Artist

Taken

Yorba Linda

Taken is a music group from Yorba Linda. Their discography on Gatefold includes 3 records.

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3

Albums tracked

3

In collections

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Since

Biography

There is more than one artist/group with the name TAKEN: 1. California rock band. 2. Korean boyband. 1. Orange County, California's Taken formed in mid-1997 between guitarists Chad Tafolla and Dan Baird. The duo wanted to depart from their previous punk efforts, and move towards a heavier sound. As the pair wrote new material, they would slowly fill in the band's personnel gaps. After months of practices and shows, Taken would hit the studio to record a demo, which would be released in late-1998 on Here We Are Records.

The Arc of Taken

The pivots — what forced Taken to reinvent.

  1. The SoCal Basement Blueprint

    Between 1998 and 2000, the band figured out how to balance Ryan Clark’s aggressive bass lines with Chad Tafolla’s penchant for delay-heavy atmosphere. This was the era of 'Finding Home,' where they were still shaking off the raw urgency of the local hardcore scene while experimenting with longer song structures. You can hear the transition from standard verse-chorus aggression into something much more cinematic and desperate.

  2. The Goodfellow Peak

    When they signed to Goodfellow Records for 'Between Two Unseen Forces,' the production finally caught up to the ambition. They moved away from the thin, treble-heavy sound of their early demos into a thick, suffocating wall of sound that defined the melodic hardcore sound of the early 2000s. It was the moment they perfected the 'silent-loud' dynamic, using clean interludes to make the inevitable explosions feel twice as heavy.

  3. The Indefinite Hibernation

    The band effectively ended in 2004, not with a bang but with a quiet disappearance following their final tour dates. Ray Harkins’ vocal cord issues played a massive role in the silence, forcing a hiatus that lasted over a decade while the members moved into other industry roles or different bands. The records they left behind became mythologized by a younger generation of bands who turned their specific brand of technical melancholy into a genre requirement.

Influences

  • Unbroken — The band has cited 'Life. Love. Regret.' as the essential text for their emotional delivery. You hear it in the way Ray Harkins pushes his voice to a breaking point during the slower, more agonizing passages. It’s that specific San Diego-influenced gloom transposed to Orange County.
  • Strongarm — The shimmering, chorus-drenched guitar leads on 'The Advent of a Miracle' provided the technical roadmap for Taken's melodic work. Taken took that spiritual intensity and stripped away the overt religious themes, replacing them with raw, interpersonal trauma. The interplay between the two guitarists is a direct descendant of the Strongarm style.
  • Sunny Day Real Estate — Ray Harkins has frequently pointed to Jeremy Enigk's vocal phrasing as a major influence on how he structured his own melodies. The influence is obvious in the quietest moments of 'Finding Home,' where the band pivots from hardcore to a more fragile, indie-rock sensibility. They were one of the few bands in their circle brave enough to admit they liked the emotional vulnerability of Seattle's mid-90s scene.
  • Shai Hulud — Before Taken solidified their sound, the intricate, 'not-quite-metal' riffing of Chad Walters and Matt Fox set the standard for their guitar arrangements. You can hear the DNA of 'Hearts Once Entrusted' in the busy, staccato picking patterns Tafolla used to bridge the gap between melodies. It’s the sound of kids trying to play technically proficient music without losing the punk spirit.
  • 7 Seconds — In early interviews, the band credited the 'The Crew' era for their understanding of melody within a fast framework. While Taken was significantly darker and slower, the underlying sense of sincerity and the 'positive' community aspect of the 80s hardcore scene informed their early ethos. It gave them a foundation of melody that kept them from becoming just another noise band.

Discography

Their records — most-collected first.

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