Der Tiger und Ich

In Zurich the people speak Swiss-German, which is only a spoken language. They write in German. They also speak French near the French border and Italian near the Italian border. Nightmare. So now you know. Watch out for those ‘neutral’ people

We are currently in Zurich, but because I am on a Swiss keyboard I keep writing Yurich as some letters are in different places. So if it happens again, that is why. I’m not insane.

NXNE

North by North East was brilliant. Toronto is a great city and the music scene is sehr gut. The festival basically takes over the city for about five days. All the major venues around town had about 6 bands on every night, with breaks between sets so punters can venue-hop. Lots of sweet bands played. Lots and lots.

We played as part of The Australian Export Showcase, as in Vancouver, this time around at the excellently named Rancho Relaxo, with other Aussie bands The Satellite Nation, Aleks and the Ramps, Catnip, and The Re-mains. Our fears about pulling a crowd after landing the opening 8pm timeslot turned out to be unfounded, as we had a great turnout, got a couple of reviewers along, and had a successful night. We were given 4 ‘N’s out of 5 from ‘Now Magazine’ – Toronto’s Beat Magazine, and were reviewed on the CBC (same as ABC) website. The CBC reviewer totally canned a bunch of bands so we were happy to escape her wrath…

NOW MAGAZINE

THE TIGER AND ME at Rancho Relaxo Rating: NNNN

Melbourne’s the Tiger and Me were in danger of having their soft folk-pop drowned out by chatter, but thankfully they were arresting enough to keep the attention of most in the room. Elements of country rub up against a cabaret feel and some Gypsyish tendencies. Accessible but esoteric enough to still stand out. BB

http://www.nowtoronto.com/music/story.cfm?content=163621

CBC

Openers The Tiger and Me, a cute romantic and musical couple, delivered a very charming set of spare, violin-laced cabaret-pop that was reminiscent of Sarah Slean. Their songs were sweet if unremarkable, but where the duo really clicked was in their stage presence: they were savvy enough to realize that their style of music required a healthy dose of storytelling, and struck the right balance between grounded and theatrical.

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/blog/NXNE08/2008/06/capping_it_off.html

We also did an interview in Toronto Indie:

http://www.torontoindie.com/?p=337

HOWEVER… The gig almost didn’t happen. The previous night it was bucketing down with rain and I was wearing my worn out old thongs (or flip-flops, as you call them in Canada, which I learnt the hard way. Thong means something very different…). Jane said, “Careful you don’t slip and fall”. I said, “Jane please. I’ve been wearing thongs for years, do I look like an idiot to you? Do I look like the sort of idiot who would fall down the subway stairs?”

So I fell down the subway stairs, smashing my left hand. Much pain. Thought I wouldn’t be able to play. Took a bunch of painkillers and once then adrenaline was flowing and I’d had a drink I couldn’t feel anything. Made it through the gig. No worries. Hard core folk duo, we are. We even used the story for excellent banter material. I should have done it on purpose.

BUT… It turns out my hand is broken. I found out yesterday from a doc who clearly thought I was an idiot for walking around with a broken hand for two weeks. Cast today. Lucky that was the last gig.

ANYWAY we’re now swanning around Europe in the heat and enjoying the Euro championship soccer infused madness of Zurich. Then we’re off to Eastern Europe to learn about real gypsy music from the locals. We’ll be back in September or thereabouts, for an album and lots and lots of gigs.

You stay classy, and we’ll hit you with some gypsy infused folk pop tunes later in the year.

Love from Der Tiger und Ich