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 a demo. The band 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.
The Demo Years
The Omnitones released it's first self titled Demo 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 demos were 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. This was a way to get into the scene and start playing underground gigs around Chicago. The demo quickly caught on along with their music video reel to help launch them into the scene.
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 demo 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: LP 1
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 LP and it was a unanimous decision to use Leroy. Nick and Leroy began working with the structures of 5 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.
Galloping Ghost
The Omnitones released their first official single on Friday the 13th live on WGN to the Chicago area on the Midday News Show. Mixed by Narwhal Studios own Wesley Reno and Mastered by Carl Saff. This song was released as a pairing with Valentines day and is a song about a dream Nick had about a arcade machine based around a dating app.