Big Girls

?Tantric Picasso (due Thursday, February 2 at the Bluebird Theater) started in 2008 among a group of friends who met at school, which is typical enough, but in naming the band, the fivesome created a personal mythology (partly detailed below) that is somewhat embodied in the name with hints of the esoteric knowledge, mysticism, sex and magic and the spirit of artistic experimentalism that those words imply when brought together.
Musically, the band's richly expansive songs blend together blues, psychedelia, funk, power pop and electronica in a way that also doesn't sound like it was created by a bunch of dilettantes trying to please every taste. The band's new album, Make Your Love Bigger, reflects its recent absorption of Latin rhythms.

We recently sat down for a chat with the group's rhythm section, Pablo Cruz and Matt Tanner, about the unique way it came up with the name, an especially significant and spiritually stirring trip to Portland, Oregon, that set the band on a new path and the group's goal of connecting with the audience in a deep and meaningful way.

Westword: Why did you call your band Tantric Picasso? What those to words signify are an interesting mixture of imagery.

Matt Tanner: The name originally came from our bandmate Jackson [Boone]. He was reading the Eric Clapton autobiography and he saw the word "tantric" and thinking it was a cool word. It was at a time we were trying to think of a cool name. Just something that sounded fluid. So he picked "Picassos" and said, "The Tantric Picassos." So he made this event that involved a code from the Clapton book where each member of the band had to go to a specific page and find the next clue to give to the next member. Finally it came to me when it said, "Turn to the last page and if you like this band name then let's become the Tantric Picassos."

I got to the last page and went, "How about Tantric Picasso" [singular] so it became that. So it was kind of a fun game and there was a twelve pack of beer in the fridge at the end and we all celebrated. That was three years ago, I think.

Is the album title Life's a Bitch and Then You Die So Why Not Laugh Until You Cry for real?

Pablo Cruz: Our visual artist made a picture for us a while back. He did a bunch of awesome illustrations and one of them said, "Tantric Picasso" and then "Life's a Bitch And Then You Die So Why Not Laugh Until You Cry." It shows this kid that has an ice cream cone and the ice cream falls off. And gets shot in the face. Then out of all these tears, it turns into rain and these flowers grow to form the name Tantric Picasso. It's a really cool piece. But we all decided that should be our album title and the picture should be the album artwork.

MT: And that was a really playful record so we wanted a playful title for it too.

You mention "Mer-Ka-Ba lightbodies" on your Facebook profile. What's the significance of that for you and how did you become familiar with those concepts?

MT: That's because a lot of what we like to play around with, in terms of ideas, are metaphysical in a lot of ways and Mer-Ka-Ba is a metaphysical idea.

PC: It's a symbol we're very influenced by right now.

What is it a symbol of?

MT: It's a symbol of ascension, of divination into the fourth dimension where you climb into your lightbody as a vehicle and you can travel through time and space where you don't need a car, you don't need clothes, you just need you, yourself and your organic matter and you ascend. Like Buddha or Jesus Christ. It's a fun way to play with music even more. [We learned about those ideas from] books and friends, conversations, it's all kind of in the air right now.

PC: We had kind of an iconic, spiritual trip together a year or so ago. Jackson is from Portland, Oregon so we would go with him to see it because we thought it was a cool town and whatever. The last time we went out there, it was a bunch of our friends who went, not just the band, and it was a really... I don't know, connecting experiences happened during that time.

We met some people who were very wise with their words in a lot of ways and they kind of gave us this new idea to be focused on. She talked about this indigo children thing or, you know, and it was very interesting. We all started to feel more connected with each other and we wanted to break out of just getting fucked up and doing drugs all the time and moving on. Which we already naturally felt like we were doing anyway.

I don't know if it was supposed to be funny but the string of musical genres you list for yourself is a bit absurd but it also captures what your music actually sounds like. Was that kind of joke to list all of that?

MT: I mean, everything is kind of a joke. When you're describing music, it's so personal in itself. Your best friend may hate it but for you it may bring you out of your most terrible day. So the words are pertinent because they do have meaning but we like to play with them as much as anyone else. Life is love, man, it's a joke, it's all great. You can be mad at it or have fun with it. We just choose to have fun with it.

PC: It is hard for us to classify ourselves because we are blues-influenced but we have a lot of synthesizer/electronic aspects to our sound that's growing all the time. On top of that, we all play jazz for school so there's that influence coming into things. And then just classic rock and roll stuff and by the end of it, Matt will switch to banjo and Marko [Melnick] will play mandolin.

We're trying to get into a place where we're focused and that was the whole point of this new album. It's meant to be more of an almost pop-rock album, something a little bit more cohesive. We're fitting those things in, which is what everybody says, probably. But literally more than with any other band I've been in, with this one it's very hard to just say, "We're just blues." Maybe for a couple of weeks. Or maybe for an album.

Or maybe just for a song or part of a song.

PC: Right.

You guys studied jazz in school?

PC: Well, that's part of it. Our degrees are half performance, half audio engineering. Jazz is a huge focus on the performance side of things at CU Denver. We just started doing the Latin Ensemble this last year, Karl [Rivers] and I together. Matt was doing it too. It's a really great influence for the rhythm section of a band to get the whole Latin experience in school. It's a totally different vibe for sure.

MT: I've been playing a lot of Nigerian and Afro-Cuban music and all of those rhythms float in your head and come out in various ways and various places so it's cool to hear it trickle down into the music, especially in the drums and bass.

You guys are all from different parts of the country. Where are you from and how did you all meet?

PC: I'm from Los Angeles. Jackson's from Portland, Oregon, [as we mentioned before], Karl is from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

MT: Marko's from Denver and I'm from Colorado Springs.

PC: We essentially met through school but we also knew each other through different avenues of friendships and at parties beforehand. The first time I ever met this guy, we were at a party. I used to play bass in high school but I stopped because I didn't have a band or anything and was just playing guitar by myself. I started playing bass at this party and he was on the drum set and after a couple of minutes we looked at each other and went, "Oh my god, this is awesome!" We were guessing each thing the other was about to do and going through with it.

A year later, Jackson comes up to me in class and says, "I have this band and I want you to come jam with us if you're interested." I said, "I don't know, man, I'm kind of a singer-songwriter and I don't know if I want to do that kind of thing." But he said, "Just jam." So I did and it ended up being this guy again and we hit it off. The entire band ended up having really good chemistry.

MT: When I met him I just remembered him as this crazy guy who wore Ray Bans without any lenses in them. White Ray Bans with no lenses just to wear white Ray Bans. I thought, "That guy was crazy but he's a lot of fun to play with!" Then Jackson told me, "I invited that guy to play in the band." And I was like, "Alright..."

PC: The three of them started the band with another guy the year before I joined, I think.

MT: I met Jackson in the dorms on campus and we met Marko in classes.

Why did you think Make Your Love Bigger was an appropriate title for the arc of songs that make up your new album?

MT: One of the friends we met on that trip that Pablo was discussing, Laurie Paul, a sweet lady and incredible oil painter and visual artist, she's the one that told us about Mer-Ka-Bas and lightbodies and gave us some books [on those subjects] and she had a very intense dream where she was trying to think of a manta for use to use for this new album. She just woke up and kept saying, "Make your love bigger, make your love bigger." She made a painting and sent it to us in the mail. It helped kind of bring more focus to this album. Yeah, "Make your love bigger," that's what this album is all about.

PC: We're definitely in a place where we want to be a part of the entire experience with everybody. We're all tired of playing shows where you get a little drunk or high before the show and "Look at me, I'm playing this show, this is awesome. Does everybody like me?" I'm tired of that. I like the shows where you go there and you're connecting with the musicians on stage and, "Wow, I feel like we're all doing this together." It's like we're sharing this experience versus two ends of the thing. I think that's what we're trying to accomplish more and more.

MT: And I feel a lot closer to the people around me, Pablo and the audience too. Making sure to look everyone in the eyes if I can and feeding them that energy when we're there. That alchemy is so precious and nurturing. - Westword

In many ways, Denver’s premier psychedelic-rock quintet, Tantric Picasso, is trying to transcend what it means to make music these days. Not only does each member approach songwriting as a collaborative effort, but they also strive to play each other’s individual, genre-bending songs. And while their album, Make Your Love Bigger, will be a tad more cohesive, their third, 77-track album, Wavelength of Goodbye, will epitomize Tantric’s experimental methods.

The Metropolitan spoke to drummer Matt Tanner and bassist Pablo Cruz about both of Tantric’s new albums and why everyone should embrace the loving power of music.

IG: What is the new album, Make Your Love Bigger, all about? How does it compare to your last album, Life’s a Bitch and Then You Die so Why Not Laugh Until You Cry?

MT: We’ve been blending our souls and this album is a cohesive reflection of our articulation as a group. [We’re] expressing our songwriting and our emotion.

PC: Our last album that we did — I liked it a lot, but it was all over the place. We really focused this album in terms of “let’s try and create this genre and make it cohesive.”

IG: So would you say that this new album sounds more serious than Life’s a Bitch?

MT: This is our absolute, pop, rock ’n‘ roll record. We want this to reach masses, we want it to be approachable and [allow] people to hit play, not have to skip a song, and groove the whole time. Maybe you can put it on at a party? Maybe you can relax to it? Maybe you can meditate to it?

IG: Why are you guys drawn to psychedelic sounds?

MT: It’s all been a precursor to our next album, which we’ve been working on for almost a year. It’s a 77-track record called Wavelength of Goodbye. The end of [Make Your Love Bigger] features a swell where the energy builds and it ends with a sign wave — a wavelength. That wavelength is what will begin the next record and it will blossom into 77-tracks, [blending] everything from electronica, rock ’n‘ roll, hip-hop, folk, psychedelia — It’s just all over the map.

PC: Everyone in the band will agree that we write songs, we all have our own musical happenings, and Wavelength of Goodbye is kind of a way for us to do all of that and get it out.

MT: It’s true artistic expression, and I don’t want it to sound overwhelming, but Make Your Love Bigger is a 10-track record and it’s 37 minutes. Wavelength of Goodbye is a 77-track record and even at three minutes a song, it’s about a four-and-a-half hour record. It’s meant to be a cohesive experience fading in and out of itself [and] it’s completely indulgent of the psychedelia and experimentation in our sound.

IG: Who put together the video for Make Your Love Bigger’s first single “Rose Coloured Binoculars?”

MT: Well, our friend Ryan Bell, who lives out in New York, we came to him and said, “We need a music video for this song,” and he literally went frame-by-frame and edited over 1,000 frames every second. Marco [Melnick], who was the writer of that song, requested that there just be “hot chicks” dancing [laughs]. So Ryan’s solution was to find some pretty girls, put some roses on their eyes and have them dance with the lights flashing.

IG: What are you looking forward to about Tantric Picasso’s album release show?

PC: Well, there’s one surprise regarding a cultural thing that’s going on. One of my friends will introduce us in [a different language] and I think that’s really fun. I love culture. I love studying it, so I’m very excited to incorporate everybody into everything. You know, we’re all doing the same thing. We all like the same thing. So, let’s embrace each other.

IG: Embrace each other through music?

PC: It’s like, some people, they play music or they don’t play music, but either way, they love music.

MT: I agree, and I would add that: everyone is playing music or performing in some way, whether they know it or not. Whether it’s a whistle, or how they articulate their words, it’s all there. People say they aren’t artistic and I just laugh, because everything they do is art. Once they realize that, they realize their own power and they cultivate it through their own medium. For us, it’s music, and in particular, it’s this album. - The Metropolitan

Local band Tantric Picasso released their third album, Make Your Love Bigger, on Feb. 2 at the Bluebird Theatre. Always with a laid back stage presence, the band didn't need flashy costumes or lights to give a tantalizing performance that carried them all the way through an exuberant and spiritually uplifting set.
The band opened with the blues-heavy "Going To War" and a surprisingly dark and gruff voice escaped the lips of frontman Jackson Boone. The track began with a smooth jazz ambience, then delved into a controlled explosion of psychedelic rock instrumentation characteristic of Tantric's music.
Next, a song like a passionate heartbeat slowly spiraled into insanity. Many of the band's songs incorporate a jam portion that highlights each member's talents as well as the band's uncanny cohesiveness.
Among these is Boone's harmonica prowess, which added to the band's appealing diversity. Combined with infectious humming and playful melody, "Cold Fingers" actually inspired the crowd to line dance.
Like their sound, the members of the band itself seemed a rather eclectic bunch: bassist Pablo Cruz and Marko Melnick on guitar both looked like they were plucked from Woodstock, complete with bare chests and colorfully embroidered vests.
Keyboardist Karl Rivers looked classy in black slacks and a collared shirt; drummer Matthew Tanner's head was swathed in gilded scarves. Vocalist, guitarist, and harmonica-player Boone wore all white and a unicorn backpack, with strings of feathers swinging from his fretboard as he led a rendition of "She Hopped A Train."
The band continued the set with songs reminiscent of The Beatles, The Black Keys, and Black Moth Super Rainbow. The hopeful "Snowman In Summer" plucked a beautifully eerie but infectious ballad.
Although only a few years old, Tantric Picasso's album release show reconfirmed that the band has mastered live performance. The five members, who met as music majors at CU Denver, each bring an essential dimension to the band's sound. Their variety of talents and tastes is their greatest strength, which is easily apparent with their new, sophisticated album.
Tantric Picasso's Bluebird show delivered what they call "psychedelic blues, rock ‘n' roll, and underground outerspace folk-jazz-tronica," but the last thing they sounded like is amateurs trying to appeal to different tastes. The new tracks from Make Your Love Bigger wove together all those genres and more, all the while showcasing what's unique and pleasing about each genre.
Opener The Marrow also merits mention. Their homemade bicycle-wheel-wind-chime instrument is reason enough, but their delicate ambience and familiar, comforting female vocals made for a pleasant and enriching listen.
The Make Your Love Bigger release show was an instant success, partly attributable to the band's unmistakable talent for live performance. Tantric Picasso's sound has definitely evolved over their few years of existence, and the band now seems poised to rise to the forefront of Denver's music scene. - UCD Advocate

Sometimes when bands come out on stage and look like they dressed for the show it can seem like a put-on. But when Tantric Picasso came on they looked like a band that had stepped out of a door to the early 1970s before the whole hippie thing had been discredited and rock bands could still express ideals and spirituality without seeming insincere.

The first song sounded like something Allman Brothers would have done, had that band emerged within the last decade instead of in the '60s. Jackson Boone's gutsy, heartfelt wail and the fiery guitar work was straight out of what so many modern proponents of a classic rock sound aim for but never achieve -- a legitimately commanding and soulful sound without being weighed down by hero worship.

Tantric's set list seemed to follow the track list of its new album, Make Your Love Bigger, with a few changes. Thankfully, this meant that it wasn't all the same exact sound for 45 minutes. These guys brought a range of influences together fluidly in songs that evoked a headiness and expansive spirit even in its grittiest moments.

All of the players conveyed a rare unity and contagious energy even in the quietest of its moments. Between songs, Pablo Cruz, Marko Melnick and Karl Rivers often created resonant, ambient soundscapes that made the more straight ahead blues rock instincts of the band's songwriting stand out. You got the sense that these guys could probably do whatever they wanted, but that they chose to write the kinds of songs they performed tonight because those songs were fun to play.

A myriad of classic rock bands went through your head from the beginning of the set to the end and yet none of those comparisons would have done justice to the way Tantric Picasso commanded the audience. It was like seeing one of those great bands out of the whole San Francisco scene of the late '60s if it had absorbed even more Afro-Cuban rhythmic ideas and the kinds of experimental electronic elements Morton Subotnick infused into "happenings" before he moved to New York.

At the end of the set, the band went into a heavy funk song, and in the middle of that there was, predictably enough, a breakdown section where each musician got to solo. Not as predictably, each musician actually shined and didn't go off on a self-indulgently drawn out passage. The band left the stage but the crowd demanded an encore and was rewarded with a two-song performance.

The last number included a guy who will fill in on the band's upcoming, two and a half month tour and it was a funky blues song that would have been way too Zeppelin-esque if someone else had done it. With Tantric Picasso, however, it didn't seem like an overworked rock and roll cliché because there's real passion and an richness of spirit to how this band plays its music. - Westword

Finally it was time for the headlining band, Tantric Picasso, who were celebrating the release of their new record Make Your Love Bigger. Tantric Picasso is a five piece band featuring Jackson Boone (vocals, guitar, harmonica), Marko Melnick (guitar, vocals), Pablo Cruz (bass), Matthew Tanner (drums) and Karl Rivers (keyboards, guitar). Hearing this band live is like taking a journey aback in time, at the height of the free love era steeped in classic rock 'n' roll. Their newest record is a modern embodiment of that vintage sound, complete with raw energy, face melting riffs, powerful drums, dazzling keys, and wicked guttural screams. To kick off the night, the band launched a strategic attack on the Bluebird Theater crowd by unleashing "Going To War", a track laced with sexy, jazzy funk-rock juxtaposed with forceful, throaty lyrics that lit the venue on fire. "Kaoss" was true to its song title, but its driving, pulsing beat gave it a strange sense of order and appeal. "Strider" brought more vocal swagger that any '60s-'70s manly-man probably would have used to hype himself up had the song been available in that era. As they continued to play more selections off of their new album they were able to truly revive the feeling and intensity that prior generations probably sought out in vintage rock 'n' roll. Their set wasn't all straight hard-hitting rock however, as Tantric Picasso also toyed with a few other vintage styles with the same sense of authenticity. Raw, powerful blues rock flooded the venue every time the harmonica made an appearance. "Rose Coloured Binoculars" was a foray into psychedelia - an acid trip experienced solely through sound. They even had a few slower, more soulful jams that easily could have been baby boomer love anthems. For their encore piece, the band jammed out, bringing up a longtime friend to join them on stage and pound out a blues riff. Tantric Picasso might as well be called rock revivalists, but they really are a modern embodiment of a combination of all the aspects that made vintage rock 'n' roll so great. However, they manage not to sound like a retread of any of those classic bands that have been played and replayed time after time again. Somehow they have honed in on the very essence of what makes that recognizable sound, expanding on it to make it their very own. As a result, their new record is fresh and exciting, and their stage presence made their performance seem absolutely authentic. If you love rock 'n' roll, fall in love with Tantric Picasso.
- Concerted Effort: chronicles of the Colorado concert experience

I Cant Escape the Feeling of how it seems I'm hanging out with the Doors or the Rolling Stones. It's likely youve heard of these guys. They are unmistakably part of a band and the perfect amalgamation of all their influences Hendrix, the Beatles, Modest Mouse, Weird Al, The Gorillas, Radiohead, Chuck Berry. I notice good looks have not been denied them either as I sit across from them, and I can't escape the feeling of how it seems I'm hanging out with the Doors or the Rolling Stones. I'm almost anticipating a chair to go flying across the room. Nope! No such luck! But the future is uncertainI suppose this can still happen. To be sure this is bound to happen. The annals of Rock n Roll hall of fame demands it! But no peer pressure guys! All SWINK! wants is an interview! The band consists of five members (Marko Melnick, Pablo Cruz, Jackson Boone, Karl Rivers & Matt Tanner). Yep girls, these guys are single and loving it according to Marko, smiling from ear to ear. On the other hand, Pablo says, "its complicated" and for the sake of clarity he adds, "we don't want to label ourselves." One can only guess what this means but spoken like a true musician nevertheless and with this delicate reasoning it's easy to see why the band believes that even if they were born a fraction of a second later Tantric Picasso would still be there destiny. One of the guys tells SWINK! "I never had a connection like this in my life," I dont suppose it matters who said this since as one of the members put it, "we are cosmic brothers." In the short 20 minutes I've been with them that connection definitely pours from them and might one day win them wider fame but as for now their public lives and their private lives still parallel each other and they are just a bunch of normal guys who eat, drink, and breathe music, Marko teaches, Matt has his own recording studio, Karl and Pablo teach guitar and write beats for hip-hop acts and like other musicians they get nervous before they go on and one member even has a tendency to puke before the shows. SWINK! is reasonable so we won't ruin his reputation with the ladies by revealing the members name. But you owe us one. ~Over and out - Swink Magazine

Tantric Picasso is a band made up of four people, over seven instruments, and a whole lot of love. Band members Jackson Boone, Pablo Cruz, Marko Melnick, and Matt Tanner have a brotherhood that is strengthened through their music.

All music majors at UC-Denver, members' paths crossed in the dorms and in classrooms. All four were independent songwriters before the band was formed. With that in mind, they allow one another creative freedom, whichhelps them manifest their own songs into larger dimensions. They also create songs together.

When asked to genre-lize themselves, Tantric Picasso is at a bit of a loss for quippy taglines. Rather, they all find their own way to express, as Melnick put it, that "new music doesn't have genres; it makes genres."

However, they also realize that "influence is important to become who you are," as Boone put it. Their song "What Colors" asks a woman what colors she will caress—a rather psychedelic idea to begin with. The track is further accentuated by blues guitar, harmonica, and howling vocals.

Boone, who plays a mean harmonica and wails like a darker Robert Plant, says they are "channeling soulful blues."

In "Even When You're Laughing," Melnick, a rather prolific lyricist, penned the lyrics "wearing away the odd hours of the day/even when you're laughing." Word play and minute nuances are standard.

Their hope for their listeners is "a change in their perception." After this show, Tantric Picasso is taking a hiatus to get into the studio and record a full length album. The group intends to release it in early 2010.


- UCD Advocate

From the way the first cut, "Cherry on Top," opens, it's pretty clear that Tantric Picasso's Life's a Bitch and Then You Die So Why Not Laugh Until You Cry is going to be a bizarre journey. Layers of indecipherable voices over a swinging beat and walking bass line soon make way for a catchy-as-hell hook accented with vibraphone and harmonica. From there, "5 Years (Old)" drifts into dreamy psychedelic electronica, and the lazily paced "Get a Clue" is equally far out. "Bob Saget's Shit Eating Grin," meanwhile, recalls Black Moth Super Rainbow and segues into a super-psych freakout at the end. While the band, which consists of all University of Colorado Denver music majors, focuses on psychtronica on most of the cuts, the odd man out is "Burton's Curtains," which, strangely enough, treads on folky Paper Bird territory with banjo and acoustic guitar. - Westword Magazine