Cool interview with Nick of Tiger Army from Suicide Girls.
Rockabilly band Tiger Army has been through a hell of a lot in the past year. They ended a tour at the end of last December and another tour just ended in May plus their drummer, Fred Hell, was shot four times.
I got a chance to talk with, Nick-13, guitarist and lead vocalist of Tiger Army about their new album III: Ghost Tigers Rise, letting go of the reins a bit and General Mills' powerful hold on his life.
Check out Tiger Army's official website
Daniel Robert EpsteiN: What does the title III: Ghost Tigers Rise mean? Is it like a kung fu movie?
Nick-13: I thought you were going to ask me an easy question.
DRE: It is easy!
N: It's largely symbolic of what happened to our drummer because he was shot last year.
DRE: How is Fred doing?
N: He's doing really well. We've done two pretty long tours since it happened and he sounds really good behind the drum kit.
DRE: You sound a bit out of it.
N: I guess I'm always a bit out of it.
DRE: What made you decide to cover Morrissey's "The Loop" for the vinyl?
N: I'm a Morrissey fan and he had that rockabilly period in the early 90's. The Loop is one of those songs that would fall into that category so it seemed a natural song for us to play.
DRE: What made you put that song only on the vinyl?
N: The label approached us about doing a picture disc EP and we thought it was a cool idea but we wanted to make it special for collectors. I wasn't really into putting a cover song on the album but we did it for fun and that seemed like the place for it.
DRE: So you don't mind the rockabilly label at all?
N: We're definitely part of the psychobilly subculture and I don't see being associated with that genre as a restrictive thing. As a style it draws on so many elements and we do a few things that aren't standard but I don't find it limiting.
DRE: Do you like other bands that are in that genre?
N: The older stuff is one of the things I'm into but I think it's one of the few styles of music where the new stuff is vital and all the good stuff isn't necessarily in the past. A lot of newer bands are doing really good stuff.
DRE: Do you guys all go to the same barber?
N: It depends. Fred does his own hair at this point and I'm not sure about Geoff [Kresge]. I'm kind of in-between barbers myself. Right now my hair is a little longer than it usually is but I'm going to get it cut right before we do a video at the end of the month.
DRE: Which song is the video for?
N: Rose of the Devil's Garden.
DRE: Who is directing the video?
N: This will be the first video I am not directing for us. A friend of mine named Vince Haycock. He's done a video for the band Him and some others.
DRE: Did you help come up with the concept for it?
N: He wrote the treatment for it, came up with the general concepts then he and I refined it from there.
DRE: Why aren't you directing?
N: With the last one I thought it was a little too much work to be on both sides of the camera at once. I am hands on and I want to be involved but it was too much stress.
DRE: Was it difficult to hand over the reins to someone else?
N: A little bit but I was able to do that because I trust Vince. In a situation where i trust someone else I can do that but if I don't have that sense then I can't let go.
DRE: Will you direct the next one?
N: I don't think so. I would always have to work with a director who would let me be involved unless I really trusted their vision. If Anton Corbijn wanted to direct one of our videos I would be fine with that but anyone short of that would have to let me have my input.
DRE: What is it you think you do different than other bands?
N: I see a lot of bands that are comfortable letting other people make decisions for them in terms of their music and how they are represented visually. But we are very hands on with everything we do whether it's in the studio, videos or anything. We are pretty much actively involved with everything to do with the band, which is not really the norm.
DRE: Are you psyched about the Warped Tour?
N: Yeah, we did 15 shows on the 2002 Warped Tour and traveled in a van, which sucked because the load in is at 8:30 am and then we would have to travel for eight to ten hours. We slept in the van while it was moving for two weeks. That's not super fun, though the shows were cool. This time we are doing a month and we'll be on a bus. It would have been nice to share with someone but we didn't find the right band.
DRE: Why not?
N: When you share a bus with somebody you have to have at least met with them and everyone we know already had their situation taken care of. It's a really small space to share with someone and if you don't get along with them then it's a really bad situation.
DRE: What do you like about the Warped Tour?
N: Two of the drawbacks are that I hate being outside and I hate the sun. Generally though there are a lot of friends in bands that you don't get to hang out with a lot who will be on the tour. There is a lot of time to hang out because you only play for a half hour and then the rest of the time is yours to kill. It's cool to check out the other bands that are playing because when I'm home I don't go to shows unless it's something I'm really into or a good friend's band. It's cool to see what's going on out there and come across some stuff you might not come across otherwise.
DRE: Is there anyone you're excited to see?
N: I'm not exactly sure who is going to be on the tour when we are because it rotates so much. I'm sure there will be something.
DRE: The Punks vs. Psychos tour seemed like a great gig.
N: Yeah it was a good time. We got to play in some parts of the country we haven't toured in that much, even though we've done several tours, our routing has always missed Texas and other parts of the south. It was cool to finally be able to play club shows in some of those states.
We stopped at Sun Records in Memphis which was really cool.
DRE: Do they have lots of Elvis stuff around?
N: Yeah and a lot of other people I'm into recorded there, like Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis. Other guys tpoo who weren't as well known such as Warren Smith and Billy Lee Riley. I'm really into the sound of that studio.
DRE: How are all of you getting along?
N: Good but its nice to be back off the road. We didn't tour a whole lot in 2003. 2003 was about getting ready to do the new record, then recording and the shooting.
DRE: I read you're really into old monster movies.
N: I'm into horror movies in general but I'm into the 30's through the 60's. I'm not into 60's, 70's horror movies or gore films.
I'm into the atmosphere that a lot of the early horror movies had. If there is something that comes out these days that seems like it won't suck then I'll watch it. There are certain classics from the 70's and 80's I like such as the first Friday the 13th, Halloween and stuff like that but in general I think horror really lost something when it went to color. It's not that I can't handle seeing gore but it's more that it's kind of stupid and boring rather than creepy or eerie.
DRE: What are your favorite horror movies?
N: I'm a big Bela Lugosi fan like The Black Cat, Dracula and White Zombie are my favorite films of his. Hitchcock's Psycho and Carnival of Souls also.
DRE: Did you get those new versions of Dracula, Wolfman and Frankenstein they put out?
N: Yeah, I was bummed they were out of print for so long. I think it's kind of sad they had to tie them into Van Helsing. Those movies are important enough on their own without having to be tied into this crappy would-be summer blockbuster.
DRE: I read some article where you were obsessing over Frankenberry cereal. Was that reporter exaggerating?
N: No I'm pretty into the monster cereals. For a long time on the west coast you couldn't get Frankenberry cereal but other places had it. Geoff is into it as well and we collect some of the monster character stuff. Any time we're on tour we always find some and bring it home.
DRE: I bought Boo Berry and I thought it was really disgusting. It didn't taste like food.
N: [laughs] That's not a bad thing.
DRE: Isn't there a fourth one?
N: There were actually five. The ones they still make are Frankenberry, Boo Berry and Count Chocula. There was one in the 70's called Fruit Brute. The boxes from the 70's is worth like a $1000.
DRE: What about a full box?
N: Probably like a million dollars, naw I don't know.
Then there was another one from the 1980's called Fruity Yummy Mummy.
DRE: Did that taste good?
N: I never had Yummy Mummy. Geoff said it tastes like Fruit Loops with marshmallows in it.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
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