Mike Tallman

"I feel at home on Eminence speakers. I've experimented a lot and I find Eminence to have the quality, reliability and consistency to stand up to life on the road." - Mike Tallman Since 2003, Mike Tallman has been making a name for himself on the American touring circuit as guitarist and band leader with Euf_rquestra (originally formed in Iowa City, IA, the band relocated to Fort Collins, CO in the Summer of 2008). With three full-length albums to their name and a relentless tour schedule, averaging over 110 shows annually, Euf_rquestra has become one of the hottest bands on Colorados live music scene and has created a strong national presence with their infectious "HIGH INTENSITY GLOBAL DANCE MUSIC". The sound is a percussion and horn driven blend of modern music that fuses afrobeat, reggae, dub, funk, rock, soca and highlife with traditional sounds from Cuba, Brazil, West Africa and beyond. This is cutting edge music that ignites dance floors across the country with a sound that explodes, dances and melts in your ear with sheer bliss (Chris M. Slawecki; www.allaboutjazz.com). Tallman picked up the guitar at the age of 11 after discovering the music of Seattle and the grunge rock movement. From there he, like many young guitarists, discovered his dad's record collection and dug deep in to the music of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead, among others. Over the years his growth as a musician led him to study jazz, funk, bluegrass and many international interests such as reggae, dub, afrobeat, soukous, and highlife. "Euf_rquestra often gets asked how a bunch of guys from Iowa became interested in all these styles of music," Tallman says, "and the only answer is that we are a group of seven people with broad musical tastes and we've always been willing to try anything. For us it's all about playing music that makes people dance." Tallman and his bandmates have been fortunate enough to collaborate with and support many national and international artists over the years including Page McConnell of Phish, Kyle Hollingsworth and Michael Kang of String Cheese Incident, The Motet, John Browns Body, Russell Batiste of the Funky Meters, Papa Mali, Toubab Krewe, Great American Taxi, the Gin Blossoms and many more. The band has also made an impact on the jamband scene with festival performances at Summer Camp, Wakarusa, Electric Forest, Harvest Fest and their very own Camp Euforia. Euf_rquestra's music has been featured on numerous TV shows including MTV's "Making the Band" and "The Paper", VH1's "Brook Knows Best", as well as Discovery's "Brew Masters". The band has been voted "Best World Band" for two consecutive years by peers of the Fort Collins Musicians Association and recently won the "Best World Band" title in the Denver Westword Music Showcase. Influences and favorites: John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Grant Green, Will Bernard, Trey Anastasio, Fela Kuti, Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, Talking Heads, Diblo Dibala, Hallelujah Chicken Run Band, The Motet, and way too many more to list here...