Tiger Army Interview

Tiger Army were one of the first bands to sign to Epitaph's sister label, Hellcat Records, and have grown enormously in the past year despite several lineup changes. We were able to chat with the band's frontman and creative force, Nick 13 to talk a little about the band's history, their relationship with AFI, and their unique psychobilly style.

ND: Is this your first time touring the east coast?

Nick: Second actually. The first time we were only out here for a few shows, in the summer with TSOL. We maybe only did five shows.

ND: So this is your first big national tour?

Nick: Yeah, and it's our first time in DC.

ND: What kind of preparation mentally do you guys go through to get ready for a big national tour like this?

Nick: It's really just a lot of practicing and making sure we have all our stuff together.

Kevin: How's the response to your music been on this tour?

Nick: It's been really good actually. Obviously there were a couple shows that weren't so hot, but definitely the majority of the shows I've been surprised.

ND: How would you rate tonight? I thought it was pretty rockin'.

Nick: Oh yeah, any show where we play half-decently, and a couple kids know the words it's great for us, it seemed like that tonight.

ND: Your new album has a little different lineup for the band. Either as studio musicians or tour musicians, building on the lineup you have now, what do you look forward to in the future?

Nick: Well, in the early years of Tiger Army, there were basically people in the band only for limited periods of time. I'd just get friends to help out until I found the right people to do it full time. So for the most part, this band wasn't very permanent, it was just something to do for fun, and people were just helping as a favor to me. Once Jeff joined the band in late '99, right after the first record came out, we became more of a "band." We've definitely become more permanent the last couple years.

ND: Is that the plan, to tour more, maybe full time?

Nick: I hope so, that's what I've been working towards since our first show in '96. Now in the last year, it's finally starting to happen. Hopefully we can stay on the road, keep playing in as many places as we can.

Kevin: I noticed you guys got some play on a local radio station here - are you or Epitaph pushing any particular radio single?

Nick: There's no radio single that I'm aware of. We did a video for "Cupid's Victim." We did that really quickly, shot it in one day, edited in one day, but yeah there's no real "single" from the album.

Kevin: Have you heard about any other places you've gotten some airplay?

Nick: I've heard we're getting a little play in San Francisco, but other than that, not really.

ND: Tiger Army is totally different than almost anything else you'd hear on the radio. Is it cool that radio stations would play your stuff?

Nick: Yeah, I'm all for it. I don't really listen to the radio, but if I did, I know I'd like to hear something other than Limp Bizkit and Britney Spears. I'm biased obviously, but if I were someone else, I'd rather hear Tiger Army than Korn.

ND: It's hard to pinpoint anyone that you guys sound like, or where your sound comes from. I hate to ask the influences question, but where do you draw inspiration for your vocals and your sound?

Nick: Well anything I've been into since I was 13 will influence me in some way. I'm pretty old now, 27, but for years and years I listened to only punk and hardcore music, and then later I got really into the rockabilly, and then I got into the European psychobilly, which was kind of a combination of everything I was already into. There's a punk aspect to it, a rockabilly aspect, but it's still attractive and has a lot of dark imagery which Is kind of a theme of ours. Really there are a lot of different things that came together to make me write the music that I do.

Kevin: Is it important to you that your music remain unique?

Nick: You know it's actually something I strive for. There are a lot of psychobilly bands from outside the United States, but it's a situation like with early punk, Black Flag didn't sound anything like the Ramones, and I'd say that we really don't sound like any other US band.

ND: So do you think the way you're oriented now, as part of the punk and hardcore scene, on Hellcat Records is appropriate for your band?

Nick: Well, what inspired me was predominantly the European psychobilly scene, and that's a scene that unfortunately doesn't exist in the United States. When I started the band, I thought about who are we going to play to? Who are we going to play with? Since we live here, and not Germany or England. Basically it was a choice between the punk scene and the rockabilly scene, and I'm not really too hot on the modern rockabilly scene. It's pretty elitist, although there are some good people out there, and a number of people are into the scene, but there are also a lot of people into it mostly for the fashion aspect. And my roots are all punk rock, that's what I grew up with, and if the kind of music we play is closer to one or the other, I'd say it's closer to punk - it's a little harder, a little more aggressive.

ND: Yeah you can hear a lot of the mid 80's Brit-punk in your style.

Nick: Growing up I listened to a lot of British punk going back to the '77 stuff, not that I was around that early. I listened to the really early stuff, all the way up through the mid 80's stuff when it got a lot harder.

ND: How did you develop your voice? Do you have any training?

Nick: I think I sang in chorus in elementary school, but that's about it. I haven't taken voice lessons, but I'd actually like to, because I think it'd be good for learning how to conserve my voice on long tours. Some friends have mine have done it and are pretty into it, so I'd like to try it out.

Kevin: Your vocals are so unique, is there any particular singer that stood out to you when you were still listening and learning about this scene?

Nick: It's hard to say, you know. My favorite singers are all pretty different. I love Roy Orbison, Johnny Burnett... As far as punk singers I love Glenn Danzig's voice, Dave Vanian...

Kevin: So as you strive for uniqueness with your music, is it the same with your voice?

Nick: I don't necessarily try to be different with my voice, it's more of a natural thing.

ND: Your vocals on the new album really seem to command the overall sound. Was that a conscious effort to do that over, say, a heavy guitar sound?

Nick: I actually did the production on both albums. With the second one I did want to focus a little more on the vocals. Maybe it was the stuff I was listening to at the time, but I wanted to get the vocals sounding a little more powerful.

Kevin: Even with the lineup changes, you maintained a very similar sound from the first to the second record, was that something you intended?

Nick: I really just let it go where it wanted to go. There wasn't a lot of effort towards steering the sound one way or another. I might let that happen with songwriting, but ones the songs are done, it's just whatever happens happens. So stuff might turn out a little faster, or slower...

Kevin: I think some bands are terrified of writing the same record twice.

Nick: I try to focus more on just the quality of the music at hand. If I'm happy with an album song by song, I don't worry too much about it sounding like older material. There's always going to be a little progression and change, and I'm not against that at all, but I'm not worried about people saying, oh that record sounds like your other record. Of course some people claim to hear these radical differences between the first and second album that I personally don't hear.

ND: What's your relationship with AFI?

Nick: Well, basically we've been friends will all those guys for a long time, we go back way before any of us were in bands. I remember back when we were all in our teens in high school, and Dave is probably my best friend. The first band I was in, Jeff, who is now in Tiger Army also, was also in that band. I was probably in that band for about 2 years, and Jade, who now plays for AFI was also in that band. During that band's run, Jeff joined AFI, and Adam, who plays drums for AFI now, played for Tiger Army for the first shows and for the first album. Basically we all grew up together, and it's all kind of the same 8 people together playing music.

ND: Ever think about like a giant AFI/Tiger Army World Tour, or split 7" or something?

Nick: Our schedules really haven't matched up yet, but hopefully they will this upcoming year, it really would be great to do something with them.

ND: You've got a number of guest appearances on your albums, of course you got Lars from Rancid. Does that mean a lot to you that people are willing to help you out like that?

Nick: It think it's great more in a sense that I get to work with friends. Like Dave and I work on backup tracks together, they let me come in for the AFI album, and I seem to work kind of the same tones and in the same registers as Dave, so we can get something together that most people just settle for by double tracks. So we'll sing together to get a fuller, truer sound. Production-wise, it's a really cool thing to do. As for Lars, I had this slide guitar part visualized for "Power Of Moonlite," and Lars is a great slide guitar player, really into Rose Tattoo, so although I thought about trying it myself, he happened to be available.

Kevin: You seem to share a lot of musical ideas with the AFI guys, have you ever thought or talked about collaborating on any type of side project?

Nick: Not really, you know, we've known each other so long, and listened to the same music for so long that it's really just a case of liking the same stuff, even though people will assume that we're out there writing songs together.

ND: You guys were one of the first Hellcat bands - how did you originally find your way onto that label, and how have you seen it develop since that time?

Nick: We're definitely honored to be on the label, I think it's the best label our band could be on. They can really get the record out there, but at the same time they're independent and aren't looking over your shoulder through the whole songwriting process. There are indie labels that will say like, here's a hundred bucks, go get a half our in the studio and go nuts, Hellcat actually can get us a decent amount of studio time where we can really realize our ideas without having someone telling us how to write or what to play. As far as how we got on the label, I was an acquaintance of Tim Armstrong, I wasn't really friends with him, but he got our demo through a friend, and just called me up and said he'd like to do a record. What's cool is that I was on my own and didn't have a lineup at the time, and he was totally supportive and allowed me to find the right people. Most labels won't sign a band in that position.

ND: It's nice to see your albums in like Tower and Best Buy too.

Nick: Well, it's weird, you know. It's like we almost shouldn't be there, but at the same time, I didn't write this music intending for it only to be in like five underground stores. I grew up in an area that was kind of remote, probably an hour away from any store that had anything even remotely punk, and two hours from places that had the stuff I really wanted to get. So growing up it was really hard to get a hold of the really good records, so I'm all for commercialization from that standpoint.

Kevin: Is Tiger Army a full-time thing, or do you all work?

Nick: For the last year I've been able to do Tiger Army full time, and that's what I've always wanted. It's definitely the most important thing in my life, and it's what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Kevin: So would you say it's your goal to be able to play in a self-supporting band and not have to worry about money?

Nick: Yeah, I just want to be able to play shows, and make records...

Kevin: ...And not be homeless.

Nick: Exactly.

ND: Just going back, you mentioned the dark imagery earlier - how does the name Tiger Army fit into that, and is this darkness something you go out and seek, or is it something that has fallen into your life?

Nick: Well, I'd say a little bit of both. Darkness in poetry is something I've been into for a long time, and I guess I'm not the happiest or most well adjusted person, so there's a lot of darkness inside me as well