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Tell me, how great of a name for a band is Miniature Tigers? It’s awesome, right? It would take a lot for the music to actually live up the name. For the LA indie band that chose that name, making the music live up to the name is the easy part. Finding and outlet for all of the songs rattling around songwriter Charlie Brand’s head is far more difficult.
I can’t describe this band any better than they do on their own website:
A few years back, taking refuge from the deadly rays of the Arizona sun, young Charlie Brand discovered he had a knack for writing songs. Wondrous melodies ricocheted around his bedroom, destroying textbooks and posters, practically bursting through the walls. Songs too big to be contained. And too dangerous. Songs with the potential to cripple civilizations.
How to channel such savage power? How to use it for good? Charlie’s path seemed clear.
He left home and set out on a journey to bring this music to the world, eventually finding himself in the wilds of Los Angeles. He had little more than a hobo sack to his name, the songs in his head and a name: Miniature Tigers. Now if only he had bandmates.
Yes, in due time he did find them. The necessary individuals appeared to Charlie in the form of gleeful wildman drummer Rick Alvin Shaier and the mysterious, yet affable, Eli Brandom.
Lineup complete, Miniature Tigers combine influences ranging from The Beatles to The Beach Boys, from “Pinkerton” to Indiana Jones, creating infectious, pitch perfect indie-pop that boldly wears its heart on its sleeve. In the world of Miniature Tigers, songs of unrequited love and relationship anxiety are transformed with animal metaphors and translated into gripping adventure narratives populated by vikings, swashbucklers, gunfighters, cannibals, undersea creatures, and dinosaurs.
The band just released their first full-length album, Tell it to the Volcano, digitally. A physical release will follow next year.
“Tell it to the Volcano”
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This, the album’s title track, sounds kind of like Jimmy Buffett and Graceland-era Paul Simon wrapped in an indie-rock package, but with tongue firmly in cheek.
“Cannibal Queen”
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The opening guitar riff reminds me of Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen”. The rest of the song sounds nothing like Stevie. Actually it sounds more like The Beach Boys. High praise I know, but deserved. Tight harmonies, a great melody, and well-crafted lyrics about love and loss recall some of Brian Wilson’s best work.
Videos
“Black Magic”
“Viking Hearts”
Links
Buy Tell It To The Volcano
MySpace
Official Site
