ASU rocked at Springfest

By Lindsey Little and Jeremy Levenbach, The Herald Staff

Arkansas State University's annual Springfest came to a rocking end Thursday night courtesy of Tantric and local band Further Down.

Tantric, known for their hit singles 'Mourning' and 'Breakdown,' formed after the collapse of the platinum selling rock act, Days of The New. Tantric's roster includes three original Days members, Todd Whitener (Guitar), Jesse Vest (Bass) and Matt Taul (Drums), with the addition of Hugo Ferreira, a vocalist from Detroit. The lineup, then named Carbon 14, was complete.

In 1999 the band officially changed their name to Tantric and signed with the Maverick Recording Company, Madonna's record label.

This was not Tantric's first performance in Arkansas. They had already played shows in Little Rock and Fayetteville on their tour. While Ferreira openly admitted that he can "hardly remember one show from the next," he will remember Jonesboro for a while because of its dry town status. This was a running joke backstage between both bands.

The large assortment of Coca Cola products brought jaw dropping from every person who walked into their dressing room. When Ferreira found out how taboo the sugary product was on campus, he immediately came up with the scenario of his mom finding out he had gotten busted for possession of Coke and then laughed into his cell phone, "Well how much did you get caught witha twelve pack."

Coca-Cola or not, the show kicked off with a high-energy performance with Wednesday night's Battle of the Bands winner, Further Down, featuring ASU student Michael Collins as lead vocalist. Though not originally scheduled to play, they received a surprising but welcome phone call late Thursday afternoon telling them the then planned opening act Rooster was a no-show. Further Down was offered the spot, which they were more than happy to take. The band's 40 minute set received an enthusiastic response from the sizable crowd.

At 9:30 Tantric was welcomed to the stage by cheers and applause. Though the turnout was smaller than a typical Tantric concert, the energy and spirit of the crowd was quite apparent as the students jumped screamed and sang along with every song. Being the last concert of the tour, a light-hearted attitude was very noticeable, especially when head of security Tony Morehead joined the band onstage and head banged and pretended to play the guitar.

The antics also included a silly string fight and the band ganging up on Ferreira and throwing pie containers filled with a mysterious liquid on the front man.

Tantric's performance in Jonesboro was their last show in a year and a half of non-stop touring before returning home to their friends and family.

When asked about the tour's completion the band expressed excitement about resting and getting back to everyday things. Whitener said that he was going to enjoy spending time with his nine-month old, while Ferreira stated the things he wanted to do most were setting up his new big screen and driving his Mustang. "It's been four months since I've driven a car," he said.

After their break Tantric will head into the studio for about four months to record their sophomore release. When talking about the new album, Ferreira said, "We might get a little experimental on some tracks, but you're going to know its Tantric."

The new album is going to be produced by Toby Wright (Korn, Alice in Chains) who produced Tantric's first album. The new album does not have a release date as of yet.

Another question that Ferreira fielded involved song writing. Hugo (who has only been playing guitar for about five years) responded, "We all write the songs together. One person might write more than another but we all come together as a unit."

This concert capped off the three days of Springfest, sponsored by the Student Activities Board. SAB President Natalie Hunter, a public relations major from New Madrid, Mo., was excited to see the large number of students who came to the concert. "I am really proud of all of the SAB directors and all of the hard work they put into this," she said.

All in all, the event was a success. Springfest ended with a free concert that many students attended. Tantric gets to go home and take a much needed rest and Further Down took a big step forward in realizing their dream of making it as a rock band.