Tigercity Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 1:30PM by Angie Rayfield
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Like many bands, Tigercity has gone through several lineup changes. Each member has added something new to the mix, contributing to the sound that AV Club described as "a Hall and Oates meets Prince that's somehow devoid of any nudge-nudge-wink-wink irony." Bassist Joel Ford spoke to Spinner -- with an assist from singer Bill Gillim -- before heading to Austin for SXSW.

Describe your sound in your own words.

I think we have a lot of different sounds. It's kind of all over the place some of the time, but we tend to put ourselves under some sort of combination of pop music, '70s and '80s rock, somewhere in there.

How did your band form?

It's kind of a meandering story. I started the band with a guy that's not in it anymore. I graduated from college, and then Bill, our singer, was in. We moved to New York, added some guys, changed drummers, changed some things around.

What are your musical influences?

We all kind of come from different places musically. We all listen to so much different music, it's not like there's one. Each person brings something different to the band. We love all sorts of music. When we started writing Tigercity, we were listening to a lot of disco, and that was an early influence for us. We were really into Prince, and Chic. The Cars.

How did you come up with your band name?

It's like, not worth mentioning. It has no real meaning or bearing on our lives. We just liked the sound of it.

What's your biggest vice?

We have no vices. We are perfect human beings. Everyone should aspire to be like Bill and I - the other dudes, maybe not not so much.

What's in your festival survival kit?

Advil. No, Excedrin, because it's a little speedier than Advil. Cab fare. Hotel room key. And the ability to consume large amounts of barbecue and Mexican food.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Aerial, from 'The Little Mermaid.' It was the first movie I'd seen in a theater, and I was really confused and not understanding anything. I was just really super young. It was, like, the first grade. I took a girl with me and my parents dropped me off.

You had a date in the first grade?

Yeah, I guess I did. Apparently Aerial was hotter than my date.

What's your musical guilty pleasure? Is there someone you listen to that you hate to admit?

I'm really pretty much over that. We're not pretentious dudes. The closest thing to that for me is a terrible Miley Cyrus song -- 'Party in the USA.' It's a jam.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Craziest thing? We had a couple days off and went to Mexico. We got stopped by the police, they had machine guns. We were drunk for like three days. We stayed in a solar powered beach house, we got stuck in a sand dune and this dude pulled us out with his truck. It was out of control.

Was there an 'a-ha' moment when you realized you wanted to be a musician? A moment when you picked up a guitar and said, 'This is it?'

Kind of, yeah. It wasn't like a conscious thing. In sixth grade, I got a guitar because I thought Kurt Cobain was cool, and had a race with my friends to see who could learn 'Teen Spirit' the fastest.

If you were stranded on a desert island and had to choose, would you listen to Miley Cyrus or Britney Spears?

That's really hard. I don't think I know more than one Miley Cyrus song, so I think I'm going to go with Britney Spears by default. I know more of the songs and could sing along. If it's the person and not the music, though, I'd go with Miley Cyrus. Once she's old enough to be stranded on a desert island, anyway.

Is there a question that you've always hoped someone would ask in an interview, but never does? And, of course, what's the answer to the question?

Joel: That's funny. My best friend from childhood used to interview himself in the shower all the time. I used to think that was amazing and overkill. Now we're both in music and getting interviewed, and he's really well-spoken, and I'm like, "Uh...um...um."

Bill: Would you like to take this $100 bill from my hand? Would you like my bank account instead of yours? The answer, of course, is yes.

Joel: Would you like my sandwich? Would you like to eat the rest of this? We're still firmly in the starving artist category.

What's coming up for you?

We're going back out and have a lot of shows lined up -- they're posted on our MySpace page. And we just started a tumblr account and we're going to start posting tracks there. That's brand new, you heard it here first. A scoop for you. It's tigercity.tumblr.com.

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