Geggy Tah is a band initially composed of writer/singer/bassist Tommy Jordan and keyboard/guitarist Greg Kurstin. The band was known for its eclectic and playful live shows that featured both Jordan and Kurstin playing a wide array of instruments. David Byrne said that "Geggy Tah are so postmodern they've come out the other side...They incorporate so many disparate elements into their sound that one senses a new sensibility afoot, an inclusionary wave...like nothing I've heard before."

History

CoCu (late 1980s to early 1990s)

In about 1987, Jordan formed the ten-member band CoCu (short for Collaborating Cultures or Combating Cultures), a melding of several highly trained musicians, including Jordan, John McKnight, and Danny Moynahan, and five non-musicians. Kurstin auditioned and joined CoCu in 1988, introduced to Jordan by McKnight. CoCu was experimental and playful, described by Jordan as "more of a workshop than a band," with a focus on audience involvement, and quickly became a favorite in the Los Angeles club scene. CoCu ultimately established residencies at two exclusive Los Angeles clubs, Flaming Colossus and Vertigo, where they caught the attention of U2's Bono, who bought CoCu three weeks of studio time and requested that Jordan send him the resulting recording, and Steven Spielberg, who hired CoCu to play his birthday party.

Formation of Geggy Tah (1988) and signing with Luaka Bop (early 1990s)

Jordan and Kurstin began experimenting as a duo in mid-1988 and after CoCu disbanded in the early 1990s, their focus turned to this partnership. The name Geggy Tah was derived from their first names. Both men have a sister who was unable to pronounce her brother's name when very young; "Geggy" and "Tah" were the baby girls' mispronunciations of "Greg" and "Tommy."

Their demo tape made its way into the hands of David Byrne who had in 1988 founded the record label Luaka Bop, intended to showcase music from outside the United States. Though Geggy Tah as an American band was not strictly in line with the profile of musicians Byrne intended to include on the label, he was so taken with their unique sound that he signed them, describing their demo tape as, "one of the weirdest, most surprising things we’d ever heard. It was truly like nothing else." He elsewhere described Geggy Tah as "a cross between Ween and Prince, but with deeper and more articulate lyrics. To someone not in the business, I'd say it's the whole, very contemporary and un-nihilistic kit and kaboodle in one optimistic pot." Billboard music critic Timothy White was similarly effusive: "...the beguiling music is wiser than the accumulation of its quasi-whimsical ingredients. The material gleams with a wacky-brilliant tenderness, appreciative of the subtle human tension between observation and impulse. And no matter how haphazard they might seem, each of the 15 tracks on Grand Opening has a sleek, pointy groove, hitching the melody to one's psyche with the keen handiness of a hat pin...Grand Opening...defies every structural statute in the rock bylaws, doling out precise harmonies, static-stuttered atonal bleats, old-school hip-hop time signatures and square-dancing breakdowns, plus jazz-pop bouquets of soda bottle trumpets, dulcimers, steel drums, pounded tabletops, and non-sequitur background discussions." (the song would also appear in a Mercedes-Benz commercial circa 2001). The tune and refrain of "Whoever You Are" had been written by Jordan as a child, as a way of thanking thoughtful drivers and cheering up his father, who would sometimes become irate in traffic. The track's hit music video featured Jordan, Kurstin, and Hahn playing the song while driving, their antics playfully woven into scenes from an old driving safety film.

Into the Oh (2001)

In 1999, the band announced a new album entitled Music Inspired by the Fragrance, and released two songs ("Space Heater" and "Sweat") on the web in mp3 format. However, in part because of Luaka Bop's move from Warner Bros. to Virgin Records, the album went unreleased until 2001, by which point it had acquired a new title: Into the Oh. Into the Oh was released on Luaka Bop / Virgin with new band members including Los Angeles session percussionist and composer "Lavey" Bruce Millstein.

In 2000, Tommy Jordan played the steel drums track for Jack Johnson's song "Flake" on Brushfire Fairytales.<!--- Article by Dori Levy: Jack Johnson’s music makes impact at D.P. (Don Pueblo High School) ---> Ben Harper has called Jordan "one of the most creative and versatile multi-instrumentalists of our generation." In the 1990s, T Bone Burnett said that Jordan was one of the five most creative people working in the music business.

In 2006, Kurstin formed a new band, The Bird and the Bee. In 2010, Kurstin was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Producer, Non-Classical division for his work on Lily Allen's It's Not Me, It's You.

Discography

Albums

  • Grand Opening (1994, Luaka Bop)
  • Sacred Cow (1996, Luaka Bop)
  • Into the Oh (2001, Luaka Bop/Virgin)

Singles

{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"

|+List of singles, with selected chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Title

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Year

! colspan="2" scope="col" | Peak chart positions

! scope="col" rowspan="2"| Album

|-

! scope="col" style="font-size:90%;"| AUS<br />

!US Alt<br>

|-

! scope="row"| "Whoever You Are"

| 1996

| 63

| 67

| Sacred Cow

|}

References

  • Geggy Tah on Myspace