Singing along to song lyrics isn’t the only sound bands can offer listeners.
New York band TAUK has a way of grasping the audience with its instrumental talents without lyrics.
TAUK will perform Sunday at the Varsity Theatre. The band described its sound as a mixture of Pink Floyd and root music and combines rap and jazz with classic rock.
After releasing its first album in 2011, TAUK was hesitant to continue without a singer, TAUK guitarist Matt Jalbert said. When the band started, it originally searched for someone on vocals, but when the music writing process began, the melodies began to take shape.
Jalbert said it was challenging to figure out how playing to an audience was going to be without songs that people could sing along with, but they continued on with their original intentions.
“We realized there was a lot to do with the instrumental thing that we haven’t thought about,” Jalbert said. “It just opened up a whole lot of new possibilities.”
The band began in middle school when three of the four members were friends. They continued making music through high school and college. About four years ago, the band added their fourth member and drummer, Isaac Teel.
The name TAUK came from Montauk, New York, where some of the band members would often hang out.
TAUK released its first live album “Headroom” in September. Jalbert said this was a different experience because the recorded albums don’t always give the same sound of spontaneity as live performances.
“There are aspects of a live show that are hard to capture,” Jalbert said. “We don’t always know where the songs are going to go from night to night.”
Live performances may have some upsides, but touring can have a way of creating some memorable experiences.
The members agreed one of the weirdest memories from touring was when they were travelling in their plain van, and a trucker pulled alongside them. He looked at the guys and wrote “TAUK?” on a piece of paper and showed them.
“We had no idea how this guy knew who we were — we were about 300 miles from any venue,” Jalbert said. “Still to this day, we have no idea who that guy was, but that was weird.”
The story explains why TAUK call its fans “staukers.” Although its fame continues to grow, the band agreed its experiences performing are much different than when they first began.
In the beginning, TAUK had a hard time getting everything to and sound right. But the more they practice, the better they get, the musicians said.
The members said that for aspiring artists looking to grow, they have to get out there and perform much as much as they can and stick to their own ideas.
As for the future of TAUK, the musicians plan on focusing more on writing after they’re finished with this tour.
“As much as we love touring, it gets hard to write on the road,” Jalbert said. “We’ll be touring again next year and doing some random shows at the end of the year, but we’re excited to make more music.”

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Courtesy of TAUK