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Tiger
Army, Bettie Rage, Dragstrip Demons, Barnyard Ballers |
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For that reason, and a whole lot of others, I completely missed
out on Tiger Army until I finished with graduate school (and it
finished with me) in 1999, but it took me until 2001 to finally
see the band live. Opening for the band were a trio of utterly forgettable bands. I really can't get anywhere on time, so we missed the Barnyard Ballers, I think. Next up were the Dragstrip Demons, but we missed them too. Unfortunately, we arrived just in time to hear Bettie Rage, who was terrible. There aren't enough bad things to say about this band, so I won't try. We fled immediately for the cover of the foyer, where we could mingle and pretend that there wasn't some dreadful band playing cover songs on stage. Really, they were awful, and we weren't the only ones who thought so, judging by the way everyone just stood around waiting for them to finish. At 11:00pm the towel boy came on stage and put out nice clean towels out for the band, which I guess means that they sweat a lot. Hank Williams "Angel of Death" started playing over the p.a. system, which proves that psychobilly still owes everything it is and ever will be to a man who could be the father of goth himself, Hank Sr. Any band that pays tribute to Hank is a-okay in my book.
Leading off with the Tiger Army Theme, the band played a mix of tunes from their first album (self-titled) and their newest release "II: Power of Moonlight, as well as one by the Nekromantix (and dedicated to them). Set highlights included "Power of Moonlight," "Nocturnal," "Valley of Dreams," "Cupid's Victim," (the ultimate Valentine's Day song?) and FTW (a truly great punk anthem), as well as Never Die. The band closed with Never Die, then after a very short break, came back out again for an encore - encouraged by the audience chanting "Never Die" and pumping their fists in the air. That's really what I like to see, as long as it's not choreographed for a video.
Sometimes I can't take Tiger Army seriously because they're not dirty, desperate punks like the ones I knew living in the Brea Hotel in 1985. Those boys were dangerous punks, and if they visited graveyards, it was probably because they really needed a place to sleep. These boys in Tiger Army have perfect hair, and when they sing about "the sepulchre of my heart" it's a little hard to believe that it's not all posturing. Nick 13 folds his bandanna in a perfect three-corner in his pocket, and the towel boy keeps bringing out clean towels for the band to use. But the music is raw and desperate and anthemic, and when they sing "this is what I am" in "Valley of Dreams" they seem to really believe it. So perhaps we should too. - Wanda 2/02 |
Tiger
Army
Finally
the band took the stage and played a forty-five minute set, which
in no way lived up to the quality of their albums. You can't be
angry that the studio albums are so good, but once you're used to
the quality of the production, and extras like 
Although
I haven't seen Tiger Army before, I can't help but see an obvious
comparison to the