Backstage Artist Spotlight: Miniature Tigers

Fresh off the release of their fourth effort and a month shy of their show at Fitzgerald’s, we’re diving deep into “Swimming Pool Blues” and the rest of Cruel Runnings with Miniature Tigers. From beautiful recording spaces to working with producer Chris Zane (The Walkmen, Passion Pit) to appearances in upcoming Jason Sudeikis films, we touched all in our recent chat with frontman Charlie Brand.

Off the top, Charlie was beaming with excitement about the just-started Cruel Runnings Tour. “We’re a few days into it, but it’s been really fun so far,” said the lead singer. He continued by boasting the band’s live performance and warning that Miniature Tigers brings a dance party to venues of all sizes. “There’s a lot of dancing. It’s very inclusive. Like, there’s an open arms vibe to it where I feel like the audience is a big part of the show.”

Miniature Tigers is comprised of Charlie Brand (vocals), Rick Alvin Schaier (keys), Algernon Quashie (guitar), and Brandon Lee (bass). The indie rock bunch is scheduled to perform at the miniature sized Fitzgerald’s on Aug. 7. Make sure you learn all the words to the songs on the new record before the show!

You just kicked off the ‘Cruel Runnings Tour’ last week. How has it been so far?
It’s been really cool so far. We’re a few days into it, but it’s been really fun so far.

The Griswolds are along for the ride. How did you team up with them?
We met them a little bit before the tour and they were really cool guys. But yeah, we weren’t too familiar with them or their music going into it necessarily.

You guys had a catwalk set up at one of your shows. Tell me about that.
Yeah, that was the first show of the tour. We played at this placed called the Westway in New York and it used to be a strip club but they turned it into a venue, so there was a catwalk. We definitely made good use of it.

Is this your first headlining tour?
We’ve done a bunch of headlining tours, but in March we did a co-headlining tour and then this is our first headlining tour for the new record.

You released your fourth studio album Cruel Runnings last month. How does Cruel Runnings differ from your previous albums?
I think it’s more focused maybe, and just has like a cleaner sound than some of the other albums. We worked with this producer named Chris Zane who is a great engineer and producer and was able to get a lot of great tones and recordings that we wanted to have.

What was the recording environment for this album like?
For this album we recorded in Jamaica actually. We went down to Jamaica for two weeks and stayed in this hotel/recording studio that was pretty much abandoned because we were the only people there. And yeah, spent two weeks there recording and another two weeks in New York putting the finishing touches on.

How do you think the environment affect the recording process?
It definitely did. I think just being in that kind of setting just really had everybody very relaxed. I mean like, I was recording vocals looking out at the ocean and everything just came very easily. We didn’t spent too much time on any one part. It all came pretty naturally. Which I think it was part of the environment but also took credit Chris is a great producer so it was easy to get everything down.

What’s the story behind “Swimming Pool Blues?”
That was the first song, probably the earliest song I wrote for this album. To me, that one just had like a certain feeling that kind of dictated where the album would go. Like, it had this really clean, fresh sound to me. I kind of wanted the record to follow through with that. It’s like very poppy – very direct and clean.

On Twitter you shared a photo of a painting and said, “When I wrote Swimming Pool Blues, I wanted it to sound how this painting made me feel.” Tell me about the painting.
David Hockney, yeah. I’ve been a fan of his art for years. It’s one of his most famous paintings. I always go back and look at his art. It’s inspiration for me.

I absolutely LOVE the compilation video for “Used To Be The S*%!”. It’s like 3 minutes of flashback, pop culture history. What inspired the concept of the video?
It’s just one of those things where we were just talking about all those things and decided it would be a cool video compilation to put everything together in one place, almost to like archive all these relics.

What can fans expect from your live performance next month?
There’s a lot of dancing. It’s very inclusive. Like, there’s an open arm vibe to it where I feel like the audience is a big part of the show. I think we purposely keep it pretty loose too, and let mistakes happen and let each show be unique. I feel like if we get too locked in and everything’s too tight, then it looses it’s charm a bit. So I think we try to purposely keep it a little reckless.

Fitzgerald’s is a pretty intimate venue. Do you prefer playing large or small venues?
We’ve toured with bands who have played big shows and those are really fun because it’s just really fun to play to a big crowd of people and it’s a whole different thing. But I also really love a more intimate show. I feel like you can kind of feel the energy a bit more in a smaller show. But I also really enjoy the challenge of a big show and, like you have to work really hard to get everyone into it which is fun for me.

Tell me about your role in the upcoming Jason Sudeikis film.
We filmed a scene for this movie called “Sleeping with Other People.” It’s coming out in like 2016 or something, so it’s gonna be a while. But yeah, we definitely filmed a scene in that movie where we’re like the band – there’s like a guy and a girl talking and we’re the band at this club.

After you wrap up the Cruel Runnings tour, what are your plans?
Just more touring. We’re gonna keep touring for pretty much the rest of the year. We’re doing ACL festival, and going down to Mexico for a festival, and starting another tour for the Fall as well.