new material three to six months in,” said Frank Cassidy, a junior studying engineering technology and management at Ohio University.
Cassidy, unlike most of the band, goes to school at OU. Though the distance sometimes makes things difficult, it has added to the music-making experience.
“We get in both scenes,” Cassidy said.
The band’s name was coined by TasteFull drummer Karthik Raturi, a junior studying music performance at UC’s College-Conservatory of Music. The name was catchy and easy to make puns about.
TasteFull’s members are passionate about the live performance aspect of music. Playing together as a group is spectacular, Sam Smith, guitarist and vocalist, said.
“We’re more willing to sacrifice a gig than to not play with (the absent) person,” said Smith, a sophomore at UC studying E-Media and anthropology.
Though they label themselves as an alternative jam band, TasteFull’s sound is “electic,” Raturi added. Each member’s individual taste influences the sounds of the band.
“We’re a jam band first. We’ve all got a lot of different loves for music,” Raturi said. “We’re 2000s babies grown up, infused by sounds from the 60s to the 90s.”
The band listed its diverse influences: Bob Dylan, The Allman Brothers, Bob Marley, Led Zeppelin and even Spanish music. The list goes on – TasteFull is informed by many, many styles of music.
“We study diverse types of music,” Brookbank said.
The band fits very well together and has great creative energy, Smith explained. He can’t imagine writing with anyone but Brookbank.
“I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else,” Smith said. “As soon as we met, we knew there was a spark.”
TasteFull is currently recording their first full-length album with producer Nolan Monigold at Monigold Studios in Clifton, Cincinnati, Cassidy added. TasteFull anticipates the release of their first single sometime in March and their finished album in May.
TasteFull will play their Athens debut in a three-hour set at the Smiling Skull Saloon, 108 W. Union St., this Saturday at 10 p.m.
TasteFull can be found on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Soundcloud.
