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TAKOTA

About Me

Bio
Once upon a time, rocknroll was limitless, passionate, and beautiful. It wasn't distracted with the battles of style vs. substance or form vs. function. It was honest, and borne of dreams, passion, and hard work. Do you remember rocknroll? Can you recall the days of back-patches and band logos? Fists raised in unison, pounding beats into the air? Afternoons in parking lots and record stores, with radio stations spinning endless memories? It's been a while, hasn't it?
Formed in Anaheim, California, in 2005, Takota was built with the simple notion that memorable melodies, and explosive performances make for the best bands. Grant Arnow, a classically trained singer, was introduced to drummer Justin Ferreira at Chain Reaction, Orange County's legendary music venue. The two quickly found that they shared a common taste in music, and both having been recently liberated from signed bands, they immediately enacted a plan to build something massive. Through Myspace, Grant and Justin discovered bassist Danny Roddy and guitarist/vocalist Brett Anderson, all of whom shared the same perspective, passion and drive. The group of individuals instantaneously gelled into a band, and before long, they began captivating a massive local following with legendary performances. This spirit expanded quickly into other communities, eventually crossing oceans and energizing other parts of the world.
In Spring of 2006, Takota recorded and released their debut album, 'The Ivory Tower', Produced by Brandon Saller (of Atreyu); an album of powerhouse hooks, energy and staggering ambition. A few of the tracks managed to catch the attention of Bruce Dickinson (of Iron Maiden), who featured Takota on his BBC radio program. Not bad for an unsigned band, right? Equally humbling was the response the album received from the world's press, as illustrated by reviews in such major music magazines as Kerrang, Rock Sound, Classic Rock, AP and Metal Hammer. All of the above encourage this particular band towards greatness. In their short year together, Takota has played with Fall Out Boy, Silverchair, Head Automatica, Further Seems Forever, Bullets and Octane, Zebrahead, Young Love and Bleed the Dream, and this past summer completed a third tour of Europe as they toured with Plain White T's and All Time Low. The UK's Scuzz TV placed Takota's first music video (for 'Carpark Conversation') in main rotation, while Sean Stiegemeier (Atreyu, Haste The Day) recently directed another for 'Satellite'. They've done all of this with the help of their ever expanding fanbase, a few key friendships, and a lot of hard work. Grant, Justin, Danny and Brett have been working hard and digging deep for most of 2007 with producer Bob Marlette on their debut album "Just Before Morning" for Island Records. In March of 2008 Takota welcomed Sergio Ruelas as their lead guitarist. Takota isn't interested in reinventing the wheel, yet they're obviously keen on improving it. And why not bring the once massive sounds of rocknroll out of hibernation, and back onto the stage, one unstoppable melody at a time?

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 7/8/2005
Band Members:

Influences:

Record Label: Island Records
Type of Label: Major

My Blog

New shows, coming soon. 03-08-08

Hi there. We're still hard at work, but we'll be emerging from the studio in early April for a few live dates. Details soon... we're trying to determine what a Bamboozle is exactly.Also, we posted a...
Posted by TAKOTA on Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:13:00 PST

New Song Demos & Layout 02-13-08

Thank you so much for the kind words about the song previews. We cannot thank you guys/ladies for the continued support. We worked so hard on this album and we cannot wait to share it with you. I assu...
Posted by TAKOTA on Thu, 14 Feb 2008 08:16:00 PST

Still Alive. Still Well. Almost Done 01-16-08

Hello all faithful. We have been long overdue for an update so here it is. We are in the final throws of tracking. We have just finished strings and things are sounding marvelous. I promise the wait w...
Posted by TAKOTA on Thu, 17 Jan 2008 07:31:00 PST

Recording; all day, all night. 10-28-07

Lately, I've been caught in an activity loop. I wake up every day around mid-morning... not too early, not too late. I do my best to drink a gallon of water, and slowly ease my voice into speaking o...
Posted by TAKOTA on Mon, 29 Oct 2007 11:23:00 PST

More Pictures From The Glasshouse 10-07-07

More amazing pictures from the Glasshouse show. All credit to the incredible HALO 3 CHAMPION Sean Stiegemeier....
Posted by TAKOTA on Thu, 11 Oct 2007 08:23:00 PST

Glasshouse Pictures 10-07-07

Follow the link for some wicked pictures of last nights show with Atreyu, Thieves and Liars, and In Reverant Fear!Link HereWho went to the show? What did you think?...
Posted by TAKOTA on Mon, 08 Oct 2007 05:26:00 PST

Burning the midnight oil. 09-28-07

It's been a busy week. I'm in the middle of recording vocals for the new record, and have barely had time to sleep. Our studio is in the northern part of LA, aka 'the Valley'. It's fairly hot, pret...
Posted by TAKOTA on Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:15:00 PST

Home. 09-11-07

Hi there. We just got home from our tour of England with the Plain White Ts and All Time Low. It was amazing... the entire tour was sold out. We saw a ton of familiar faces, and made a bunch of new...
Posted by TAKOTA on Tue, 11 Sep 2007 10:44:00 PST

Greetings from the UK! 09-01-07

Hello there. We're having a great time here in England. The Plain White Ts have been fantastic, and all of the shows are completely sold out. We're doing a special on our t-shirts for this tour... ...
Posted by TAKOTA on Sat, 01 Sep 2007 08:36:00 PST

Takota TV: Episode 2

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Posted by TAKOTA on Fri, 24 Aug 2007 01:13:00 PST