As a child, Robin Williams moved around a lot and used his comedy and impressions to help him fit in at school. One of the towns he moved to was Bloomfield Hills, Michigan where he attended Detroit Country Day School. On a personal note, I also went to school in Bloomfield Hills (the prestigious public school Andover High), and my senior year the biggest thing to graduate from Andover (aside from ESPN anchor Dana Jacobson) was the eclectic five-piece rock band Tally Hall. (Technically, only two members of Tally Hall graduated from Andover. Two others graduated from our dreaded rival school Lahser and the fifth from Pingry High in New Jersey. Andover and Lahser have since been consolidated to form Bloomfield Hills High School.)
Tally Hall formed in 2002 in Ann Arbor, Michigan where all five members were Wolverines. They quickly established an iconic look for themselves each wearing black slacks and a white dress shirt; each differentiated by a different color tie. Tally Hall consists of Rob Cantor (yellow tie, vocals, guitar), Andrew Horowitz (green tie, vocals, keyboard), Joe Hawley (red tie, vocals, guitar), Zubin Sedghi (blue tie, vocals, bass), and Ross Federman (gray tie, percussion). The gray tie was once worn by Steve Gallagher who left the band in 2004. Locally successful and developing a cult following online thanks to their comedy sketch internet videos, Tally Hall signed to independent label Quack! Media on which they released, in 2005, their debut album Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. (Note: The album is named for an antique arcade and curio museum found in an outdoor shopping mall (that used to be named Tally Hall) just outside of Bloomfield Hills). The band found some early success appearing on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (not their best performance), having their song "Good Day" featured on The OC, and having their cover of The Killers's "Smile Like You Mean It" being one of the few interesting tracks on a The OC covers album.
The band's word of mouth popularity was strong enough to gain the attention of a major label, Atlantic Records. The band signed with them and started to work on a marketing campaign that would build off of their early internet success. The band would re-rerecord and re-mix bits of Marvin's with a new producer in preparation for a re-release in early 2008 that would be built up to through their very own Tall Hall Internet Show. Their music is a strange mix of alternative rock with the harmonies of a barbershop quartet while their songwriting is a deft and balanced mix of humor, sentiment, and existentialism.
Here is the discography surrounding Tally Hall's debut album:
Break It Down (2002 comedy sketch as anonyMous)
Party Boobytrap (2003 demo EP)
Welcome to Tally Hall (2004 demo EP)
Complete Demos (2004 demo compilation)
Pingry (2005 EP)
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum
Good Day (2008 single)
Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum (2008 re-issue)
"Welcome to Tally Hall" by Tally Hall
Tally Hall Internet Show Episode 1 + "Good Day" by Tally Hall
Tally Hall at SXSW 2007
"Directions" by Tally Hall
Pass the Headphones!!
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