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Tally Hall (sometimes stylized as tallyhall) is an American rock band formed in
Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in Washtenaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851, making it the List of municipalities in Michigan, fifth-most populous cit ...
, in December 2002, and publicly active until the conclusion of their ''Good & Evil'' tour in 2011. The band is known for its upbeat melodies, whimsical lyrics, and a dedicated fanbase on social media sites. The members originally described their musical style as "wonky rock", later redefining their sound as "fabloo" ( ), to not let any particular genres define their music after critics began defining the characteristics of "wonky rock". Tally Hall has five members, each of them distinguished by the color of their
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s: guitarist Rob Cantor (yellow), guitarist Joe Hawley (red), drummer Ross Federman (gray), keyboardist Andrew Horowitz (green), and bassist Zubin Sedghi (blue). Touring partner Casey Shea (black) and producer and roadie Bora Karaca (orange) also have their own tie colors. All five members have provided vocals for the band. Once under the
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
recording label, Tally Hall was, again, signed to the indie label Quack! Media, who previously helped finance and nationally distribute their debut studio album, '' Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum'' on October 24, 2005. They released their second album, '' Good & Evil'', on June 21, 2011. Certain Tally Hall members (Rob Cantor, Joe Hawley, and Zubin Sedghi) also provided the vocals and music for all of the songs in '' Happy Monster Band'', a
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that aired on Playhouse Disney.


History


Early years and ''Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum''

Andrew Horowitz, born in Warren, New Jersey, began writing songs when he was eight years old and studied composition at the
University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...
. There he met Rob Cantor, who had attended high school with Zubin Sedghi. Cantor and Sedghi had previously played in a band named listedBlack when both were in highschool. The three soon decided to play music together, going under the name 540 and playing small shows at the university. At the same time, fellow Michigan student Joe Hawley was studying film, and had formed the sketch comedy group AnonyMous. Cantor eventually joined this group, and through this connection soon invited Hawley to join 540 upon learning he could play guitar and had some musical experience writing songs for his film projects. The lineup was rounded out by drummer Steve Gallagher, and they soon went under various other names, such as Gallagher and PartyBoobyTrap. They eventually settled on Tally Hall, named after a local mall's food court. This lineup recorded various demo EPs, which were later collected and released as ''
Complete Demos The discography of Tally Hall, an American rock band, consists of two studio albums, two compilation albums, five extended plays (EPs), six singles, two promotional single, promotional singles, nine music videos (on YouTube, Youtube) and five ap ...
'' in November 2004. Before the release however, Gallagher suddenly left the group in May of that year, being replaced by Ross Federman, whom Hawley knew from high school. On October 24, 2005, the band released their debut studio album, '' Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum'', with violinist
Jeremy Kittel Jeremy Kittel is an American musician and composer. His primary instruments are the violin / fiddle and viola and he has worked in a number of genres including Celtic, Jazz, Pop, Classical, Bluegrass, Folk music, and more. He leads his na ...
contributing strings. They were awarded first place in the Pop category of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest in 2005 with the song "Just Apathy" from the album. They re-released the album on September 12, 2006, on the local label Quack! Media. Tally Hall went on to receive national media attention, performing their song "Good Day" on ''
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'' on August 2, 2006, as well as appearing in
MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
's segment " You Hear It First" in September 2006. The band appeared at the 2007
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Music Festival. They signed to
Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
in March 2007 and re-recorded their first album, releasing it on April 1, 2008. In August 2008, Tally Hall was a performer on the BMI stage at
Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...
. Tally Hall was invited back by ''
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'' on September 16, 2008, to help promote the launch of ''Tally Hall's Internet Show''. They performed "Welcome to Tally Hall" in newly donned black vests on top of their traditional colored ties, white shirts, and black pants. The band worked on several projects after the completion of ''Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum'', including covering the song " Smile Like You Mean It" by
The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...
for the sixth '' The O.C.'' soundtrack: '' Music from the OC: Mix 6''.


Tours and ''Good & Evil''

On September 9, 2009, Tally Hall released the song " Light & Night", featuring
Nellie McKay Eleanora Marie McKay (born April 13, 1982) is an English–American singer and songwriter. She made her Broadway debut in ''The Threepenny Opera#United States 2, The Threepenny Opera'' (2006). Early life and education McKay was born in London ...
, as a free download when customers of
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purchased '' The Magician's Elephant'' by Kate DiCamillo, published the same day. In the band's 2010 March tour with Jukebox the Ghost and Skybox, Joe Hawley backed out of the tour and was subsequently replaced with Casey Shea, who wore a black tie, and filled in for him for the rest of their live shows that year. On March 25, 2011, the band announced that all five original band members were still together. Later in the year, the band changed their management from The Hornblow Group, who also manages
They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants, often abbreviated as TMBG, is an American alternative rock and Children's music, children's band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as ...
,
OK Go OK Go is an American Rock music, rock band originally from Chicago, Illinois, now based in Los Angeles, California. The band is composed of Damian Kulash (lead vocals, rhythm guitar, guitar), Tim Nordwind (bass guitar, bass, backing vocalist, v ...
, and Oppenheimer, to Stiletto Entertainment, who manages solo performance acts such as
Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...
. Their second album, '' Good & Evil'', was released in 2011 under their original label, Quack! Media. The album had been recorded in late 2009, but due to repeated delays caused by their deal with Atlantic Records falling apart, it was released two years after it had originally been recorded. To promote the album, the band held a contest where the winner would be awarded a song written about them. The winner was a high school student named Nathan Naimark, whose self-titled theme song would be released soon after. Around the same time, the band released a cover of the
Flo Rida Tramar Lacel Dillard (born September 16, 1979), known professionally as Flo Rida ( ), is an American rapper and singer. His 2007 debut and breakout single "Low (Flo Rida song), Low" was number one for 10 weeks in the United States and broke the ...
song " Club Can't Handle Me", with Casey Shea on guest vocals. According to Horowitz, the origin of the cover came from a suggestion the band had made to Atlantic Records, where they would record and release covers of other artists signed to the label weekly, with the song presented as an example. The label rejected the idea, leading the band to release the song after they had parted ways with them. After the release of ''Good & Evil'' and its tour, Tally Hall became inactive with all band members going on to independent endeavors, though some of the projects had multiple members collaborate once again.


Solo work after ''Good & Evil''

Andrew Horowitz, under the moniker "edu", released the solo album ''sketches'' (later re-released as ''sketches 3d'') in 2012. He additionally provided production and piano on
John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He began his musical career working behind the scenes for other artists, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Every ...
's '' Love in the Future''. In 2018, Horowitz released ''etudes'', a studio album of piano compositions written in 2003. A sequel titled ''etudes II'' was released in April 2019, featuring compositions written in 2005 while he attended the University of Michigan. In May 2020, he started a weekly
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livestream series titled ''Keep Up The Good Work'', featuring interchanging guests such as Federman and Sedghi. On April 29th, 2024, Andrew Horowitz was announced to be performing at the Michigan concert series Sonic Lunch. Ross Federman has made occasional appearances as a producer, percussionist, and DJ under the pseudonym "Mr. F", although has primarily focused on his education. He graduated from the University of Michigan in 2013 with a Bachelor of Science in cell and molecular biology, later receiving a Ph.D. in
immunology Immunology is a branch of biology and medicine that covers the study of Immune system, immune systems in all Organism, organisms. Immunology charts, measures, and contextualizes the Physiology, physiological functioning of the immune system in ...
from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in May 2019. Joe Hawley released a single titled "Variations on a Cloud" on September 11th, 2012, under the name ミラクルミュージカル (Miracle Musical), later releasing the concept album ''Hawaii: Part II'' on December 12, 2012. Tally Hall members Federman and Karaca additionally worked on the album, with Sedghi and Cantor appearing on the album's tracks "White Ball" and "Time Machine", respectively. Hawley has been vague regarding the overarching story behind the album, at one point citing the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
as inspiration, however this has been contradicted in other interviews. Several songs from the album, such as "Murders", "The Mind Electric" and "Dream Sweet in Sea Major" have since achieved popularity on
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and other social media. An album featuring demos and samples titled ''Hawaii: Part II: Part ii'' and a cover of " Candle on the Water" was released in 2014 under the same name. An album of 6 8-bit renditions titled ''Hawaii Partii'' released in 2015 as the soundtrack for the promotional game ''Labyrinth''. Rob Cantor released his solo album, ''Not a Trampoline'', on April 14, 2014. In addition, he has made several
viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
s on
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, including " Shia LaBeouf", "Christian Bale Is At Your Party", and "29 Celebrity Impressions, 1 Original Song". In recent years, Cantor has written and produced songs for several
Disney Junior Disney Jr. (formerly Disney Junior) is an American pay television network owned by the Disney Branded Television sub-division of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company. Aimed mainly at children two to seven year ...
shows. In mid-2016, Hawley announced the comedy hip-hop album ''Joe Hawley Joe Hawley'', which was released in October under his name on
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
. All five Tally Hall members and other artists are individually featured. The album was later taken down due to sampled copyrighted music. To avoid issues with
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
, Hawley released ''γɘlwɒH ɘoႱ γɘlwɒH ɘoႱ'' on April 16, 2019, a reversed version of the album, to Bandcamp and Spotify. On November 11, 2020, a truncated version of the original album was uploaded to
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and
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, removing the 13th and final track (a cover of rock band
Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American Rock music, rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the San Francisco Bay Area, ...
's "
White Rabbit The White Rabbit is a fictional and anthropomorphic character in Lewis Carroll's 1865 book ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''. He appears at the very beginning of the book, in chapter one, wearing a waistcoat, and muttering "Oh dear! Oh dea ...
"). The latter was due to copyright issues he could not resolve. Zubin Sedghi, aside from appearing in side projects, shifted his focus towards his personal life. In 2012, he graduated from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate honors degree in
neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions, and its disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, ...
, later receiving a doctorate in
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at Touro University California in 2016. He now works as a family medicine doctor for
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP) is an American integrated delivery system, integrated managed care consortium headquartered in Oakland, California. Founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield, Sidney R. Garfield, the ...
in
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. Sedghi is married with two kids. In 2015, Tally Hall released the demo LP ''Admittedly Incomplete Demos'' on
Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...
, referencing their earlier collection ''
Complete Demos The discography of Tally Hall, an American rock band, consists of two studio albums, two compilation albums, five extended plays (EPs), six singles, two promotional single, promotional singles, nine music videos (on YouTube, Youtube) and five ap ...
''. It includes demos, unreleased songs, live performances, and studio covers of " The Minstrel Boy" and " Just A Friend". The latter was re-released in August 2019 as a single and included as a bonus track on the 2021 re-issue of ''Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum''. In April 2022, 2 new demos were added: "Welcome to Tally Hall (Reprise) (Demo)" and "Hymn For a Scarecrow (Demo)". In 2021, Needlejuice Records re-issued ''Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum'' on
vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...
, CD, and cassette, releasing a
MiniDisc MiniDisc (MD) is an erasable magneto-optical disc-based data storage format offering a capacity of 60, 74, or 80 minutes of digitized audio. Sony announced the MiniDisc in September 1992 and released it in November of that year for sale i ...
in June to coincide with International MiniDisc Day. On August 26, 2022, pre-orders for a re-issue of ''Good & Evil'' went public alongside a 7" vinyl for "Turn the Lights Off" with the aforementioned track on the A side and "Light & Night" on the B side. Since the band's hiatus, members have discussed if the band would return for a third album. Hawley has promised it on social media and Sedghi has jokingly stated that they would return if they received "thirty or forty million listeners a month" via a message for Spotify Wrapped. However, following allegations against Hawley, Horowitz stated otherwise on the band's behalf, citing Hawley's mental health as a primary reason for the band not returning. Recently, Andrew Horowitz has been frequently opening for Jukebox the Ghost to promote his upcoming 2025 studio album as of November 30, 2023, with guests such as Ross Federman, Bora Karaca, Illicit Ghost, and recently Rob Cantor and Zubin Sedghi performing, along with Joe Hawley and Casey Shea showing up to these performances as audience members. They played multiple new songs from Horowitz's upcoming album, along with some songs never played live, such as " Perfect" by Rob Cantor.


Videos

While the band formed, Joe Hawley worked with the comedy sketch group AnonyMous. The group made several movies of humorous skits and music videos, the latter containing Tally Hall songs such as "Banana Man", which resulted in significant publicity on the website Albino Blacksheep. In August 2008, the band performed a three-song live video set for LiveDaily Sessions, including the songs "Good Day", "Be Born", and "Greener", which premiered on August 28, 2008. They have appeared on Fearless Music several times, playing songs such as "Be Born", "Ruler of Everything", "Misery Fell", "Good Day", and "Banana Man". In July 2014, band member Rob Cantor released a video in which he appeared to perform his song "Perfect" by singing spot-on impressions of 29 celebrities. In the video, Cantor is accompanied by Andrew Horowitz on piano and backing vocals. The video received more than 7,000,000 views in 10 days. Shortly thereafter, Cantor revealed the video to be an elaborate hoax.


''Tally Hall's Internet Show'' and music videos

On September 15, 2008, the band debuted the ten-part bi-weekly variety-show series ''Tally Hall's Internet Show'' (T.H.I.S.). Each episode ran 8–11 minutes long and was posted on their website. The content primarily included comedy sketches and music videos. The first episode was titled after and featured a video for their single "Good Day", which was later released on YouTube. Other music videos created for the show include "Dream", "Welcome to Tally Hall", "Two Wuv", "The Whole World and You", "Greener", "Ruler of Everything", and " Hidden in the Sand". Videos for "Taken for a Ride" and "Turn the Lights Off" were additionally released outside of the show, with a music video for "&" being planned but abandoned before its release.


Episode list

# Good Day (September 15, 2008) – 9:24 # Death Request (September 29, 2008) – 11:36 # Taken for a Ride (October 13, 2008) – 9:17 # Welcome to Tally Hall (October 27, 2008) – 11:37 # Who Cares (November 10, 2008) – 9:25 # Two Wuv (November 24, 2008) – 10:32 # Fifteen Seconds of Bora (December 8, 2008) – 9:08 # The Whole World and You (December 22, 2008) – 11:06 # Potato Vs. Spoon (January 5, 2009) – 8:30 # Good Night (January 19, 2009) – 10:52


Canned episodes

# South by Southwest 2007 (December 23, 2013) – 12:06


Band members


Current members

* Rob Cantor (Yellow tie) – guitar, vocals, percussion, ukulele *Joe Hawley (Red tie) – guitar, vocals, percussion, ukulele *Zubin Sedghi (Blue tie) – bass, vocals *Andrew Horowitz (Green tie) – keyboards, percussion, vocals *Ross Federman (Grey tie) – drums, percussion, drum programming, occasional vocals


Past members

*Steve Gallagher (Grey tie) – drums, percussion


Additional touring members

*Casey Shea (Black tie) – guitar, vocals, percussion (Replacement for Joe Hawley while he was unavailable, 2010) *Bora Karaca (Orange tie) – roadie, producer, backing vocals **Keyboards, percussion, acoustic guitar, accordion, whistling, backing vocals, announcer


Timeline


Discography

* '' Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum'' (2005) * '' Good & Evil'' (2011)


References


External links

* *
Hidden In The Sand – The Ultimate Tally Hall Fan Headquarters

Tally Hall on Needlejuice Records
{{Authority control Indie rock musical groups from Michigan Musical groups from Ann Arbor, Michigan Atlantic Records artists Musical groups established in 2002 2002 establishments in Michigan Rock music groups from Michigan American power pop groups Progressive pop musicians