THE REPUBLIC TIGERS TAKE NEW YORK, TWICE
Five guys from Kansas City, Missouri are in a van headed here to New York City and you should care.
“Why?” you ask.
Because this five-piece outfit is a band on the verge of big things. The Republic Tigers are on their very first tour, a two-week jaunt around the east coast (supporting Tally Hall). Their infectiously modern folk-pop debut album comes out May 6. In June, they will be on David Letterman and tour with Brooklyn’s big indie underdog Nada Surf. Yes, without a proper album out yet, The Republic Tigers’ songs are solid enough to accomplish this much so far.
Fronted by Kenn Jankowski, the former lead guitarist for the sadly defunct Golden Republic, The Republic Tigers are concocting addictive pop confections. Infusing acoustic elements (guitar, accordion) with electronic layering (synths, laptop looping) is nothing new (think Postal Service, Helio Sequence, Mobius Band), but these guys are making it all sound new again. Think along the lines of “The Man Who” era Travis meets modern day Air, or of albums by Nada Surf (“Let Go”) and the Album Leaf (“In a Safe Place”) somehow melted together in the front seat of Turin Brakes’ tour van.
“I think we all really like to think we sort of cut our own niche, a sort of dreamy, dark indie pop music with an ethereal backdrop,” says lead guitarist Adam McGill. “I don’t know how describe it exactly. One person said future folk, I kinda like that.”
Song themes run from a friend overdosing and dying in a hospital bed to the complexities of more sophisticated times as with their first single “Buildings and Mountains” (see below).
“To me, it seems like it’s sort of hitting on how modern life is filled with all these mundane chores and tasks that we all go through whether it be eating or doing laundry or whatever,” says McGill. “There’s all these things our lives consist of and at one point they were very organic and we actually did them ourselves. Now everything is pre-manufactured and we don’t take the time to do the things we want to do. We’re so dependent on technology and things that we didn’t have 50 or 60 years ago. I feel like the song is trying to get that point across, just addressing the subject of modern life and how distant we are from what we used to be and maybe sort of yearning to get back to it, but maybe not.”
On the road, the band all agreeably listen to Air, Blonde Redhead (“That band has so much sex appeal, it’s retarded.”) and Radiohead in constant rotation, and perk up at purchasing an old Atari Flashback for $30 at a random pawn shop.
The Republic Tigers might be under-the-radar now, but don’t expect things to stay that way when their debut album Keep Color comes out next month. It’s only fitting that their first single “Buildings and Mountains” opens with, “We’ve been waiting all our lives for things we’ve always had, but have no eyes to see. Something new is going to happen, the most natural thing but nothing we’d expect.”
The Republic Tigers open for Tally Hall tonight at Southpaw along with Jukebox the Ghost, and do the same Tuesday at Bowery Ballroom with Tally Hall and Ravens and Chimes.
The Republic Tigers Spring 2008 tour:
Apr 15 Bowery Ballroom New York, New YorkApr 16 The North Star Bar Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Apr 17 DC9, Washington DC
Apr 19 Gloria Logan Auditorium @ Salem High School, Canton, Michigan
May 2 Tribeca Film Festival - Webster Hall New York, New York
May 12 KCRW "Morning Becomes Eclectic" Los Angeles, California
May 13 Spaceland Los Angeles, California
May 22 David Letterman New York, New York
Jun 1 The Social w/ Nada Surf Orlando, Florida
Jun 2 Studio A w/ Nada Surf Miami, Florida
Jun 3 State Theatre w/ Nada Surf St. Petersburg, Florida
Jun 5 Mercy Lounge w/ Nada Surf Nashville, Tennessee
Jun 6 TBA w/ Nada Surf Memphis, Tennessee
Jun 7 Bluebird w/ Nada Surf St. Louis, Missouri
Jun 9 The Music Mill w/ Nada Surf Indianapolis, Indiana
Jun 10 The Basement w/ Nada Surf Columbus, Ohio
Jun 11 Beachland Ballroom & Tavern w/ Nada Surf Cleveland, Ohio
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Johnny Fibonacci says
great band, can't wait to see them play tonight! It's rad they got booked for Letterman too.congratulations guys.