Introducing - Aloha Tigers

I first came across the Illnoise dream-pop duo Aloha Tigers whilst writing the The Line Of Best Fit 'Song of the Day' column. Every track I've been sent regarding the feature has been good, however I was completely blown away and pleasantly surprised when I first heard 'Oh, The Glory Of It All'. Thus began my excitement about this up and coming band. I've heard some new songs from their forthcoming album and this has only amplified my child-like and giddy excitement. I caught up with them to have a wee chat.


Who are Aloha Tigers? Care to introduce yourself?

Mike is the dreamy one. I'm the bald one who scowls a lot, although not usually intentionally.

How would you describe your sound?

Well, hopefully people find it catchy. We like big sounds, drony sounds, pretty sounds. Do you all have syzurp over there? It's like listening to top 40 radio after drinking a big cup of that.

One of you is song writer and one of you is producer. Do you feel this balances out the band quite nicely?

We wouldn't have it any other way. We get along really well and are both on the same page about what we want to accomplish, so we kind of lucked out in that department. It's a 100% equal collaboration and has thus far been a really positive and enjoyable experience. Maybe a bit more wrestling than I'd prefer, but it goes with the territory.

You hail from Bloomington, Illinois. Is there much of a scene there and how much does the area influence you?

Bloomington is like a great place to raise a family and a not so great place to start a band. Sometimes it feels like nothing is really going on here, but having said that, we've also met people from around here who are doing stuff that's as good as anything you can think of, so it's hard to say. It's like a town full of really creative shut-ins.

Which bands do you look up to?

Tears for Fears are a big influence. George Michaels is getting to be a big influence. Lots of the bands we grew up with, people who treated pop music as a totally legit, adult form of expression. As far as contemporary people that I'm actually influenced by, I really dig Luke Steele and his two bands, the Sleepy Jackson and Empire of the Sun. We're both all over the map with what we like. With Mike, one day he'll be on about Nilsson, the next we'll be listening to Gucci Mane, and then like the expanded works of Phil Spector. Although we do not condone his murderings.

Is everything you record home recorded? Do you find that more natural/easier?

It is. Home recording technology is amazing right now. You can work at your own leisure and slave over every detail. It's great.

You are currently recording your debut album. Can you give us any more information about its release?

It's being released as part of the Way Slow series on Lefse Records, which is also featuring people like Houses, Teen Daze, Ganglians, Banjo or Freakout, and a bunch of other exceptionally good bands, so that's really exciting for us. When you start out, you dream about putting out a record under any circumstances, so to have the opportunity to be doing something associated with a label like Lefse, where literally every band on the roster are incredibly talented and forward thinking and skull-crushingly cool is both an honor and kind of humbling. We aren't sure exactly when it's coming out yet, but my guess would be sometime in the first half of 2011.

Where do you hope 'Aloha Tigers' to be this time next year?

Hopefully by that time we'll be out playing shows and working on another record. It would be incredibly cool if we could make it over there at some point. An equally plausible scenario is that we will be riding the rails and eating shoe leather like hobos, given the direction the U.S. is going in. And honestly, either would be acceptable. We'd make fine drifters.


Aloha Tigers- Cruisin' (Rick and Alex's Theme) by alohatigers