The Omnitones
Origin: Illinois
Genres: Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, Math Rock, Progressive Rock, College Rock
Years Active: 2023-Present
Members: Nicholas Tantillo, Greg Abell, Justin Winterroth, Sean Riggio, Chris Moylan and Nick Maldonado
Past Members: Max Dombrowski, Jesse Mai, Matthew Sikora
Social Media: https://linktr.ee/theomnitones
The Omnitones are an independent alternative rock band from the Western Suburbs of Chicago that formed in 2023. They blend their eclectic music tastes to offer a unique and refreshing take on the music they all enjoy. They cover different lyrical themes of folklore, humor, and philosophy between raspy vocals, poppy hooks, and loud guitar solos. The Omnitones are known for their live shows where they extend their songs through improvisation and diverse covers
Early Development (2023-2024)
Nick Tantillo is a multi-instrumentalist, engineer, cinematographer, producer and singer songwriter. Nick played in several groups between 2012 and 2022 (Ashbrook, Hatching Crystal, Hurried Patience, Giant City, Ed Ashe and Mother Goose) as well as being a session player, ghost writer or stand in for other bands. Tantillo wrote a sizable catalog of songs of his own outside of those bands but rarely contributed his music to those groups due to stylistic differences.
Max Dombrowski (Max Effin Cherry, Twin Jones and Majungas), a longtime mentor of Tantillo's, urged him to take his large backlog of original music and front his own band. Max was a guiding hand in the beginning of the group to help Nick gain confidence and build a new band away from his previous musical partnerships. Max even thought of the band name, which Tantillo picked from a long list of band names on Max's phone
Greg Abell, who plays drums for Twin Jones and joined the band off Max's recommendation. The three of them set out together to record a group of Nick’s songs along with two others that they wrote together. Max shortly left the band to pursue his solo career of Max Effin' Cherry once he felt the band had reached a stable point in his mentorship towards Nick.
Matt Sikora, Jesse Mai and Justin Winterroth entered the band next. Nick knew Matt through a close friend and added him to the group shortly after. Jesse Mai, a close collaborator and friend of Greg, quickly joined after seeing similar playing styles to Tantillo. Justin Winterroth, a close friend, former bandmate and colleague of Tantillo, joined the band shortly after as a Trumpet player and back up vocalist.
The band met and listened to 30 songs from Tantillo's 100 song backlog and they ended up choosing 4 songs (Sasquatcher, Yawhooligans, Midnight Snack and Imperfections) for a small EP. The band shedded 4 to 5 songs and recorded for a year in Tantillo's basement and set out to finish their first self titled EP "The Omnitones" and started playing local open mics to test their songs out. None of these members had played together except Nick and Justin but all of the contrasting influences created a sound that was vastly different than Tantillo's early demos of the songs. Eventually they released a "self-mixed" demo called Deep End on Bandcamp which they was recorded in one day before their first gig. They were surprised with the results of the recording and ended up releasing it as a single later on.
Singles
Sasquatcher was The Omnitones first single, released on June 25, 2024. Tantillo initially wrote ''Sasquatcher'' about a close friend known as "Ape Ass" due to his infamous flatulence and the lore surrounding his life. As the song evolved, Tantillo began searching for a deeper meaning, exploring themes such as the Oedipus complex, Nonconformity, the sexual revolution and modern online dating. By using the Sasquatch mythos, the song challenges conventional views on love and questions the legitimacy of the Sasquatch legend—drawing parallels to the struggles faced by those who don’t fit social norms while searching for a like-minded partner just as a Sasquatch might finding a mate.
Tantillo's close friend and roommate at the time, Alex Lillquist (director and editor), saw the potential for a Sasquatch-themed music video and began creating a storyboard to reflect the song's lyrical themes. They brought in a close friend and drag queen, Lola Von Sweets, who designed the costumes for the video. Greg Abell volunteered his backyard as the filming location. Lola was cast as the female Sasquatch, Greg as the male Sasquatch, and the rest of the band as hunters. During filming, Nick's hard drive broke down, and they nearly lost all the footage, but it was salvaged, allowing them to finish the video just in time for the release. *Sasquatcher* went on to win two independent film awards, being named a finalist at the Round the Globe and has won best music video at the Athvikvaruni International Film Festival.
Deep End was released on July 31st, 2024. Tantillo wrote the song about a car accident he experienced in college. While traveling as a passenger with an ex-partner on the country roads of Southern Illinois, a car ran a stop sign at 60 miles per hour, crashing into their vehicle and sending it into a light post. The aftermath, injuries, and trauma of the crash ultimately led to their separation as they coped with the incident in different ways. That night, Nick went home and wrote a melancholy song about a bittersweet goodbye to the situation. Initially, the band didn’t plan to release this song, thinking it would fit better on their next EP. However, when they were booked for a gig and needed extra material to fill the hour-long set, they decided to give ''Deep End'' a try. The song immediately resonated with them, and they rushed to the studio to record a demo, which they released before the show to build some momentum. They later remixed it and officially released it as a single and on their EP, along with a lyric video.
Midnight Snack was released September 25th, 2024. Tantillo wrote the song about longing and loneliness, inspired by Tantillo's long-distance relationship with his partner at the time. Tantillo had pitched different versions of this song to previous bands, but it never seemed to click. When he showed it to the current band, they quickly picked up the feel and jammed out a 5/8 solo section that Tantillo soloed over. Due to the fast-paced writing process, Tantillo never had the chance to write a second verse, so they ended up repeating the first verse throughout the song. They decided to keep it that way because it created the feel of one continuous, chant-like chorus.
The Music Video was released on September 25th. In a pinch, Nick invited the band to his family’s condo in Wisconsin for a quick getaway. Greg suggested Alex “shoot the band eating snacks and goofing off,” so they filmed the entire music video in 100-degree heat on a boat and on a tennis court. The video had nothing to do with the song’s theme and was simply a result of the band being really hungry at the time. For the album cover, Alex and Nick shot a Creature from the Black Lagoon figurine in the water during sunset, with Nick nearly getting stuck in the lake’s mud. They filmed a second day in Nick’s backyard, where they staged a food fight and captured some band footage in the studio. Nick edited the video to give it an old-fashioned camera look and released it along with the single.
The Omnitones: EP
The Omnitones released it's first self titled EP on on October 31st, 2024. The Album cover, which is Dinosaur themed, was designed after Tantillo's love for Jurassic Park, Dinosaur Adventure 3D and Dinosaurs as a child. The EP was released as a CD as a limited run. The entire record was self produced and engineered by Tantillo and then Mixed Chris Curry and Mastered by Carl Saff.
Imperfections is an autobiographical song about Catholic guilt and Tantillo's upbringing in catholic school where he questions his beliefs, his departure from the religion as a whole and feelings during that process as he grew older. This song took the longest to record due to the gravity of the topic and went through many different vocal tests to achieve. Greg suggested a D part in the song so it wasn't as repetitive and through the spark of inspiration they quickly wrote a new part and lyrically added a new perspective on an older songs theme in the backlog. Tantillo took some concert footage and fused it with some found footage to make a psychedelic lyric video with a message.
Yawhooligans is a song about a generations frustration with the American school systems decline. Tantillo, an Instructional Designer, wrote themes around conflicting learning styles, aimless curriculums, over priced tuitions, racially biased ACT tests, the varsity Blues scandal and the lack of care from tenured teachers. Tantillo named the song after Yahooligans, a popular kids educational website, to create the time piece around Millennials. In 2025, Nick and Alex later shot a music video again with Lola Von Sweets and improv legend, Nicholas Maldonado in a high school themed music video.
Personnel Changes
Jesse began to move out of the country for work after the first gig and chose his colleague and friend, Sean Riggio, as his replacement. They both studied under the same guitar teacher Leroy Bach and shared similar techniques. Sean filled into the band for their 2nd gig as they released the single Midnight Snack. Matt Sikora played the first set of gigs as they dropped singles with The Omnitones while working with his main musical project "Blind Leading the Blind". Matt was released from the project before the EP was dropped to pursue his main project further. After demoing the next EP worth of music they were trying out a handful of bassists. They came upon Chris Moylan, also a student of Leroy, who impressed the band with his knowledge of theory, technicality and arrangements on his existing work. He joined the band as they began to play shows all summer and into the tracking of the 2nd EP. After some tryouts for a keyboard player the band all immediately thought of Nick Maldonado because of his prior work with Tantillo and after a few jams and arrangements sessions fit the part perfectly and was added to the band.
Self Check Out: EP 2
As the band began to work with new songs, Nick mentioned producing and engineering the record was too many hats to wear in the studio and wasn’t able to focus as much on his parts. The band decided on using a producer and a filter to help craft final arrangements for the next EP and it was a unanimous decision to use Leroy. Nick and Leroy began working with the structures of 6 songs through a handful of meetings online and at Leroy’s rehearsal space. As the band continued to tour through Illinois they would work on the new structures at rehearsals and try them out on stage. The band went into the basement studio in late July and began recording.