Interview With Tiger Lewis

Is there a particular lyric or chorus that you think represents the project the best?

The first one that comes to mind is from ‘Mrs. Kisses’ second verse says, “I see the way they're watching, and it makes me want more”. I think there is this silent and suspended insecurity. That kind of reinforces every narrative of the song. It's a quiet panic that is being someone that is heavily admired. And you're trying to feel secure in yourself and your own importance. ‘Mr. Right Now’ is changing yourself to being someone you're not. Same thing with ‘Leave Me Lonely’, a lot of this album is wanting to be admired and contorting to be admired. Feeling insecure that maybe you yourself aren't enough.

At what point in the creative process did you realize your EP was meant to have these six songs versus other ones you may have scrapped or left off?

It was probably after ‘Leave Me Lonely,’ so like in February I had an understanding of how I wanted to continue to roll out each song. It was following this narrative of this character that you can kind of see through each song. Then it finishes with ‘Runaway’. To me it was kind of seeing all these different vignettes of someone you're trying to become and running away from. Every one describes a different situation.

I love the nostalgic colour palette on the cover art for Mr. Right Now. What inspired this visual?

I made a font in the very beginning, and it was red and yellow, and then it was a different red and yellow later on. It wasn't a flattering two colors. I continued to darken the colors to make a golden yellow and brick red. I loved those colors. For me, some of my favorite artists are identifiable with one or two colors. Elvis Costello is a huge inspiration, and one of his biggest solo albums is like red and yellow. The vignette from that documentary Stop Making Sense with Talking Heads. There were a couple of visuals from there that I thought would make an insane cover if we did it like this. It was a mix of different influences.

‘Mr. Right Now’ captures you still learning who you are. What did making this EP teach you about yourself, both personally and musically?

There is no point where you accomplish something, and you're like, you've done it, and you're enough. That's the core I want people to listen to. Hopefully they can laugh at certain situations and see themselves in them. You are enough regardless of how you perceive yourself and in regards to what you think you should be. Don't put yourself in a box.

You grew up in Southern California; are there any iconic California venues that you frequented in your youth that hold a special place in your heart?

Totally, in San Diego I used to go to The Che Cafe all the time or Queen Bees. I would see some punk stuff. It reminded me of what music is really about. You're almost like a preacher to a choir. A facade for what really is important, which is this feeling of bringing people together and making them lose themselves. Serving the crowd and doing that is a formative experience as opposed to feeling important. It's about that feeling, and the music needs to cater to that every single time. Those live experiences continue to reinforce why I'm doing it.

How do you get into or stay in a headspace to make each note feel so powerful (especially your singing) when going into the studio to lay down tracks that have such biting authenticity to them?

Typically, there are a couple of things I do before going into the studio. I'll spend an hour warming up my voice before I know I'm going in. I’ll get myself in the mindspace then. I have a playlist of songs from a bunch of different singers that I love that I'll play through. So I'm already in this place of trying different tones and thinking about how I'm going to perform it. I'm clear in my direction, and obviously a producer will shapeshift whatever it is. But when I go in there, I can't think about anything. I think that's really important. If I'm in the middle of the booth and I get goosebumps, then I know I'm doing a good job. If I think about the articulation, tone or placement, you can hear it. I'll have to keep on having to do full takes until it becomes ingrained on what I'm trying to do. It takes quite a while to get the feeling across. I don't love it when people are in the room when I'm recording; I only like one or two people. Because I have to almost envision myself as someone else and that helps. My real name isn't Tiger; in order to switch into it, I need to let go of a lot of things that I hold as a person, and Tiger doesn't.

What’s a part of your creative process that would probably surprise people?

I need to go on a run every single morning with no music for at least 30 minutes. If you have a mindless activity, titles will come, melodies will come. If you're on your phone, it never happens. Your brain has to be doing something. I’ll do that before any session or if I want to write by myself. There needs to be a space where your mind can roam free. For me, the best way to do that is to preoccupy myself with something mindless.

Is there a song you’ve made that you understand differently now or that's evolved from when you originally wrote it?

“Mrs. Kisses” was something I didn't realize until later what I was actually writing. I thought it came from a place of security. If I'm with someone, I don't have to think about anything. Even with that second verse writing, I was like, no, the whole point is there is this quiet panic. A lot of my peers felt the same way, and as soon as I started diving into it, I was like, huh, I didn't even think about it in that way. It's more so this sense of insecurity and how can I be enough for this person, this person is so amazing. It's like putting the other person on a pedestal, and you got it; they chose you. That one in particular is something completely different than I thought.

You’ll be performing at The Moroccan Lounge the evening before the release. Looking ahead, are there any cities or specific venues you haven’t performed at yet that you’re especially excited or hoping to play?

Totally, I'd love to go and play anywhere in Texas. I've never been; Houston is home to so many amazing acts. New Orleans -never been to Louisiana- would love to go there. If it's another city, Seattle would be awesome.

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