With the release of 2016’s full-length debut Abstract Figures in the Dark, the Brighton-based rock trio Tigercub — Jamie Hall (vocals, guitar), Jamies Allix (drums) and Jimi Wheelwright (bass) — exploded into the scene, with the band quickly earning praise for dynamic songwriting and a bruising sound influenced by a diverse range of influences including Led Zeppelin, Slipknot, Sonic Youth and Frédéric Chopin.
The Brighton-based trio’s acclaimed sophomore album, As Blue As Indigo saw the band broadening the massive sonic palette that won them attention while incorporating a deeply personal introspection with lyrics that thematically explored anxiety, depression, toxic masculinity, the death of Hall’s grandmother and the suicide of a close friend. As Blue As Indigo turned out to be the British outfit’s breakthrough: The album rose to #11 on the UK Albums Charts while receiving praise from the international media, including Guitar.com and Kerrang!
The trio supported the album with an extensive touring schedule that included a sold-out UK headline tour, dates with longtime friends Royal Blood and a North American run with Clutch and Eyehategod. Last summer saw the band celebrating its signing to Stone Gossard‘s Loosegroove Records with sets at Reading and Leeds — and an opening slot for Pearl Jam during their two-night run at London’s BST Hyde Park.
The band’s third album, the recently released The Perfume of Decay sees the band confidently embracing all the contradictions, counterpoints and catharsis of modern-day rock. “It’s all about opposites,” Tigercub’s Jamie Hall says. “Sweet-and-salty popcorn tends to taste better than regular popcorn, even though those are two opposing forces. I wanted to nail that concept with our heavy guitars, softer-sung vocals, Can-style grooves, and a bit of shoegaze. Counterpoints can come together and make a powerful connection. I’ve crossed the threshold from my 20s to my 30s, so I’m getting older, but I’m also entering my prime. This record is a reflection of that.”
The album sees Tigercub’s frontman drawing the curtains shut to embrace a moody, nocturnal sound. “The Perfume of Decay is set at night,” says Jamie Hall. “It was written at night, I recorded all the vocals at night, and it is at night when my thoughts race and uneasiness pours through me like running water. Under the glimmer of moonlight, my apprehension ebbs and flows like the tide and it doesn’t stop until the morning. Perfume is a diary of my emotional journey from dusk to dawn, an anxiety-fueled voyage through the storm. Lyrically, at points, it is almost a stream of consciousness. I sat up late and wrote the words down as they flashed before my eyes.
“I use my songwriting as a form of catharsis,” he adds, “a tool to examine my anxiety and insecurity about growing older and how those emotions seem to lead me towards turmoil. I pour those feelings into my lyrics and only then can I move on from them.”
The album’s latest single “Show Me My Maker” is a swaggering, arena rock banger built around enormous, overdrive-fueled, Soundgarden-like power chords, thunderous drumming paired with enormous hooks and a nihilistic refrain. Play it loud, it’s Friday, y’all — and it’s time to headbang.
“‘Show Me My Maker’ speaks for itself,” Pearl Jam’s and Loosegroove Records head Stone Gossard says. “This song has classic guts. The opening cobra strikes of a guitar riff… it’s seriously in the running for ‘mother of all riffs’ to the nihilistic exultation of the chorus refrain. I love it. Thank you Tigercub.”
Fittingly, for such a 90s grunge-inspired song, the accompanying video for “Show Me My Maker” is shot in what appears to be grainy and processed Super 8 and features the members of the band performing the song in a bare studio.
Tigercub has embarked on a lengthy international tour. The remaining tour dates are below.
TIGERCUB – LIVE 2023
SEPTEMBER
16 – Camden, NJ – MMR*B*Q 2023 †
21 – Louisville, KY – Louder Than Life †
23 – Clarkston, MI – 101.1 WRIF Presents Riff Fest 2023 †
OCTOBER
8 – Sacramento, CA – Aftershock †
20 – Brighton, UK – CHALK
21 – Stoke-on-Trent, UK – The Sugarmill
22 – Birmingham, UK – Asylum
23 – Gloucester, UK – Gloucester Guildhall
24 – Oxford, UK – The Bullingdon
26 – Nottingham, UK – Rock City
27 – London, UK – O2 Academy Islington
28 – Milton Keynes, UK – The Craufurd Arms
30 – Bristol, UK – The Fleece
31 – Sheffield, UK – The Leadmill
NOVEMBER
1 – Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK – The Cluny
2 – Glasgow, UK – King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut
4 – Leeds, UK – The Key Club
5 – Manchester, UK – Gorilla
6 – Cambridge, UK – The Junction
7 – Portsmouth, UK – The Wedgewood Rooms
† FESTIVAL PERFORMANCE
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