For many islanders, Tiger Years provided the soundtrack to the summer of 2012.
Last year UK-based Manx musos Brian Brough and Jack Wolter brought their Cornish collective (completed by Wilfred Petherbridge, Allister Kellaway and Oli Mason) for a memorable six weeks of performances in fields, glens, festivals, bars and lifeboat stations.
A year in the making, their sublime Fuzzy Orange produced debut album (x÷&-) is now out there and making waves; see tigeryears.tumblr.com
‘We’re really stoked to be bringing the band back over,’ said Jack this week from a band rehearsal in their Falmouth den. ‘We want to make it an annual thing, people on the island are so welcoming, and it’s been nice to play the songs again.’
Since last summer the quintet have all pursued separate projects, and Jack’s Manx-based power trio Your Gold Teeth joined Tiger Years at The Crescent in Douglas on Saturday night.
‘We’re all songwriters, the original ideas can be as different as electronic bleepy versions,’ said Jack. ‘We want people to see where the songs came from, and how they evolved with five of us putting our heads into it.’
A little lower key will be a gig at The Bridge tonight (Tuesday). Brian is doing a solo slot, and then the music of Allister’s musical alter ego the Mantis Opera, and then mind-bending jazziness of Choy Dragon, featuring Brian, Oli and Wilf.
Jack said: ‘The good thing about Tiger Years is we have all got our own projects, and as a band we can cover each other’s songs. It’s almost like a musical collective, and Your Gold Teeth is part of that.’
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The Manx Sound Exchange appears in the Manx Independent each week abd is Lee Brooks’ ramblings on the rumblings of the island’s music scene. Help support the scene by emailing lee.brooks@newsiom.co.im or calling 695674 with Manx music news, reviews and photos