Tiger! S---! Tiger! Tiger! Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 6:43AM by Veronica Amador
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In support of 'Whispers,' this March Tiger! S---! Tiger! Tiger! will perform three shows in Austin, Texas, during South by Southwest (SXSW) and three shows in New York City. Spinner was able to catch Giovanna, Nicola and Diego for a chat about the band's past, present and future.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Diego: Raw, straight-in-your-face songs coming from a broken childhood, "I-feel-like-I-want-to-dance-and kick-your-ass-all-at-the-same-time."

How did your band form?

Giovanna: Nicola is my brother, Diego is our best friend and all together we are Tiger! S---! Tiger! Tiger!

Diego: And we live in this awful little town in Italy. Hey, if you live in Olympia and you'd like to share your floor with us, let us know!

What are your musical influences?

Diego: We grew up listening to '90s American indie rock bands such as Built to Spill, Sonic Youth, Fugazi, Pavement and almost all the records we could find from the Kill Rock Stars' catalogue. Nicola and Giovanna also listened tons of British pop music and obscure post punk bands. We're now obsessed with Abe Vigoda.

How did you come up with your band name?

Giovanna: Accidentally! It sounded good and we immediately decided that it was the one.

Diego: There is a story behind it! There was this weird Indian guy who shared a lot of cool stuff via Audiogalaxy (a p2p software), and he told me continuously that he was so terrified of tigers' s---. Our band's first name came from a Cap'n Jazz song.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

Nicola: Kelis' and Beyonce's complete discography, is that enough?

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

Diego: Once we intentionally broke our instruments during a show and suddenly a drunken guy threw a big microwave at us. The crowd fell silent and three bouncers carted him away. Two weeks later we saw him at a show and he asked us for an autograph on his broken hand. Oh, and Giovanna got the swine flu in New York City last year!

How is touring different from country to country? What challenges do you face? How are the fans different?

Diego: We really learned our lesson! There's a cultural gap between your country and ours. Maybe it's all about attitudes. Here in Italy people don't care about live music, because they only wait for the after-show. That's it. So sad. The rest of the European crowd is warm and more interested in seeing a band play live. Spain and Germany are great places to play. It's so great just to be out there!

Tell us about booking your first big show. How did it feel?

Diego: We played with Ari Up and the Slits at the Blueghost Publicity CMJ Showcase, and it was rad! A lot of people came to see us play. It was our first gig in the U.S., and we got to share the stage with the one of the most important female musicians in post-punk history!

Giovanna: It was one of our first gigs. Nicola had to replace the drummer of an Italian band, and they asked us to play with them in Milan.

Nicola: It was terrific because the club was crowded, wet! For us, this was great because before that night we always used to play in small clubs!

What does it mean for you to be performing at SXSW?

T!S!T!T!: Being able to travel to other countries and play music is rad. It's a dream come true! We were supposed to play last year but since we did not have a CD ready, we decided to postpone our trip until 2010. We are going to do our best to get recognition in the US. Come to see us at the Soho Lounge March 19!

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