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Anna from London popsters My Tiger My Timing has taken time off from exercising her vocal chords to give the Devil’s blog an insight into her influences, the strangest place the band have played and her tips for saving money.
The Devil: Why My Tiger My Timing? What other names did you ponder before deciding on this?
Anna: ‘My Tiger, My Timing’ is a song by the New York songwriter and musician Arthur Russell - we were listening to his stuff a lot when we formed the band and kinda liked the randomness of it. We removed the comma because we didn’t want to be a punctuation band. And now there seem to be a load of ‘Tiger’ bands which is a bit annoying. Other contenders for the name were Super Super Bingo Time and School.
The Devil: Who are your biggest influences?
Anna - Arthur Russell is one, also Talking Heads, Blur, Happy Mondays, as well as
more recent bands like The Rapture, Late of the Pier, Dirty Projectors and Gang Gang Dance.
The Devil: What was the first record you owned and what was the first record you ever bought?
Anna: The first record I owned was, I think, ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’ by Cher on a 7", and the first record I proudly bought with my own money was ‘The Great Escape’ by Blur, I think it was £13 and it took me ages to save up for.
The Devil: What makes My Tiger My Timing stand out from the millions of other bands in the world? What makes you unique?
Anna: We love old music but we hate retro bands and we’re not into nostalgia or trying to sound like we’re from another time - our aim is to make modern music from a UK perspective. We’re unique because in an era of backing tracks and shallowness, we’re a real live band who do everything together.
The Devil: What’s the strangest place you’ve ever played and would you go back there?
Anna: We’ve been to some fairly weird places on our travels - playing in a Chinese Restaurant for Chinese New Year (of the Tiger) was one. The owner was terrified that the crowd would jump up and down so much the floor would cave in. We’d definitely go back - the food was delicious.
The Devil: Other than My Tiger My Timing who are the most exciting bands on the music scene at the moment?
Anna: We love Post War Years, La Shark, Fiction, Plugs, Hook & The Twin, Casiokids, Not Cool, Is Tropical - there are some really bloody great bands out there at the moment.
Anna: I have occasionally asked myself this question but I don’t think I could ever give up music. I’d stop for a week and then without realising it, find myself writing songs again. I quite like gardening though…
Anna: We’ve always been fairly DIY so I guess we’re used to doing things on a shoestring, downturn or no downturn. Money-saving tips? We’ll soon have some gorgeous hand-printed t-shirts for sale at very competitive prices - Devil’s readers can look fashionable and sort out their summer wardrobe in one easy purchase (product placement!!)!
The Devil:If you were interviewing yourself what would be your killer question and how would you answer it?
Anna: Killer question: What would be your advice to bands starting out? Answer: Turn off your TV, don’t read the NME, try not to think too much about the current trend: if it’s already defined then it’s already over, get your drumbeats right.
This track is linked direct from the La SharkLast.FM site and is therefore already freely available so please refrain from alleging infringement of copyright.
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