Winning Streak

fter writing their latest single, What You Came Here For, Tigertown took off to a studio in the Blue Mountains to lay down the track (plus a forthcoming EP). It was the first time that they'd recorded in a studio, and according to Collins the biggest advantage was that it let them approach the songs like a live set.

“It was the first time that we've recorded as a whole band, as a five-piece,” he says. “And so it was totally different. Because all of our other recordings have really been bedroom recordings, just mucking around for ages in a small space, where with this one we all set up together, played together, so it was a bit more old-fashioned.

“I think for all of us at the moment, the highlight is touring. Even when we were in the studio, what we were trying to do was to recreate how we sound on tour. I think we've realised that's really our strength at the moment. So as much as we could, we played and recorded the songs together. Over the last year we've done so many live shows and so much touring that we've started to feel like a real band, and we wanted to capture that.

“There's a definite vibe [to live recordings]. It is different, but it's sort of one of those things you realise that you can't even pinpoint or describe how it sounds different: it's a feeling. And the best thing about recording like that is that you all instantly know at the end of a take if that was the magic take or not, because you're all in it together.”

On the road, the band's very much a family affair. Collins and his wife, Charlie, the founding members of Tigertown, are joined by their siblings and it turns the tour into what Collins describes as 'almost a family holiday'.

“Touring with family is definitely the easiest option,” he laughs. “We've all gotten used to fighting with each other when we were seventeen, so we've definitely got that out of our system.”

Chris and Charlie went back to their roots for a recent support slot on Bob Evans' national tour, stripping their songs down and performing around the country as a two-piece.

“It was interesting for Charlie and I,” he comments, “because that's how Tigertown started, it was just the two of us, doing gigs like that. It was going back to how things used to be, but we realised how much our music had grown since then, and so approaching our new songs as the two of us took a little bit of thinking about.

“It was encouraging for us to realise that the songs still stand up with guitars and two voices, because that's what we always want to do. For me, that's the symbol of a good song: one that sounds good on an acoustic guitar.”

Collins is heavily influenced by pop music and says that, lately, he's been thinking about what makes a good pop song so powerful.

“Michael Jackson is my main guy, and it was almost like every song was a movie. It created imagery and made you feel something. If you can create music that makes people feel things, I think that's the magic. Pop writers create these long-lasting songs – songs that stay with people – we'd love to do that in Tigertown, make the sort of music that really lasts.”