People of Earth,

Thank you for your ongoing hospitality. Here is some news. Read it at your leisure but there will be a test on Friday so make sure you get through it by then.

A quick bit of trivia to begin. What is the closest U.S. State to Africa?

I know, I thought it was what you're probably thinking of too. Turns out it's not. What a scam.

SO...we're slimming down on gigs while we write and record a new album, especially from June to August, but there are a few until complete radio silence begins.


TWO FREE THURSDAYS AT THE SPOTTED MALLARD
We're playing a mini-residency, if two in a month qualifies. It must be borderline. One show is obviously not a residency. Three is. Two? It's that uncomfortable middle ground, like when one of you goes for the kiss on the cheek and the other goes for the hug and then it's awkward. It's like that. Anyway we're playing Thursday 8 and Thursday 29. Details.

We're recording our third album this year and we'll be debuting, 'test-driving' if you will, plenty of the new material at these two shows. We're very excited about sharing the new songs with you. We've been writing up a storm. We've been accidentally straying into all sorts of dangerous genres. I wrote a 90s rock song yesterday. Tobes wrote a bluegrass song. Good times.

Support for the 8th comes from Jane's new folk duo with Kelly Day (who, with Jane, makes up exactly one half of The Nymphs). They have a name now too: Broads. Definitely worth catching, they're terrific. I saw them support Adrian Edmonson recently at The Thornbury Theatre. It was well good.


THIS SATURDAY 3rd AT SOOKI LOUNGE (Trio Show)
We slimmed down to trio form for a recent Tiny Ruins support show and it went very well so we've decided to bring that format back into the roster occasionally. It's a little more folky and a little less epic. Different strokes for different people. We're giving it another run at a beautiful venue out in Belgrave called Sooki Lounge. Details.


MAY 1ST AT AIM
For any future music students out there we're playing a half-hour set at the Australia Institute of Music information night tomorrow (Thursday). Check that out if you're looking at a course there.Details.


WEEKEND IN BRISBANE
Good people of Brisbane we cannot stay away. We play four shows in three days on the weekend of June 7/8, including a Caxton St Festival with a great line-up of bands. Show dates are here, more details to come in the next week or so.


PARTY
Huge thanks to everyone who came out (and dressed up!) to our 1929 party. You all looked incredible. Especially Jane in her magical futuristic deco playsuit. But especially everyone.



Good then. That's the lot. Any complaints on the quality of these mailouts may be directed to Tobes, because, as ever, I hold him accountable for my actions, even the ones for which he is not responsible, which is all of them.

Ade and The Tiger & Me

Hello everyone and a belated Happy New Year, may all of your years be graced with the strength of a thousand oxen (old Russian proverb), (not really).

We have a bit to get through. First things first, we'll do the gig announcements, then some cross promo, then most importantly we'll discuss the case of the missing Fez.


SHOWS

Our last Melbourne show until April is next Friday 7th at Flying Saucer Club. All details HERE, or Facebook event HERE. We're trying to write a new album so gigs will be a little thinner on the ground than last year, although we do have Port Fairy and Blue Mountains Festivals coming up in March.

We're attempting to expand our Western frontier beyond Adelaide in Feb; we're heading to Perth and Fremantle for some shows. Details on our website. All West Australians are invited. Please bring your mining money.


CROSS PROMO

THE NYMPHS
I'm sure many of you are familiar with Jane's other band The Nymphs. They're not just a band, they're a state of mind and a way of life. I just made that up but Nymphs you can use it if you like. They're extremely good and they're launching their extremely good debut album in Feb and March with a tour. I happen to be in a position to get my hands on an early-release copy, largely because I took one from Jane's desk when she wasn't here, and I can tell you it's amazing. Henry Wagons recorded and mixed twelve of the tracks (and does a cheeky guest vocal on the final track), and Steven Schram (producer of our last record The Drifter's Dawn) produced and mixed two of the tracks. Highly recommended for all ages and states of mind/ways of life.

COMPOSING WEBSITE
In other cross-promotion, I have just launched my composer website. There's lots of tiger stuff on there but there's also my concert music, some screen music and various other bits and pieces, including a preview of a solo album I'll release this year. The album is the inevitable culmination of my obsession with Poe's Raven: an album that sets the entire poem, word for word, to music.


FEZ!

Many of you will have noticed that our electric guitar player Fez is no longer gracing The Tiger & Me stage. It is time to announce that Fez and The Tiger & Me have parted ways. If you would like gossip about a band-member leaving involving backstage violence, heated arguments, on-stage animosity and creative differences then BUCKLE UP AND- no just kidding; you have come to the wrong place. Fez runs a business that could no longer bend to the odd schedule of a touring musician. He's a fantastic guitar player and highly creative musician, and we publicly wish him the very best for the next chapter and thank him for his playing, stage presence, amazing falsetto backing vocals, songwriting, and of course, beard. He is irreplaceable, so rather than get a new guitar player we have restructured slightly and scaled things back to a five-piece, sometimes expanding to six with our regular guest trumpeter Audrey. Okay. I think I will do a Fez montage. Yep, I'm going to. Here it is.

THANKS FOR A GREAT YEAR.
YOU LOVELY PEOPLE.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

We meet again, whoever you are...

(that is from The Simpsons movie)

(it is a shoutout to Sarah, our drummer)

(she speaks in Simpsons movie quotes as a matter of course)

(this bracket formatting is lame and has to stop)


As has become custom we here at The Tiger & Me Inc. Pty. Ltd Asap. Rspca. Scuba like to give away a track or two at the end of the year to say thank you for coming to shows, buying CDs, appreciating the architectural wonder that is Tristan's fantastic hair and generally supporting the band. As such we've prepared a two-track download with some artwork for you for the princely sum of $0.

2013 has been good to us. I won't go over the highlights and lowlights in text form, although I may (will) link to a hilarious (hilarious) photo montage for the year in pictures at the bottom of this email.

One highlight was the (unanticipated) amount of attention that our ballad and album closer Other Friends Have Flown Before received, so with that in mind, track one of the two-track download here is the original demo that I took to the band. I was all for leaving it off the album, but they convinced me that it was in fact much better than the track I had planned to close the album with, which apparently wasn't particularly terrific at all. They were more diplomatic about it...

Here's my original recording, with all lyrics taken directly from a stanza of Poe's The Raven. We later altered the lyrics to fit, but left some lines unchanged.

Track two of the giveaway is the closing track of the band's debut EP, when we were just a duo. This song represents the discovery of the sound we wanted to pursue, which led to adding more band members. We don't play this live very often, but we played it in Brisbane recently and it went down a storm so we thought we'd share it.

The artwork for the two-track comes courtesy of a very talented young artist called Robb Pickering. Robb got in touch with us after seeing a show in Canberra, and asked if we'd mind if she created a graphic novel based on our album The Drifter's Dawn. She sent through a couple of sketches and they were so good that we've embraced the project and have been working with Robb, sending through back-story and whatnot. She'll be finishing it up in 2014, but in the meantime I've included some of the art as part of the download.

DOWNLOAD XMAS PRESENT HERE

Enjoy the tunes and the art, thanks again, and we'll see you in 2014!

Thank you and good evening.

Ade, Jane, Tristan, Sarah and Tobes.

 2013 IN PICTURES

THIS FRIDAY NOV 22
Joint show with The Nymphs at The Caravan Club (details)


FROM NEXT WEDNESDAY 27
Touring Nationally with Bearded Gypsy Band (details)

So. We meet again.

Every once in a while it's only fair that I spare you the increasingly indulgent density of our newsletters and opt for the streamlined version. Today is supposed to be one of those days but let's not get ahead of ourselves, I've only just begun so we'll see what happens.


THIS FRIDAY WITH THE NYMPHS
Should be great. The Nymphs are great. We have Audrey back with us on trumpet. She's great. We're taking this show to regional Victoria in 2014, including shows in Ballarat, Bendigo and Torquay. See the teasers below for what to expect from these double shows. Tickets.


NEXT WEEK AT BENNETTS LANE
Music for Lovers, Villains and Fools kicks off again next week as we join forces again with Bearded Gypsy Band for two shows at Bennetts Lane as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations. We're going to be doing a couple of collaboration-fuelled new versions of songs from both bands. Tickets.


EAST COAST TOUR
We then take the show with Bearded Gypsy Band up the coast. Follow the links for full TOUR DATES HERE THAT'S RIGHT THEY'RE RIGHT HERE sorry about that okay everyone relax.


LIVE ALBUM TEASERS
The back to back shows we did at The Toff in Town in August with The Nymphs were recorded and filmed, and some of the audio will be released as a 'Live at The Toff in Town' album in 2014. We'll be playing some more shows with The Nymphs around the time of release. The album and the shows will feature this sort of thing:

I think I failed to keep this short.

Sorry about that.

Okay that's all.

Go now. Fly. FLY!

Ade and The Tiger & Me

THIS MONDAY NOV 4 - The Substation, Newport (details)
THIS SUNDAY NOV 3 - Old Hepburn Hotel (details)

 Hello team,

1. You know Saul in Homeland? He's great. I love Saul.

2. My desire to inform you about two gigs this weekend has overtaken my preference to not bother you more than once approximately every 30 days or as I believe it's known in the army, a 'month'.

MUSIC FOR LOVERS, VILLAINS AND FOOLS kicks off this weekend. It is a double act show put on by The Tiger & Me and Bearded Gypsy Band. I'll give you the press spiel:

The evening delivers a nod and wink to the romantic nostalgia of the early 20th century, from a late-night smoky bar in Paris to a New York speakeasy, while remaining firmly rooted in the present day. The bands bring a big-top energy to the stage to put on an event for all those rampant feet out there looking for the ultimate place to whirl and stomp.


THE SUBSTATION THIS MONDAY
(Melbourne Cup Eve. No work Tuesday = party on Monday. RIGHT?)
The Substation is a fantastic new arts hub in Newport. It was a derelict industrial building for years but has recently been converted in a beautiful venue. The aesthetic of the room suits both bands perfectly so we're very excited about this one.

FREE DOUBLE PASS
We've been in touch with the venue about doing a giveaway to our mailing list and it's a goer. It's a first-in best-dressed scenario. To claim them, just head to this link and put your name and email address in the contact form at the bottom. I'll do my best to label it closed as soon as it's claimed, so if you head there and it says it's closed then someone beat you to it.



OLD HEPBURN HOTEL THIS SUNDAY
We're playing on Sunday as part of the Swiss and Italian festival in Hepburn Springs. My brother-in-law is Swiss so I think that gets us over the line. I also do everything possible to have retrospectively been from Europe, which, despite suffering from time/space issues, has the benefit of getting us gigs like this, as well as making me more exotic/embarrassing, depending on if you ask me or Jane. Actually I think once you see Bearded Gypsy Band this show will make sense.


BEARDED GYPSY BAND
Speaking of Bearded Gypsy Band, if you like our gypsy-leaning songs you're going to love these guys.  Last time we did a show together their set led to more dancing from Tristan, Sarah and Jane than health experts recommend. I also vaguely remember that evening taking us to the local nightclub in Wollongong, where Tristan and Jane were too busy dancing to notice that I was being ejected from the premises for asking to see the wine-list, which I thought both now and at the time was an overreaction. Meanwhile Sarah was bullying some terrified local science students into talking to Tobes, and I'm pretty sure the night ended with Tristan and Tobes wrestling semi-nude and insisting that "what happens on tour stays on tour" but I can't be certain, and in any event it's too late now I've already gone and written it. If only it was possible to erase things on these typewriters. I woke up with two massive cuts on my face.

This is what happens at Bearded Gypsy Band shows.

Indeed.


See you soon.

And don't say I didn't warn you.

- Ade and The Tiger & Me

SUNDAY 20th
5:30pm Elliott Smith Tribute - 2 songs (more details here)
9pm Communion Melbourne - full set (more details here)
Good afternoon,

Well I don't know about you lovely people but I am champing at the wind, three sheets to the bit and flat out like a pope in the woods among the pigeons. Or something. We just had a few weeks off, you see. Make no mistake, The Tiger & Me's desire to be the hardest working band in Melbourne remains stronger than Tristan's robust and thoughtful moustache, however if the troops aren't allowed some shore leave every once in a while then we spend too much time around each other and all start talking like Sarah, thinking like Tobes, shopping like Jane and eating like Tristan and no one comes out of this a winner, not them, not me, not you, not the children, not anyone.

Nothing scares me more than the look in Tobes's eyes when he stares down the barrel of an open bar tab, such as the one we were presented with on the final night at end of the last tour, as he contemplates the dilemmas Tristan's dance moves pose to our accepted understanding of physics, his lighting mind canvases the night's possibilities faster than you can say "same again, barman", and his voice...changes. Meanwhile the moosehead on the wall is following me with its freaky moose-eyes everywhere I go, Sarah is stuck in a jazz-trance again, Jane joins Tristan in mocking gravity and an old friend who lives thousands of ks away randomly appears at the front of the stage without explanation. Great tour, but it was time for a break.

SO...we had some time off. Tobes is finishing a degree in engineering or zoology or mechanical thought process or something, Tristan went to London, his spiritual trip-hop home, Jane kickstarted her radio career, Sarah played 7-hour jazz gigs on most days and nights and I went to the beach and spoke to no other humans for about ten days. We are now raring to go.

We're playing two of our favourite Elliott Smith songs at The Evelyn at 5:30pm this Sunday. There's a huge list of bands, playing one or two tunes each. Music from 3pm, proceeds to Australian Childhood Foundation. Should be a ripper. If you care about children. If you hate children and charity then this isn't for you. Details.

Later that evening we're very excited to be back on the bill for Communion Melbourne. I mean the gig is later that evening, not that we're excited later that evening. We're excited about it now too. And at the gig. Sigh. The line-up is fantastic, it's going to be a good one. Bear's Den are out here from the UK to support Matt Corby, and they'll be headlining. We're up second last, around 9pm. Before us are locals Grizzly Jim Lawrie and Kate Martin, following Danish singer/songwriter Skipper. More info on the bands and the show ishere.

We have a lot of dates between now and the end of the year, and if you live on the east coast then chances are we're coming to a place near you. Highlights include a reprisal of our recent joint show with The Nymphs, this time at The Caravan Club in Oakleigh (tix available), and a series of shows called 'Music for Lovers, Villains and Fools', which is an east coast tour with the Bearded Gypsy Band, and includes two nights at Bennetts Lane as part of the venue's 20th anniversary. Details and tickets are either already on or will soon be at the gigs section of our website.

Be well and we hope to see you at a show,

Ade and The Tiger & Me

Friday: Melbourne (Darebin Music Feast)
Saturday: Canberra


Good evening,

This mailout will be not unlike the dance Sarah does in the gif below: brief, but ultimately not regrettable.

On Friday, we're playing a show in Northcote as part of the Darebin Music Feast. They're setting up a 200 capacity venue called The Bain Marie in the Northcote Town Hall Civic Square on High St, with free entry, and a bar stocked by craft brewers, spirit and wine makers. I expect it to be good clean fun, and if it's not then that might work out well for us all anyway. What does that mean? You don't want to know, and I don't know. Details HERE.

On Saturday, we're in Canberra for a show at The Ainslie Arts Centre. There will be several bands, we're headlining, on stage from 11pm. More details will go up HERE tomorrow.

Thank you and good evening,

- Ade and The Tiger & Me

- Our song in trailer for Tim Winton's 'The Turning'
- Lorne Festival of Performing Arts
- A week of shows in Brisbane
- Tour dates for the rest of the year
- Thanks, review and photos for The Toff shows

Good morning fine people,

Okay then, buckle up, knuckle down and nail your hair on, there's a bit to get through so let's crack straight into it shall we? Good.

Our song featured in trailer for Tim Winton's 'The Turning'
We're very excited to announce that our song 'Other Friends Have Flown Before' is featured in the new trailer for Tim Winton's 'The Turning'. You can watch the trailer here. Personally I think I'm most excited about the fact that we're involved in a project that Hugo Weaving is in. As you can see I've had my eye on that for some time now...Mr Anderson.

Lorne Festival of Performing Arts
6-8 September (this weekend)
More details here
We're playing a couple of tunes on Friday night as part of the Opening Night Cabaret, and then a full set on Saturday later afternoon. There's a great line-up all weekend, including good friends and collaborators The Nymphs and Mikelangelo and Saint Clare. Definitely worth getting along to if you fancy a trip to the coast. 

A week of shows in Brisbane
On the 10th of September we go north for a show every night from Tuesday to Friday. Details HERE.

Tour dates 2013
Our tour dates for the rest of the year are out. They're subject to change a little but the guts of it is HERE.

Thanks for The Toff shows
A big thanks to everyone who came out for our two live recording shows at The Toff in Town. We got a belter of a review HERE and some great photos HERE. I've heard some of the recording and seen some footage and it's going to come up really well. The joint set with The Nymphs is going to be featured on Radio National in November, and we should have some audio and video for you in a couple of months.

Whew! Okay. That's that then. Hope to see you at a show. Jane says hi.

Vote well,

- Ade and The Tiger & Me

Woooooo! HUGE thanks to everyone for coming out to the shows and helping make them a success. We're very excited about seeing the video and hearing the recording; we'll keep you posted with when it's all ready. Well done to Jane who was on stage for all six sets across the two nights, for a grand total of six (?) costume changes....!

We got a very nice review and some great photos at What Sound - link below.

Thanks again and we'll see you next time.

http://www.whatsoundmelbourne.com/gig-review-the-nymphs-and-the-tiger-and-me-at-the-toff-august-10th/

YO YO YO okay team here comes the guts of the mail-out in point-form, after which you'll be at the fateful cross-roads of having to decide whether or not to take the point-form version and walk away, secure in the knowledge that you have the basic information without sacrificing much of your sweet, sweet time, OR do you live dangerously, gamble that time and keep on reading, with further useful information and light entertainment as the potential prize, and disappointment and/or no interest in the said information lurking nearby as the risk. I'd consider it your common or garden low-risk medium-reward scenario.

Here is is:

1. Sydney, Wollongong and Canberra shows this weekend.
2. Two Melbourne shows August 10/11
3. We have a new single and b-side
4. Thanks Brisbane, good times

You decide...


__________________________

Oh hello. Looks like you have decided to gamble your time and read on, CONGRATULATIONS FOR MAKING IT THIS FAR IT IS DYNAMITE FROM HERE ON IN well not really well maybe let's just see how we go.
 

1. Sydney, Wollongong, Canberra...
...we are visiting you, from this Thursday until Sunday. Thursday/Friday Sydney, Saturday Wollongong, Sunday Canberra. Great venues and bands sharing the bill throughout. Details and tickets are HERE.

2. Melbourne August 10/11
Two shows at The Toff in Town, live recording, double headline with The Nymphs. Tickets are selling fast, which is always nice, so get in quick if you're keen. Details and tickets are HERE.


3. New single
Jack Middle of the Broken Heart is the latest single from The Drifter's Dawn. It tells the story of a modern-day Bonnie & Clyde. For those of you who own it already, we have included an alternate version of the tune as a b-side. I'll let you know when they're up on iTunes, in the meantime there's a little write-up on it (with audio) HERE.

While I'd like to take the 'sweet vocals' compliment that the article send my way, it's actually Tobes singing this one. He's off fighting crime (hiking) this week and isn't even here to defend himself. Jane sings Pantomime, I sing Made it to the Harbour, and Tobes sings this one. We did a single for each lead singer. We're very democratic/meritocratic/I'M A DICTATOR.

For the record, this song is very much Tobes; he's singing lead and he wrote it. He actually wrote it years ago, right before he joined the band. They're possibly my favourite lyrics that he's ever brought to the band. Very cool I think.

A huge thanks to Tim at Made Visual for yet more excellent artwork. He turns out fantastic artwork for us every time. This one is a beauty. 

4. Thanks Brisbane
Photos from Brisbane. Happy days. See you again up north in September.


- Ade and The Tiger & Me