Mini-Interview: Tigers Can Bite You

If you've caught any of Tigers Can Bite You's live performances over the last six months here in LA, you're probably looking forward to their upcoming album as much as I am.

I know for a fact I'm not alone in this because I've heard a handful of people complain that the band really needs to put more tracks up on their myspace page -- and that should at least serve as anecdotal evidence of the musical arrows they've been putting through our hearts lately...

So, I checked in with two members of this local indie pop act -- singer/guitarist Dave Woody and drummer Byron Reynolds -- to find out when their cd was, like, coming out or something.

Hell. What's new, guys?

Well, we recently got kicked out of our rehearsal space, so now were doing the band equivalent of couch surfing.

How long has Tigers Can Bite You been around now? How did it start up? What's the name from?

Byron: Dave and I had talked about trying to play music together about 2 years ago, but it wasn't until about a year ago that we actually started practicing with Sammy, and then another six months before we told Andrew he was going to play bass in the band and started playing shows. I think we've still only played a total of six or seven shows.

The band was originally called janmichaelvincent, but Sammy hated the name. We all tried coming up with new names, but it wasn't until Dave posted a picture of a tiger biting a shark on MySpace with a caption that said "Tigers Can Bite You," that we decided that would be the new name.

Plus, we all really like yogurt.

Dave, people speak really highly of your last band Fiver. For those who haven't heard of it before, what was its story?

Dave: We were all kids who grew up in Modesto, CA. Most of our friends had left for college, so we started a band. We were on Devil In The Woods for a few years. That's actually how I met most of my friends down here in Los Angeles, from touring and all that.

I liked the whole organic process of that band. It was just a really natural process from beginning to end, so I guess TCBY is just the next evolutionary step.

What are the backgrounds of the other members of TCBY?

Dave:Byron is half-Japanese and is from Burbank. Sammy grew up in the valley and I think she's half-Canadian. Andrew and I both grew up in Modesto and we are caucasians.

We've all played different instruments with various LA bands. Byron played drums for Possum Dixon and he's playing with Sea Wolf now, too. Andrew plays drums in Space Mtn and Sammy's played with Earlimart.

I think I remember you saying that you were done recording an album with the band, right?

Dave: Almost. All the basic tracks are done. We just need to put some finishing touches on it and mix it.

What was the process like recording it? Where did you do it? Who produced it?

Dave: We recorded it at our old rehearsal space At King Size Sound with Josiah from Light FM. It's a mixture of studio and home recording.

We like to keep recording as quick and painless as possible. Josiah is pretty fast at
getting sounds, so we just play the song a few times and take the best one.

Hopefully it sounds a lot like what we do live, except you can hear
everything really good.

What's next for you guys? Any plans to tour?

Dave: Finish the record, keep playing shows. Maybe once the record is done start playing out of town.

As far as touring goes, I'd like to do a tour where we play at the rehearsal space every night and we have a video crew go to different cities. Kind of an iChat tour. Also, learn some Def Leppard covers.

Last question: What other LA bands are you liking right now?

Streaming, Owl Owl, Light FM, Tables and Chairs, and Wrong Way Driver.

And I know I'm a little late on this discovery, but Francine Dancer is hypnotic.

That's it. Thanks for your time, guys.

RELATED LINKS:
- Rough Stuff demo track (You Send It link - expires in one week)