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Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist
But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Tigers in Cairo warns about grudges that might eat at your soul.
Asked about the weirdest or wildest gig they ever played, many folks understandably invoke chaos, mayhem, fire, floods, and/or smoke coming out the guitar player’s ears. But David Martin from Tigers In Cairo — which just dropped its debut single “Always Adored” — chooses to show that the kids are, in fact, alright.
“Around 2010 I think,” recalls the singer, his math/prog/metalcore band The 25th Hour was “supposed to play some [now closed] venue in North County with the band Embrace the End. It was supposed to be all ages, and it wasn’t. All the bands on tour said they wouldn’t play it, so it was moved to a garage in a suburb, and it became one heck of a house party. One of the bands on the tour was called Rise of Caligula. Two weeks later or so, they became the ever-so-amazing, Grammy-nominated Deafheaven. Unknown to most, a lot of the [Deafheaven] Sunbather album was written in that same garage.”
Martin grew up “on a dirt road in Vermont” and recalls a childhood with “no internet, no cable, and a couple bad radio stations. I lived off mixtapes from my friends who had access to such luxuries as music.” Guitarist Paul Skura, meanwhile, hails from Los Angeles, but moved south for school in 2001. As for guitarist Gavin Rhodes, he spent twenty years in Brooklyn before heading west. “New York City has the reputation of being a mecca for live music,” remarks Rhodes, “which it is in many ways. But what I’ve found here in San Diego is a much tighter-knit community of musicians who are super-supportive of each other, regardless of what genre they’re in.”
The new band owes its existence to Rhodes, who made a New Year’s resolution to form a band in his new home. “It all started with a Craigslist ad I posted: ‘Indie rock guitarist looking to start or join project.’ I added a link to a bunch of demos that I had been working on, and the first person to answer the ad was [drummer] Matt [Yansch]. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had found a unicorn. Matt brought in his friends Paul and [bassist] Dennis [Smith]. Then, the hard part came: finding a singer. Using Craigslist and our network of friends, we received countless demos, some that were okay, others that were hilariously bad or deranged. You get it all with Craigslist. Finally, after almost a year of searching, we found the final Tiger, David [Martin].”
“Always Adored” came together from an intro riff Rhodes laid down as a demo back in Brooklyn. At the time, it didn’t have the trademark hook-y verse lead guitar part. “That only came about after the band started practicing,” he remembers. “It was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments.”
According to Martin, “Lyrically, this is about learning to forgive people, and sometimes coming to the conclusion they aren’t worth being forgiven to begin with. It stems from things my father said after my mother passed away, and other traumatic incidents that surrounded me during that time in my life. But anyone who just can’t give up that grudge that eats at their soul should be able to relate. A lesson/realization to myself and everyone else, and a lesson I’m still working on. Life is better when you can learn to forgive. Just don’t just forget.”
They’re still practicing in El Cajon, a land of metal bands. But don’t worry, everybody gets along. Watch for an album next year, and a series of singles before that. As for their name, a Smith named Robert, not Dennis, had a lot to do with that. “We all are fans of The Cure,” recalls the bassist. “It’s a take on their song ‘Fire in Cairo.’ We were kinda kicking it around at practice one day, and I noticed Gavin has a tiger tattoo on his arm. I just blurted out, ‘We should call it Tigers In Cairo!’ I didn’t think it was gonna stick, but we all agreed on it. After thinking about it some more, we thought it was perfect, since tigers aren’t native to Egypt or Africa. We liked that juxtaposition, mirroring our broad range of influences: ‘90s indie rock and shoegaze, power pop, San Diego punk, and hardcore. We also figured we couldn’t go wrong using an alpha predator in our name.”
Here's something you might be interested in.
Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist
But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Tigers In Cairo owes its existence to Craigslist
But it owes its name to a Cure tune and a tattoo
Tigers in Cairo warns about grudges that might eat at your soul.
Asked about the weirdest or wildest gig they ever played, many folks understandably invoke chaos, mayhem, fire, floods, and/or smoke coming out the guitar player’s ears. But David Martin from Tigers In Cairo — which just dropped its debut single “Always Adored” — chooses to show that the kids are, in fact, alright.
“Around 2010 I think,” recalls the singer, his math/prog/metalcore band The 25th Hour was “supposed to play some [now closed] venue in North County with the band Embrace the End. It was supposed to be all ages, and it wasn’t. All the bands on tour said they wouldn’t play it, so it was moved to a garage in a suburb, and it became one heck of a house party. One of the bands on the tour was called Rise of Caligula. Two weeks later or so, they became the ever-so-amazing, Grammy-nominated Deafheaven. Unknown to most, a lot of the [Deafheaven] Sunbather album was written in that same garage.”
Martin grew up “on a dirt road in Vermont” and recalls a childhood with “no internet, no cable, and a couple bad radio stations. I lived off mixtapes from my friends who had access to such luxuries as music.” Guitarist Paul Skura, meanwhile, hails from Los Angeles, but moved south for school in 2001. As for guitarist Gavin Rhodes, he spent twenty years in Brooklyn before heading west. “New York City has the reputation of being a mecca for live music,” remarks Rhodes, “which it is in many ways. But what I’ve found here in San Diego is a much tighter-knit community of musicians who are super-supportive of each other, regardless of what genre they’re in.”
The new band owes its existence to Rhodes, who made a New Year’s resolution to form a band in his new home. “It all started with a Craigslist ad I posted: ‘Indie rock guitarist looking to start or join project.’ I added a link to a bunch of demos that I had been working on, and the first person to answer the ad was [drummer] Matt [Yansch]. I couldn’t believe my luck. I had found a unicorn. Matt brought in his friends Paul and [bassist] Dennis [Smith]. Then, the hard part came: finding a singer. Using Craigslist and our network of friends, we received countless demos, some that were okay, others that were hilariously bad or deranged. You get it all with Craigslist. Finally, after almost a year of searching, we found the final Tiger, David [Martin].”
“Always Adored” came together from an intro riff Rhodes laid down as a demo back in Brooklyn. At the time, it didn’t have the trademark hook-y verse lead guitar part. “That only came about after the band started practicing,” he remembers. “It was one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments.”
According to Martin, “Lyrically, this is about learning to forgive people, and sometimes coming to the conclusion they aren’t worth being forgiven to begin with. It stems from things my father said after my mother passed away, and other traumatic incidents that surrounded me during that time in my life. But anyone who just can’t give up that grudge that eats at their soul should be able to relate. A lesson/realization to myself and everyone else, and a lesson I’m still working on. Life is better when you can learn to forgive. Just don’t just forget.”
They’re still practicing in El Cajon, a land of metal bands. But don’t worry, everybody gets along. Watch for an album next year, and a series of singles before that. As for their name, a Smith named Robert, not Dennis, had a lot to do with that. “We all are fans of The Cure,” recalls the bassist. “It’s a take on their song ‘Fire in Cairo.’ We were kinda kicking it around at practice one day, and I noticed Gavin has a tiger tattoo on his arm. I just blurted out, ‘We should call it Tigers In Cairo!’ I didn’t think it was gonna stick, but we all agreed on it. After thinking about it some more, we thought it was perfect, since tigers aren’t native to Egypt or Africa. We liked that juxtaposition, mirroring our broad range of influences: ‘90s indie rock and shoegaze, power pop, San Diego punk, and hardcore. We also figured we couldn’t go wrong using an alpha predator in our name.”
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