August 30, 2006
With their banjo-tramping traveling songs, their Carter Family slowcore, and their whispery serenades, Tiger Saw make quiet music for swelling hearts. This past New Year's Eve was their 110th show of 2005. It’s not a record: in 2004, they played 129. These aren’t just run-of-the-mill club performances, either. Last summer they did a pirate-radio-station benefit where they dragged their equipment onto the floor and headlined the Central Square VFW without a PA. And in general they tend to play venues that’re as lo-fi as their aural approach: movie theaters, coffeeshops, houses, beach bonfires, a boat floating in the Merrimack River. "As we just tried more and more things, I really gravitated to art spaces, all-ages shows, house shows, spaces where softer music would be appreciated and not engulfed by bar noise," explains Saw leader Dylan Metrano. Once they even climbed into some trees and performed an acoustic set from the branches. "People would be walking by and the trees would be singing."
-- "Soft Cell," Camille Dodero, January 13, 2006
Here at the Phoenix we've been big Tiger Saw fans for a couple years, marvelling at the ease with which Newburyport native Dylan Metrano expands, contracts, and mutates his ensemble. We've also been lurking on Dylan's blogs for a while -- it was, in fact, through one of his posts that we came across a then-unknown singer-pianist named Casey Dienel, who has been an occasional Tiger Saw member when she's not out bowling over mini-Pitchforks with Pavement covers. Today Tiger Saw kicks off a cross-country barnstorm through cafes, bars, and bed-and-breakfasts, during which the group will swell from three members to perhaps a dozen; then again, maybe not. You never know. We asked him to document the whole thing and post some mp3s and stuff, and he was gracious enough not to say no. Stay tuned . . .
Tiger Saw fall tour dates
Aug 30 2006 8:00P The Lucky Cat Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY
Sep 1 2006 3:00P Marvelous Records Philadelphia, PA
Sep 2 2006 7:00P house show Dillsburg, PA
Sep 3 2006 6:00P Kiva Han Coffeehouse Pittsburgh, PA
Sep 4 2006 8:00P Oberlin College Oberlin, OH
Sep 5 2006 8:00P Brewed Awakenings Toledo, OH
Sep 6 2006 8:00P house show Ann Arbor, MI
Sep 7 2006 8:00P Corduroys Espresso Spot Chicago, IL
Sep 9 2006 4:15P The Ruckus at The Nomad S. Minneapolis, MN
Sep 10 2006 4:00P The Bear Cave Davenport, IA
Sep 12 2006 8:00P The Ghost Parlor Manhattan, KS
Sep 15 2006 8:00P Starry Night Provo, UT
Sep 16 2006 8:00P Conor Byrne Pub Seattle, WA
Sep 17 2006 8:00P The Green House Portland, OR
Sep 18 2006 8:00P Halcyon N. Edmonds, WA
Sep 19 2006 7:00P Café Noir Salem, OR
Sep 20 2006 7:00P Mississippi Pizza Portland, OR
Sep 21 2006 8:00P Luckey's Bar Eugene, OR
Sep 22 2006 8:00P Das Gasthaus Arcata, CA
Sep 24 2006 8:00P Hotel Utah San Francisco, CA
Sep 26 2006 8:00P Applesauce Tea House Flagstaff, AZ
Sep 29 2006 8:00P house show Denton, TX
Sep 30 2006 8:00P Jesse's Bed & Breakfast Austin, TX
Oct 1 2006 8:00P Big D's BBQ Shreveport, LA
Oct 2 2006 8:00P The Gypsy Fayetteville, AR
WATCH: Tiger Saw, "It's Been Raining (Kimya Dawson cover)" (wmv video)
August 10, 2006
Damn. I've bought more music while spending 2 days in the Bay than the whole rest of the tour. (If we made it to the Screw shop in Houston, things might've been different.) San Fran show is tonight, and don't forget about the in-store at Turntable Lab's LA store. I finally get to see how the other coast lives!
August 08, 2006
We ate at a Mexican joint in Seattle called Bimbo's, which was named after this man (Francisco Martinez Bimbo), who was clearly the 15th century equivalent
of Chuck Norris.
Four of CSS' members have become
extremely infatuated with Christianity. At the start of the tour, I took all their talk about "Little G-Zuz" as a
weird inside joke, but it's spiraled into something much deeper. When we eat meals together, they insist on saying grace; when we check out of a hotel, it's
not uncommon to get on the bus and see them all reading from copies of the Gideon Bibles that you find in bedside drawers. Lovefoxxx and drummer Adriano are
clearly as disturbed as I am about all this, but don't dare say anything lest the other girls shoot them dirty looks. Ana even insisted that Adriano cover
his kick drum in religious stickers that she got from a vending machine. They've even asked Wes to stop projecting the Mad Decent "Jesus" logo on the video
screen during the show. All I'm saying is: the second album might be a little different.
The Nike employee store in Portland is
insane. Huge, huge shout to our girl Ann-Marie and all the Nike (and Blue Ribbon!) dudes who came out to the
show. We got so much stuff that we have to ship it back to the East Coast from Cali.
Portland goes hard on a Monday night. Damn.
Pedro from Bonde may or may not be Baby Bash.
This girl's boob was wet.
There's a really cool article about Scott Walker in the new
Magnet.
Even with the prospect of 3 days in San Francisco looming before me, I think we can safely declare Vancouver the gayest city on the tour. At first, we
thought it was the combination of it being gay pride week and the show being at Celebrities, one of the city's most popular gay clubs. But more than a few
Vancouver residents confided the truth to us: it's like that
all year round.
Listen, I'm 'bout to go disappear in the Yay Area. If you don't hear from me, I ghostrode the whip too hard and fractured my hyphybone.
ALSO: Marina got more x-rays in Seattle, and it's worse than we thought. When the bone dislocated, she tore a ligament, so she'll need surgery when
she gets back to Brazil. As you can imagine, we at Mad Decent are not quite on top of our health insurance game, so please kindly
hit up the x-ray auction if you want to help.
August 08, 2006
Diplo models CSS' stylish new hats.
Pedro models Marina's shorts.
Went to the Nike employee store today... holy shit.. more on that tomorrow.
Three days off in the Bay after tonight! Yeeeeeee! If anyone knows a good strip club, holler at the bol.
August 04, 2006
The satellite TV on the bus crapped out about a week into the tour, so all we have to watch is the first season of
The Cosby Show on DVD. I have no problem with this whatsoever, and Wes says it's helping the Brazilians learn about American culture. Not to mention the jazz music. We had a big listening session today with all the demos we've accumulated to this point on the tour, and this was the dopest thing to fall into our hands:
Seeds of Concrete - "Roll Call (Demo)"
I don't know anything about these dudes, except they're from Dallas and their producer handed me their demo CD at the show in Denton, TX. But that
Munsters sample is so ill! If you wanna get in touch with them boys, hit
princemoney (at) gmail.com. And if you guys are reading this, hollerify.
UPDATE: I found
their MySpace.
Otherwise, we had a really nice, chill day off in Great Falls, Montana. Even in the Motel 6 parking lot, the air was cleaner and more refreshing than I could ever hope for in Brooklyn. There were signs all over reminding us of what a crazy problem meth still is out in mountain country, and people looked at us funny pretty much everywhere. Didn't help that Wes tried to jump a moving train, hobo style.
August 04, 2006
Well, not the arm itself, but for the x-rays of said arm.
You can
check the listing and bid here, if you're inclined to do such things.
We got a day off in Vancouver and we're gonna hit
Paul Devro's release party. Back tomorrow.
August 01, 2006
All-picture post today, from the camera of Diplo:
DJ Gorky, Amanda Blank & Rjd2 in Philly
Marina & DJ Chill in Houston
Jimmy, our trusty bus operator
Pedro & Gorky backstage at Pitchfork
Marina's x-ray - see how the bone is popped out of the socket on the left? That's not how bones should be.
