Tigercub Bring Maximum Rock & Roll To The Astro

Brighton UK Trio Supports Porno For Pyros Saturday

Photo by Lauren Carnell

Riffs, big drums, and rock and roll are the themes of Brighton, UK, trio Tigercub. That is just the easy sell though to get one in the door. When listening to the band's trio of albums and trio of EPs, one will find a heavy sound, but with deep hooks and an evolution in their music over their discography that show a band that has grown as musicians well beyond dirty riffs and big drums.

The band is made up of Jamie Stephen Hall on vocals and lead guitar, James Allix on drums, and Jimi Wheelwright on bass. They are currently signed to Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam and Reagan Hagar of Brad’s label Loosegroove. Gossard is a champion of the band and remixed the band's current single, “Show Me My Maker,"  which was released a couple weeks ago.

I talked with Jamie Stephen Hall over the phone a few weeks ago, as they are coming to The Astro in LaVista this Saturday, February 24th, to support Porno for Pyros. It was one of my favorite interviews I have done recently, as Jamie is a music head with vast knowledge of an eclectic array of music. I have left this interview pretty much as is, because I think it is all worth reading. We talked about his love of Elliot Smith, his other project, Nancy, his influences, and more.

MarQ Manner- Tigercub has been around for awhile, but you are still kind of introducing yourselves to audiences, like this is the first time I think you are playing in Omaha. How would you describe Tigercub to the uninitiated? 

Jamie Hall- I would say it is for fans of big bombastic riffs, big drums, and absolute maximum fucking rock, but with softly sung Elliot Smith-like vocals. It’s heavy metal, but not cookie monster heavy. I tell you what, if I had my time again, I would probably find a much more succinct way of saying that rather than just words, word association, or Tigercub word salad. You know what I mean? Hopefully, that made sense. 

MarQ-I have been listening to the records for the past couple of days, and I find the song “Perfume of Decay” interesting. I have read what you have said about it; you have alluded to it being about putting on a face to go onto social media and things of that nature. Did you want to explain that song? 

Jamie- The lyric of what drives it is ‘you’re so natural’ it’s sort of like on social media—not on social media, just what I experience in my life, which happens to be looking on my phone and social media. It’s like that open narrative where everyone is so great, everyone is so much better than me, and then that chorus is, I’m a wreck, I am frail, up against it all. It’s just the two different sides of that. 

MarQ- You are signed to Stone Gossard of Pearl Jam’s label, and you are opening up for Porno for Pyros, two very iconic alternative bands. Do you ever feel like they are passing the torch to you? 

Jamie- Well, that would be a fantastic thought. Maybe, I would like to think so. It’s all still a little bit surreal just to get that vindication and be seen. Having that kind of stamp of approval is a wild thing. Every songwriter's dream is to be accepted by, I guess we could consider them to be our peers, but they are just so monumentally iconic that it’s just hard not to cringe when you put yourself on the same level as them.

It’s just absolutely magical, and it’s all thanks to Stone really, Billy, and Reagan at Loosegroove for helping introduce us and lending their names and their credibility to help introduce us, predominantly to America, and help build things back home in the UK as well. That has led to Perry Farrell and all of these great musicians that we look up to all of a sudden being aware of Tigercub and inviting us out on the road with them. It’s a huge, huge honor. It’s going to be great just to watch Porno for Pyros every night. Let alone tear it up on the same stage as them; try to win over their fans. It’s rad. We are all pinching ourselves. 

MarQ- So, when doing research for this, I realized I actually own an album by Nancy, and I didn’t realize that—that was you. What does that project allow you to do and express yourself outside of Tigercub? 

Jamie- Well, Nancy was born at a time when I felt like I was pushing Tigercub too far away from what I felt its call was. We did an EP called Evolve or Die, which I am very fond of, but we were drifting off into more electronics and synthesized sounds, maybe like being somewhat near what Nine Inch Nails had done. That was satisfying our creative urge, and I felt like I was pushing it too far away from what Tigercub really is, what the essence of Tigercub is. Tigercub couldn’t get deals together for a bit, and we were in a little bit of a slump, and in the interim, I had all of these weird songs that would never fit as Tigercub songs that I thought were pretty cool. I asked my manager at the time to shop it around and see if we could generate some interest, not have my name on it. Just be this blank slate that people could cast dispersion’s onto and project whatever they want on it. It can have its own value that way, rather than being 'oh, that guy from Tigercub, a band that no one has really heard of’.

It kind of got this momentum to it, and it started picking up press, and all of a sudden we had a bit of a budget, and it was a really fun experience seeing that all unfold. It was quite a bit of a confidence boost for myself personally, just when it came along, and my ability to produce and get a song from absolute zero to into the NME, onto the radio, booked for SXSW, just purely from my bedroom. Not using the usual safeguards that I did with Tigercub, where it was always in with a name producer, always in a proper studio, always goes to a proper mastering engineer. This was like a shit old computer with like outdated plug-ins. Print. Done. I was like, ‘If it sounds good, it is good'. It doesn't have to go to all of these comfort blanket things.  All of that shit is great if you know how to use it, but with the right mindset of like 'actually, does this sound good?'

Anything done by default without any critical thought usually ends in a negative outcome. Nancy, in it’s accidental, if you can call it success, but accidental success sort of taught me that lesson. That helped me make the next two Tigercub albums better, if that makes sense. Now it’s sort of the end of the rabbit hole with what Tigercub are working on at the minute, you can sort of see those two worlds comfortably merge a little bit more. Which, I am really happy about, because, I mean, fucking rock is great, but there is so much more music out there, there are so many more ways to express things than just through the mold of big drums, big riffs, and for the most part, 4/4 timing. 

MarQ- In the 90's, I shunned American music when I was young and listened to UK music at the time. I rebelled against what was happening here. Did you find growing up in the UK that you found yourself attached to American bands? What were you listening to? 

Jamie- American culture is just so present and dominant everywhere in the world, that you can just not help but be exposed to that stuff. I think there has always been quite an interest in conversation that happens between UK bands and US bands. It’s kind of been a call and response; it’s interesting. I know The Libertines are massive Pavement fans, and that makes sense, and what you get back is Pavement meets The Clash. Then there is a band we toured from Canada called Dilly Dally, who are massive Libertines fans, but they also like the Pixies and Pavement. You just get this game of catch, which is rad. I know The Cars and a lot of those guys back in the day were trying to emulate the way the Siouxsie Sioux would sing. It’s cool that thing that happens.

To answer your question, yeah, I have always loved American music, it’s hard not to; it’s so fucking great. I grew up on a lot of UK punk, Sham 69, Cockney Rejects, and Cock Sparrer, because that was just locally where I was in the North of England. That was our diet. I have gone through so many phases, absolutely consuming everything I could, from Daniel Johnston to Sonic Youth. How long have you got? 

MarQ- You have said the song “We’re A Long Time Gone” was an ode to Elliot Smith, who was born here in Omaha, though they did not live here long. Can you explain that a little bit further? 

Jamie- Weirdly, I was looking up Elliot Smith the other day, and my partner was like, ‘Where is he from?"  He had a studio in LA, but I think he grew up in Texas. I wanted to sing super soft, and I am obsessed with Elliot Smith. I named my daughter after one of his songs, "Clementine." I feel like even though everyone loves Elliot Smith, I feel like he is underrated as a composer. With stuff I really, really like, I like to work it out and get under the bonnet and dismantle it and put it back together, and see what makes it tick. With his stuff, I can’t find what the magician's secret is with it, it’s so complex and dissonant, and sometimes it’s Beatlesy and it doesn't follow any of the logic that I grew up with as a sort of composer. His vocal style and the way he double tracks his vocals, and he sings so paper soft, it’s really a miraculous combination that he’s hit on, on the particular records that I fucking love.

I think “We’re A Long Time Gone”, I just think that I had to have a song that is Elliot Smith-esqe just to kind of pay my dues, because he has been kind enough to lend me so much of his brilliance just from looking into his songs, and understanding his legacy. It’s just massive; it is a huge inspiration for the records, so I thought it would only be right to have an ode to Elliot Smith on there. Sort of like a pantomime cover of one of his existing songs. 

MarQ- Like you said, Tigercub is a riff-heavy and pure rock band, and it seems like it comes from a very genuine place. You also have a knack for writing some pretty damn good pop hooks, like in “Play My Favorite Song,"  “Stop Beating On My Heart (Like A Bass Drum), or “Control” even. Is there ever a conscious choice not to lean too heavily into those hooks? 

Jamie- Whenever I consciously try to do pop stuff, it always sounds shit. So, I try not to go too far down the rabbit hole with overly polishing hooks and stuff. I sort of leave some of the naivity in, I guess, so sometimes maybe that keeps the hook from developing so much that it could be a Britney Spears song or an old Tears For Fears record. That is something to resist. It’s a tough question. I really like a lot of 90’s and early noughties R&B and a lot of pop stuff, Guy Chambers stuff, a lot of it is quite like baroque, particularly tracks like “Hit Me Baby One More Time” and stuff. It’s very baroque when you break it down. It follows a lot of classical music sensibilities,like Chopin. Actually,if you fucking gut this up a bit and make it rusty and crunchy, it would make a great rock song. So I guess maybe that is where some of the ultra-hooky stuff comes from. Or even like “Cry Me A River” by Justin Timberlake/Timbaland. I had my head in a lot of that stuff, when I wrote, “Stop Beating on My Heart (Like a Bass Drum). That, to me, is like an R&B song you know what I mean? 

MarQ-You seem to have an eclectic taste in music. I have seen you mention The Chameleons to Steve Vai, what do you credit your diverse taste in music to? 

Jamie- The internet. Mainly Limewire. What used to happen to me a lot on Limewire was that I would type in something I want like James Brown's “Sex Machine,” and the data would be wrong and I would get The Meters or something. It’s through that misdirection on Limewire that I would accidentally get good music. Not that James Brown “Sex Machine” is not good music, it is obviously good music. It might have been something shit I was looking for, and I might have gotten something beyond it that influenced the thing that I was after.

The internet is eclectic, isn't it? The world we live in now is insanely eclectic, and  I think I am just a product of that. From what I understand, back in the day, you would be into goth music and be rad for being into goth music, but that was all you were into, as your local record store may have had more of that. There is something so romantic about finding the sacred text and finding the good stuff that no one knows about. Everything is so saturated now that everyone is going back to curation. It’s like option anxiety. 

MarQ-You have been very open about anxiety and mental health, and we have seen artists take time off to take care of themselves. Do you feel there is more support now for artists who need to take care of their mental health needs? 

Jamie-Yeah, maybe not one to one hands-on support, but I think musicians and artists are seen less as like a commodity that is to be consumed, and you have more of a dialogue with your fans, and they become more like friends and family. So there is more of of an understanding and a well wishing. We had to cancel some stuff as I got sick, not mental health, but everyone was bummed out, but no one was rude or nasty about it. It seems like society in general is much more awake to catching the early signs of people slipping. That kind of preemptive societal attention is hopefully reducing suicide rates. Definitely, there is a lot more support, thank god. 

MarQ- With Visa issues, tour bus issues, and more. Are you finding it harder to tour now than maybe when you first started out? 

Jamie- Well, in little England, we are trying to encase ourselves and reject globalism. A byproduct of that is that free movement has ended in Europe, so it is fucking expensive to get over there. For a band at the lower mid-level, like Tigercub that is OK. It is still a viable territory for us, like mainland Europe. When we started out, we would get an offer to support a band in Europe, and we would be getting fifty pounds a show, and we would go and stay in squats and sleep rough and make it happen. We at least had the means to travel freely at a base level and eat shit. Younger bands don’t even have that now in Europe.

To try to break through to America is insanely expensive. There are a lot of eye watering front end overhead that bands have, that does cause, and will and maybe already has led to a class divide in music to where the only people who are fully enabled to have access to that kind of expression and grow to a size--you know, as a band, you have to grow to a size to be able to do cool shit, where you actually pay for the top tools to really elevate what you do to the maximum level with no compromises. That does lead to fucking great music and great culture. So, the fact that people from poor backgrounds, the working class, and the underclass don’t necessarily have access to that anymore is bullshit. That is where the best music comes from. Historically, it enables so much social mobility, it’s just a crime for that to not be a thing anymore. Who knows? I could be wrong. I know Canada is good with giving bands bursaries and shit to travel overseas and shit. It’s so smart. That gets paid back to the state, and it makes fiscal sense. 

MarQ-What can people expect from your band live when you open for Porno for Pyros? 

Jamie-Three dudes that have been hammering out riffs for so fucking long that it is shit hot. We are still so hungry for it. We are used to winning over crowds, so this is our specialty. You are getting a fucking rock show.