TUNGSTEN

TUNGSTEN hail from Chalmette, Louisiana and have a history...Drummer Mark Talamo and Guitarist Al Hodge formed a band together in 1985 that they called SAM SNOT. The band recorded a few demos and played one show before changing the name to TUNGSTEN in late 1990. Mark Talamo is a seasoned engineer who has recorded some of the heavy hitters from New Orleans area including the second CROWBAR album in 1993 and the very first DOWN demo in 1992. This helped open the door for the band and got their music in the right hands. Pavement Music based out of Chicago picked up on the band and issued their first album "183.85" which features the songs "Born XY" and "I Feel Today" in 1993. The band remained a 2 piece until 1994 when Mark's brother Steve Talamo was added to the fold on bass and lead guitar. The band then went on to sign with Megrock Records out of Sweden for their second album entitled "74" released in 1995. The band played in and around the New Orleans area and found a following in the European market with the help of Gotz K., from Rock Hard Magazine in Germany and Onno Cromag at Aardschok Magazine in Holland. The band then signed with Lighttown Records based out of Holland for their 3rd album entitled "The Survival Kit" released in 1997. This was their strongest effort to date and as Al Hodge reflects, "It's when we really started to get our sound which was a mix of the NOLA stuff and the European scene". By 1999 TUNGSTEN retired from playing live and focused on becoming a studio band. The band then took off for a few years and then gathered back up again to record their 4th album called "The Abuse" released in 2003. TUNGSTEN gained alot of headlines with this release as this was the first one on their own indie imprint TUNGSTEN MUSIC RECORDS and the band were very first ones to encourage downloading of their entire back catalog. "I remember when we pulled that stunt, and it was to get attention, but it worked. At the time alot of bands were very against the idea of file sharing, but we ran the other way and it worked in our favor. After the dust settled on that alot of the other bands started to follow our lead. The main reason we did that was because we were on some independent labels and that some of our stuff was out of print so we wanted the friends and fans of the band to be able to get the songs with out shelling out a ton of cash to get an import version of the CD" commented Al Hodge. TUNGSTEN then worked on their next album entitled "If Death Doesn't Change You...Nothing Will" released 2005. "It was the hardest most introspective album i'd ever had to record" states TUNGSTEN frontman AL Hodge. "It was a time capsule of what I went through over the course of 3 years and dealing with the death of my Dad and a year later dealing with the Death of a girl that meant the world to me. But you have to keep moving forward and once we finished that record, that's what i've done" concludes Al Hodge.... Al Hodge has made his way back to the live scene with his band THE MUDDPIGGS, who are also in the process of recording their very first album. www.myspace.com/muddpiggs......August 29th/August 30th, 2005 Hurricane Katrina ripped through our home town of Chalmette, Louisiana causing the levee to "breech" and caused massive flooding between 10-12 feet of water and sludge/mold to destroy the entire town. Mark Talamo and Al Hodge lost their homes and everything in them. Steve Talamo's home was spared by this damage, he lived on the North shore of the New Orleans area. He and his family are safe and well. "We lost everything, but we are alive and our families are alive as well. Mark and his family have relocated in Louisiana and I have relocated in Texas. We are still in the process of gettting our lives back in order. In the mean time I hope you enjoy the music" commented Al Hodge.................. Al Hodge and Mark Talamo of TUNGSTEN would like to send a big THANK YOU to the Music Cares Program and to Musician's Friend for granting the band music equipment to get back on our feet after suffering the losses from Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of our home town of Chalmette, Louisiana...............In September of 2006 the band decided that TUNGSTEN had run it's course and have called it quits. We do want to thank everybody that came out to watch the band and listen to the music over the years. And to all of the press that I hounded over the years to get a little sliver of attention for the band anytime we put out a record. It meant alot to all of us. Thanks again and Cheers...This site will remain up and running and I will add more things to it as I get them. (Most of the old stuff was lost in Hurricane Katrina (Aug 2005) - so if i can find older press clips or pix - i'll post it on here)Currently Steve Talamo is playing with New Orleans based band called WHISKEY SMILE that features female drummer BJ who has filled in behind the kit for ZEBRA on numerous occasions and check out BACKFLOW, also featuring the guitar talents of Steve Talamo.