Show Review: Tiger Waves @ Frank (1/19)

Over here at ATH we’ve been raving about Tiger Waves for some time, but we hadn’t seen the young band in the live setting just yet.  So, we jumped at the chance to catch the boys over at Frank, along with a few other local Austin acts, Milk Thistle and Gentleman Rogues.

Read on for our thoughts. 

First, I’d really like to impress upon you how great the sound at Frank was on this particular evening.  Perhaps it’s not the largest viewing space, but the sound itself was better than a lot of other more known places in town.  If you get a chance to attend a show here, you should definitely partake in cheap drinks, wieners and great sound.

I’m going in reverse order here, as (no offense) I really was drawn out of the house to see Tiger Waves. So we’ll start with Gentleman Rogues; they were the closing band on the evening.  There’s really not a bad thing to say about these guys, though I’ll admit that it’s currently not my cup of tea.  As a band, they’ve nailed down a formidable formula, tossing up quick paced tracks the likes of Superchunk or even Jets to Brazil.  One thing is for sure, they’ve got a solid man behind the drum kit: steady and loud, the way we all like it.

Milk Thistle was our middle band of the night, and their short set was a rather successful venture.  Devin Usher has a great vocal range, moving between a harsh and warm in an instant.  Their songs revolve around his work on the keyboard, for the most part, but for me, I think the songs sounded much stronger when he plugged in his guitar for the last few tracks.  Once they had that, their sound came off much more complete, filling the room with their visible talent.

Our opening act, was perhaps the brightest moment, if only for our fondness for Tiger Waves.  Immediately evident was that the band definitely was some growing to on the live stage in order to keep up with their recorded material.  None should consider this a knock, however, as the talent in the songwriting helped us look beyond a few dropped chords and notebook read lyrics (only for one jam).  Still, even with these minor flaws, there’s a new rising star here in Austin, so we should all take notice.

At times, they abandoned some of their recording intricacies and atmospherics, which I adore.  In doing so, I was amazed at just how mature their sound came across.  When they offered up some of their surf-ish songs, the jangle of the guitars joined by three part harmonies reminded me of early Shins, and they were every bit as captivating.  More mellow tracks indicated just how well these lads have crafted their pop tunes, offering up the sort of tracks that seemed similar to the genius of Nada Surf.  And through it all, the band had energy and obvious bit of camaraderie that will only grown stronger as they fill their bright future with more shows.  Our advice, get out and see these guys as soon as possible, as they’ll be filling larger rooms in the very near future.

Check out more pics at the photo site…