Tiger Army started in 1995 in California’s East Bay and after two years of playing and recording, the band seemed to have hit a dead end.  Even though he was the only person left in the band, singer/guitarist Nick 13 continued to write songs and work on the band’s debut album.  At some point a Tiger Army demo fell into the hands of Rancid’s Tim Armstrong, who then signed Tiger Army to his label Hellcat Records.  Tiger Army now has two full length CDs out, their self-titled debut and II:  Power of Moonlite, and a stable line up that includes Geoff Kresge (formally of AFI) on stand-up bass and Fred Hell (formerly of Union of the Dead) on drums.  This interview was conducted with Nick 13 in July – August 2002 via email.  
   --Dave Brown


Dave:  Now that Power of Moonlite has been out for a year, how is the band doing?  This particular line up seems to be quite solid.  Are you happy with the state of things with the band?  

Nick 13:  We're doing well and I'm very happy with the events of the last year.  Heavy touring has been a goal of mine for years and it's just in the past 12-13 months that it's finally happened.  We've got a great lineup personally and musically, the first time that's happened -- at least with people who could do the band full-time.

Dave:  How is the American psychobilly scene now compared to when the band started in 1995?  It seems to me (and please forgive me if I am wrong), that in California there are actual separate psychobilly, rockabilly, skinhead, and punk scenes, where as in other parts of the country those scenes kind of meld together (Oklahoma is a perfect example).  Does that make it easier or harder for a band like Tiger Army to gain an audience outside of California?  I read in an interview you did in Rock 'N' Roll Purgatory, that you often prefer to play shows with punk bands other than rockabilly bands (I don't have the magazine with me, otherwise I would have quoted the statement).  Is that something that holds true everywhere or mostly in California?  As a whole, what are the differences between the rockabilly and psychobilly scenes?

Nick 13:  There basically was no scene for psychobilly in the U.S. when we started, there were only individuals here and there, so that's the main difference.  The scene out here has grown quite a bit, especially in the last two years.  
    
There are distinct scenes here for the different subcultures you mentioned, although they do mix.  We've always played to a mix of subcultures, and at any Tiger Army show in the U.S. you'll see punks, skins, psychos (if there are any in the area), greasers, hardcore kids and maybe some deathrockers/goths.  That's as true of LA (even with large contingents of psychos at the shows) as it is of Oklahoma or anywhere else.
    
As far as rockabilly music goes, I love 1950's rockabilly and I don't have anything against the music or the people who like or play it, but I don't like the purist attitudes one finds in the scene.  Some people just want to see something recreated and it's very tame and conservative -- the opposite of what the music was originally about.  The outlook of psycho is very different than that of the modern-day rockabilly scene, it appreciates the past but looks more to the future.  It's supposed to be a little more about fun and a little less about appearance, in theory at least.  We've never been part of the rockabilly scene (i.e., playing all-rockabilly bills for an all-rockabilly crowd) and we've never wanted to be.  Having rockabilly bands together with psycho and punk and mixing it up a little bit I think is cool.

Dave:  Your lyrics are far more poetic than most bands (punk, psycho, or otherwise).  Are you a fan of poetry?  What do you tend to write about?  What makes you sit down and write a song?

Nick 13:  I do like some poetry, especially that of Edgar Allen Poe.  I like the looseness of Bukowski's style as well, how it's almost a form of its own that lies somewhere in between poetry and prose.  Other than that, I don't read much of it (poetry).  

My writing tends to fall into themes that have resonance for me: the night, the passage of time, mortality, dark romance, the natural world, the supernatural, transcendence.  
    
I started writing songs originally out of feelings of restlessness, boredom and yearning -- the desire to touch something beyond that's so strong it's impossible to ignore.  This is still in large part what makes me write.  Sometimes songs just appear, as if they've been transmitted, other times you're seized by a feeling of inspiration and that makes you pick up the guitar (or pen).  Still other times it's something you stumble across while playing, like something you've found on the ground.

Dave:  With all the dark imagery in your music, are you a fan of science fiction and horror?  If so, what are some of your favorite movies, books, etc.?  

Nick 13:  I've always been into horror and the supernatural from the time I was a very young child and that includes some science fiction as well.  Favorite horror reading: anything by Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch (especially the early short stories), most Arkham Circle authors/Weird Tales stuff, Ambrose Bierce.  Favorite science fiction stuff would include V (the 80's TV miniseries), Logan's Run, the original Star Wars trilogy, Battlestar Galactica, Blade Runner...

Some favorite horror movies are Dracula, Psycho, Carnival of Souls (the original b&w movies for these first three, NOT the remakes!) White Zombie, The Black Cat, Creature From the Black Lagoon... also love 50's/60's TV shows that deal with the supernatural or murder like the Twilight Zone, The Veil, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Last but not least there's sci-fi/horror Anime like Devilman, Captain Harlock, Galaxy Express 999, Vampire Hunter D, Star Blazers, Robotech... have I mentioned enough stuff yet?

Dave:  While we are on the subject of things that are dark...  Your music seems to me, to have the ability to cross over to other underground genres, specifically to the gothic crowd (not unlike the Misfits, TSOL, and Riot Squad/The Staggers).  Do you find that you attract many goths to your shows/music?  Why, in general, do you think that those crowds do not often mix?

Nick 13:  We do attract some goths/deathrockers to our shows.  The deathrock scene was much closer to the punk scene in the 80's, but I guess everything moves on.  I think things have evolved to the point where there are probably people in both scenes who are missing out on some good music from either side, just because they're not aware of it.  I listen to a lot of stuff that falls under the "goth" umbrella, from older deathrock to newer ebm/industrial.  Maybe psychobilly can help bridge the gap with its often-similar outlook and subject matter...

Dave:  To me punk and rockabilly come from the same place.  I hear Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Jerry Lee Lewis in The Ramones, 7 Seconds, Rancid, and the Hudson Falcons.  Bands like The Amazing Royal Crowns proved that the two styles were one in the same for a new generation.  What first got you into punk?  What first attracted you to rockabilly?

Nick 13:  I'd definitely agree.  Punk for me started with skateboarding as a kid, I heard the first two Thrasher comps and was hooked.  The thing that drew me to it initially was the raw energy and aggression -- it made the "hard rock" I'd been listening to seem incredibly tame.

After I'd been listening to punk for a couple of years, I noticed the connection between punk and 50's rock'n'roll and rockabilly -- especially evident to me in bands like the Sex Pistols, the Damned, the Clash, Generation X, Ramones, Misfits and Cramps.  Most of the bands that I really dug had this connection and it caused me to delve a little deeper in the roots of rockabilly.  I checked out Eddie Cochran from the Pistols, Johnny Burnette from the Meteors, I just kept going farther backward.  Before I was aware of the European psycho scene I was into the idea of combining punk and fifties music, this influenced by songs like "American Nightmare" (Misfits), the Pistols covers of Eddie Cochran's songs on "The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle" and some of the other bands I just mentioned.  I had some awareness of The Meteors, but I thought they were a single band, I didn't know they'd helped inspire a whole scene and style.

In rockabilly I saw the same roots of energy and danger that initially attracted me to punk.  I'd listened pretty extensively to both styles when I started to become aware of psycho -- it combined everything I liked about both punk and rockabilly, and I knew it was what I wanted to play.

Dave:  When people come to you saying that they like Tiger Army and want to listen to more psychobilly, what bands do you recommend they check out?

Nick 13:  The Nekromantix from Denmark, whose latest album is on Hellcat.  Mad Sin from Germany.  The Quakes from the USA, the first and best American psychobilly band.  Of course, the Meteors, the first and best band to play pure psychobilly.  Battle of Ninjamanz, Japan's top psychos.  Godless Wicked Creeps from Denmark, who've unfortunately broken up.  The list could go on and on, but those are some great places to start.

Dave:  Do you think psychobilly will ever gain wide popularity in the US (and when I say wide popularity, I'm referring to underground/cult wise, with bands like you guys, Nekromantix, and The Reverend Horton Heat at the forefront)?

Nick 13:  I would like to see it take its rightful place among the other subcultures as far as size and respect goes.  It would be nice if the bands from Europe could find more of an audience here, and if the US contributed some great psychobilly to the world scene.  I think it'll happen eventually...

Dave:  What is next for Tiger Army?  

Nick 13:  In October, we do three weeks with The Damned from Eastern to Mountain Time zones in the U.S., including a few shows in Canada.  We'll headline about a week of shows on our own on the West Coast in late Oct./early November including a special Halloween show.  We do a German tour in November, where we'll play at the 10th Satanic Stomp psycho fest w/Nekromantix, Coffin Nails, Caravans and some more bands.  All these dates will be up on our website, by the way.

Release-wise, we've got an EP called the Early Years that's a reissue of our out-of-print first EP with some bonus stuff.  It's six songs, all unreleased or out-of-print stuff from before the first album.  It will be on 10" vinyl as well as CD.  It's coming out October 8th on Hellcat.  We're going to spend September in the practice room working on new songs that I'm writing for the next album, and when we come back from Germany in late November we'll stop gigging and getting ready to do the 3rd Tiger Army full-length album will be the focus.  That will be out sometime next year, hopefully by early summer.

Dave:  Any final thoughts?

Nick 13:  Thanks to whoever may read this.  Come check us out on the road this fall because we'll be off the road for a while after that.  Anyone wishing to get more info about the band, tours, or hear MP3's should check out our site at: www.tigerarmy.com.  Thanks for the interview!  TxAxNxDx!!!