Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
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The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza was an American
mathcore Mathcore is a subgenre of hardcore punk and metalcore influenced by post-hardcore, extreme metal and math rock that developed during the 1990s. Bands in the genre emphasize complex and fluctuant rhythms through the use of irregular time signatur ...
band from
Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...
. The band was founded in
Monroe, Louisiana Monroe is the ninth-largest city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and is the parish seat and largest city of Ouachita Parish. With a 2020 census-tabulated population of 47,702, it is the principal city of the Monroe metropolitan statistical ...
, by members Layne Meylain, Mason Crooks, Brad Thomson, and Mike Butler. They relocated to Murfreesboro to look for a frontman and found Jessie Freeland. The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza released four studio albums before disbanding in 2012.


History

The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza was founded in 2004. They chose their band name after actor
Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional boxer. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983) and ''Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992 ...
; the humorous moniker is occasionally misinterpreted, as older concertgoers have attended shows in hopes of seeing Danza in person. The group signed with Corrosive Recordings in 2005 after self-releasing their debut album. In the summer of 2006, the band's practice space burned down and the members lost over $15000 () in equipment loss and damages. Their second release, '' Danza II: Electric Boogaloo'', was issued in 2007 on
Black Market Activities Black Market Activities (BMA) is an American independent record label that was founded in 2003 by Guy Kozowyk, the frontman of the Boston, Massachusetts-based extreme metal band the Red Chord. History Black Market Activities was started with ...
. The album's name is a parody of the Danzig album, '' Danzig II: Lucifuge'', as well as the 1980s film '' Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo''. The album features short, humorous skits interspersed with the songs making fun of their surroundings growing up. The group has toured with
Cattle Decapitation Cattle Decapitation is an American deathgrind band formed in San Diego, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup includes vocalist Travis Ryan, guitarists Josh Elmore and Belisario Dimuzio, and drummer David McGraw. Since 2001, none of th ...
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Veil of Maya Veil of Maya is an American metalcore band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 2004. The group consists of guitarist Marc Okubo, drummer Sam Applebaum, bassist Danny Hauser and vocalist Lukas Magyar. They are currently signed to Sumerian Records an ...
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Unearth Unearth is an American metalcore band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1998. The group consists of lead guitarist Buz McGrath, vocalist Trevor Phipps, bassist Chris O'Toole, drummer Mike Justian and rhythm guitarist Peter Layman. They are cu ...
, See You Next Tuesday,
The Red Chord The Red Chord is an American extreme metal band from Revere, Massachusetts, formed in 1999. The group comprises vocalist Guy Kozowyk, guitarist/vocalist Mike "Gunface" McKenzie, bassist Greg Weeks and drummer Jon Rice. The band gained a fanbase ...
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Shai Hulud Shai Hulud is an American metalcore band formed in Pompano Beach, Florida, in 1995, and later based in Poughkeepsie, New York. The band is named after the giant sandworms in Frank Herbert's novel ''Dune''. The two mainstay members of Shai Hulu ...
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, and
Emmure Emmure () is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, before moving to Queens, New York, the group has released eight albums, with their first public release being a 2006 EP entitled '' The Co ...
, among others. In March 2008, the band crashed their tour van after playing a show in
Lewisville, Texas Lewisville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Denton County with portions extending into Dallas County. As one of the Mid-Cities within the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the 2020 census reported a population of 111,822. O ...
. Former member Brad Thomson founded Midgets with Machetes, a record label distributed by
Uprising Records Uprising Records is a record label founded in 1994 by Sean Muttaqi. It has released records by Fall Out Boy, 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Cipher, Red Knife Lottery, Underminded, Amir Sulaiman, iCON the Mic King, The Crest and more. The label released ...
. On September 24, 2009, the band announced that Layne Meylain and Mike Butler had amicably left the group. At the same time, the band formally announced their next album, ''Danza III: A Series of Unfortunate Events''. The album focuses on lyrical themes such as personal, social, political and global "unfortunate events" tied around the three musical themes of
technical Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical area, an area which a manager, other coaching personnel, and substitutes are allowed to occupy during a football match * Technical advisor, a person who ...
, groove-based and
ambient Ambient or ambiance or ambience may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Ambiancé'', an unreleased experimental film * ''Ambient'' (novel), a novel by Jack Womack Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgr ...
music. It was recorded in November 2009 with
Jeremiah Scott Demon Hunter is an American Christian metal band from Seattle, Washington, formed by brothers Don Clark and Ryan Clark in 2000. Ryan is the band's only remaining original member, as Don left in 2009. As of the 2010s, the band has sold over ...
and Steve Blackmon. The band released their third album, '' Danza III: The Series of Unfortunate Events'', on July 6, 2010. On the record, Josh Travis performs lead and rhythm guitar on an
8-string guitar An eight-string guitar is a guitar with eight strings, or one more than the Russian guitar's seven. Eight-string guitars are less common than six- and seven-string guitars, but they are used by a few classical, jazz, and metal guitarists. The ...
as well as the bass. It also marks the first album by the band to include drummer Mike Bradley. The songs "I Am Sammy Jankis" and "The Union" were released as singles. During May 2011, the band confirmed that ''Danza IIII'' is in the works. In the meantime of its creation, guitarist Josh Travis has joined
Jerry Roush Gerald Allen "Jerry" Roush (born November 15, 1986) is an American musician, best known as the former vocalist for Sky Eats Airplane, Of Mice & Men, and Glass Cloud. He has also served as a substitute vocalist for American Me during their Ja ...
's new band
Glass Cloud Glass Cloud was an American metalcore band from Hampton, Virginia formed by Jerry Roush, Joshua Travis, Travis Sykes, and Chad Hasty in late 2011. The band released their debut album, ''The Royal Thousand'' on July 10, 2012 via Equal Vision Rec ...
as a side-project with their debut album, ''The Royal Thousand'', being released on July 3, 2012. On October 16, 2012, their album '' Danza IIII: The Alpha – The Omega'' was released. Dave Mustein of MetalSucks gave the album 4.5 out of 5 stars, stating, "Danza's bottom end is the single most unified element on The Alpha The Omega. There's no denying that previous Danza releases are heavy ..but the record's heaviness is primarily due to the fact that all the instrumentation on the album was performed by rhythmic mastermind Joshua Travis ..The production holds it all together, sounding gritty but professional, digital but uncompressed," but criticized the band for falling "into the trap of writing filler; the numerous samples begin to run together, decreasing the impact of songs like ''Hold the Line.'' And it's almost impossible to sit through the entirety of the glitchy, gimmicky ''Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid.''" On August 23, 2012, Joshua Travis made this statement, regarding Danza's future: "For this album, Jessie and I were looking to create more of a visceral vibe than a completely technical vibe. There's parts that do still get a bit chaotic of course, but not nearly as much as the avid listener is used to. Everything about this record is way more to the point, with much more heart put into it rather than just seeing how many notes could be thrown into a part or seeking to create 'the heaviest shit ever' or any of that nonsense. The record being titled The Alpha – The Omega, to us symbolized the beginning and the end of Danza. Jessie and I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoyed creating it for you all." The band's breakup has led the members to pursue different careers. Guitarist Travis went on to join the metalcore band
Glass Cloud Glass Cloud was an American metalcore band from Hampton, Virginia formed by Jerry Roush, Joshua Travis, Travis Sykes, and Chad Hasty in late 2011. The band released their debut album, ''The Royal Thousand'' on July 10, 2012 via Equal Vision Rec ...
and, later,
Emmure Emmure () is an American metalcore band formed in 2003. Originally based in New Fairfield, Connecticut, before moving to Queens, New York, the group has released eight albums, with their first public release being a 2006 EP entitled '' The Co ...
. Guitarist Brad Thomson died in August 2023. On February 2025, the band announced their reunion for a performance at Furnace Fest 2025, taking place on October 3-5, 2025.


Band name

The group derived their name (as a joke) from celebrity
Tony Danza Tony Danza (born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza; April 21, 1951) is an American actor and retired professional boxer. He is known for co-starring in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983) and ''Who's the Boss?'' (1984–1992 ...
, upon one of his professions being
tap dancing Tap dance (or tap) is a form of dance that uses the sounds of tap shoes striking the floor as a form of percussion; it is often accompanied by music. Tap dancing can also be performed with no musical accompaniment; the sound of the taps is its ow ...
. Danza himself became aware of the band when a fan sent in a letter informing him about the group and the band consequently had their music played, which was the song "5 Deep On Charlie", on an episode of the talk show program '' The Tony Danza Show''.


Band members

Final lineup *Jessie "Danza" Freeland – vocals *Josh Travis – drums , guitars Previous members *Layne Meylain – guitar *Brad Thomson – guitar *Mike Butler – bass *Phil Lockett – bass *Mason Crooks – drums *Djed Cyril – drums *Mike Bradley – drums *Kade Dodson – drums ; Timeline ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:20 PlotArea = left:100 bottom:90 top:10 right:60 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy Period = from:01/01/2004 till:24/10/2012 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:2 start:2005 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:2006 Colors = id:vocals value:red legend:Vocals id:guitar value:green legend:Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass_guitar id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:Lines1 value:black legend:Studio_album id:bars value:gray(0.93) BackgroundColors = bars:bars LineData = at:09/08/2005 color:Lines1 layer:back at:16/10/2007 color:Lines1 layer:back at:06/07/2010 color:Lines1 layer:back at:23/10/2012 color:Lines1 layer:back BarData = bar:Jessie text:"Jessie Freeland" bar:Brad text:"Brad Thompson" bar:Layne text:"Layne Meylain" bar:Mike text:"Mike Butler" bar:Phil text:"Phil Lockett" bar:Mason text:"Mason Crooks" bar:Djed text:"Djed Cyril" bar:Josh text:"Josh Travis" bar:Mike1 text:"Mike Bradley" bar:Kade text:"Kade Dodson" PlotData = width:11 bar:Jessie from:01/01/2004 till:end color:vocals bar:Brad from:01/01/2004 till:01/02/2008 color:guitar bar:Layne from:01/01/2004 till:24/09/2009 color:guitar bar:Josh from:06/10/2009 till:end color:guitar bar:Josh from:01/01/2009 till:01/10/2009 color:drums bar:Mike from:01/01/2004 till:24/09/2009 color:bass bar:Josh from:01/10/2009 till:01/07/2010 color:bass width:3 bar:Phil from:01/07/2010 till:01/04/2011 color:bass bar:Josh from:01/04/2011 till:end color:bass width:3 bar:Mason from:01/01/2004 till:01/11/2007 color:drums bar:Djed from:01/11/2007 till:01/01/2009 color:drums bar:Mike1 from:01/10/2009 till:01/04/2011 color:drums bar:Kade from:01/04/2011 till:16/09/2011 color:drums bar:Josh from:16/09/2011 till:end color:drums width:7


Discography


Studio albums


Demos


Music videos


References


External links

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The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza
at Black Market Activities {{DEFAULTSORT:Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, The Heavy metal musical groups from Tennessee Black Market Activities artists American mathcore musical groups American grindcore musical groups American musical quartets American musical quintets Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2012 Metalcore musical groups from Tennessee 2004 establishments in Tennessee 2012 disestablishments in Tennessee Musical groups reestablished in 2025