Introducing: Three Trapped Tigers

-

The UK seems to be a hot bed for experimental music at the moment. Last year so the rise of Fuck Buttons from a promising live band to a full fledged, Guardian backed, wonder. Tweaking the same thread of electronic influenced experimentalism are Three Trapped Tigers. A mesh of poptastic drums and scutterling keyboards are all tightly woven around a fiercely rhythmic drive. The tracks on their Myspace page have been keeping me sane during this month of solitude and financial ruin. Track ’1′ is available for download below whilst their debut EP is for sale direct from their Myspace page.

In a bid to find out a bit more about the bands roots and influences, we got Tom from the band to answer the following questions:

For people out there that have never heard of you. Give us three reasons why they should…
1. we have an alliterative tiger-based band name which makes us very fashionable
2. our myspace has a snazzy pattern which should be visually stimulating should the audio fail to please you
3. our music is catchy

Can you recall the moment when you first decided you wanted to become a musician?
Er not really. I recall a lot of time spent playing the piano as a kid, and so it didn’t really occur to me to do anything else.

Where do your songs come from? What’s your inspiration?
My songs normally come from either improvising on my own or listening to my ipod and picking 3 or 4 songs and trying to jam them into one another. After that, I go to the rest of the band who then add their layers and so by the end it doesn’t sound anything like the original ideas.

The general inspiration is to be a band that performs live electronic music that is more song-based and that still has a rock element to it. Within that, we’re always trying to do something that doesn’t sound too much like anybody else, and trying to do something interesting with form. Normally, the inspiration from other sources consists mainly in listening to other music and thinking what I could do with it.

Name your Top 5 records.
This is just speaking for myself as I’m sure the other two would disagree and speaking for right now as these things always change:
Stevie Wonder, Talking Book
Aphex Twin, Richard D. James
DJ Shadow, Endtroducing…
Bruce Springsteen, Born In The USA
Talk Talk, Spirit of Eden
These aren’t the 5 best ever, they’re just my 5 favourites at the moment.

What was the first gig you ever played and was it a success?
First rock gig I did was in a Led Zep covers band when I was 15 and yes it was a great success in that I managed to sustain a conversation with a girl for about 5 minutes after I came off stage. Lesson learned.

What one piece of criticism has stuck in your mind and was it justified?
Self-indulgence: noone wants to hear that, and it is entirely justified and still applies to some extent. In this band, it’s the hardest thing trying to keep everything balanced without it spiralling uncontrollably into improvised prog.

What one thing has caused you to waste your free time in the past 6 months?
Probably watching sport. I’ve always been a keen football, cricket, rugby follower, but 2 years ago I suddenly got into tennis quite obsessively, ie. not just Wimbledon but watching all the masters series events at whatever time of night. Fortunately, my new house doesn’t have a TV let alone Eurosport so no more of that.

If you weren’t making music, what do you think you’d be doing?
I’d like to be a sports commentator but I’d blatantly suck so it’s more likely I’d be a civil servant in the department of transport.

What’s the worst job you’ve ever had?
I’ve done a fair few office jobs which were boring but weren’t really that bad. The worst would have to be lounge pianist at the Great Northern Hotel, Peterborough. They fired me for being ‘too jazzy.’

We’d like you to make us a mix-tape. Pick five tracks with a theme of your choice.
5 great first generation synth pop tracks:
New Order, Thieves Like Us (single)
Talk Talk, Time It’s Time (The Colour of Spring)
Neil Young, Transformer Man (Trans)
Skinny Puppy, Blood on the Wall (Bites)
Kate Bush, All The Love (The Dreaming)

mp3:> Three Trapped Tigers – ’1′

Three Trapped Tigers on Myspace