Miniature Tigers preview
Miniature Tigers
Reggie’s, Chicago
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Setting the music aside – can we talk seriously for a second? – the premise of miniature tigers is exciting. Would they be scrappy like bobcats? Could you bring them home as pets, like certain sharks? We might be on the verge of a breakthrough here.
That’s certainly on the mind of Miniature Tigers the band, whose Tell It To The Volcano (Modern Art) packs plenty of power in its tightly wound power pop packets. Though not quite the cuddly felines we’d expect real Miniature Tigers to be, the Phoenix-based band (centered around frontman Charlie Brand) tempers a passive-aggressive streak in shades of Beulah (“Like Or Like Like”), Grandaddy (“Hot Venom”), and Paul McCartney via John Vanderslice (“Last Night’s Fake Blood”). Though the sunshine-pop/biting-lyrics juxtaposition can get cloying, addicitve, winsome melodies are ultimately what remain. Better to have that than wait for a shipment of mini tigers to arrive.
Bishop Allen headline; Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band open.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “The Wolf.”
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
