Just as food and wine go hand in hand, pairing Tack-Fu with Grover Beats is a music natural as well. "We know our listeners enjoy quality head-nodding drum beats. We build tracks with an element of organic and electronic sounds with a bit of love for tonal quality and character, and you'll hear the results and realize it’s a great partnership," explains Tack-Fu, the lead producer for the production collective titled The 85 decibel Monks . "Having a solid teammate like Grover benefits the other musicians and beat makers I call upon from time to time...with all their influences and styles - what greater production partners could I have?"

How the duo formed a music relationship is an interesting combination of taste and circumstance. “I lived in Auburn, Alabama for 20 years playing
in bands around the southeast,” Grover recalls, “when my wife finished her Ph.D. she found work here at the University of Iowa. So we packed
our bags for Iowa City. I set up my studio and started poking around on myspace checking out local musicians.” Tack continues, “Yea, I get this
myspace message...back when myspace was still a cool place to connect...anyways...I checked out his stuff and could instantly tell the man was
multi-talented and we had similar tastes in music. I thought we could be nice combo if we shared are strengths.”

The 85 decibel Monks will go into 2014 with a different initiative - making instrumental music for network television and film. Since 2005 Tack-Fu’s instrumentals have been placed on cable television shows produced by the Viacom Corporation through Pump Audio. But now, through networking and submitting demos throughout the previous year, the 85 dB's are ready to serve a new clientele, as Tack-Fu calls them, "the major players." "Working with major film production companies and network television fits so well with the type of music we do," Tack points out, "Dope beats, dope bass lines, and melodies that create a mood: That works for us. That's what this collaboration is about. Our focus is on a quality mood piece, head nodding stuff, with jazz influences, mixed with funk & soul...not the top 40 stuff or the flavor of the month.”

Even someone as multi-talented as Grover Beats learned a few things working within the confines of a music collective. "I learned to keep the
groove for a few more bars and not lose the direction and feel of the piece. My personal creations come packed with plenty of sound layers.
The 85 decibel Monks style has a less is more vibe. We add, then subtract, then edit the track some more, and the final creation hits the mark…
plus we enjoy working with each other."

Just as the 85 decibel Monks serve music to the television and movie industry at large, it also has a commitment to its fan base. "Our fans run the
gamut of income and personality. It's all over the map, like the tastes in music we all listen to for inspiration." Tack-Fu concludes. "I believe the
process of making tracks works to our strengths, I build the foundation with a strong beat and bass line and Grover adds the interior decoration
with melodies and different instruments, sometimes local musicians are sub-contracted to complete the soundscape - all of our talents go together
hand in hand. One enhances the other. Just like our collective, the 85 decibel Monks."

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