Bio
Kim Hooker - Lead vocals, guitars
Jay Pepper - Guitars
Pepsi Tate - Bass
Matt Blakout – Drums
Bullet For My Valentine, Funeral For A Friend, Goldie Lookin Chain,
Lostprophets, People In Planes. What do these five acts have in
common?
1) All are currently hot property around the globe. 2) All started out
on
independent labels. 3) All are WELSH.
For the uninitiated, Wales is that little section of land just to the
Southwest of England, right above the Bristol Channel. There are
several
celebrities that call Wales their homeland, among them Griff Rhys
Jones,
Catherine Zeta-Jones, Shirley Bassey, Spencer Davis, Charlotte Church
and
the legendary Tom Jones. Oh ... and Tigertailz.
Yes, Tigertailz.
Tigertailz was formed by guitarist Jay Pepper and bassist Pepsi Tate
while
still in high school in the mid 80's. Working their way through a
number
of singers and drummers the band managed to sell out venue after venue
and
secure a record with the UK's leading independent record label, Music
for
Nations. While their debut album sold a respectable number of units it
was
1990's 'Bezerk' that blew the doors wide open for the glam rockers
hitting
the UK Top 40 like a bolt of lightning. "When Bezerk exploded it was
like
a big finger pointed at us from the sky and said "It's your turn,"
recalls
frontman Kim Hooker, "And we made the most of every second from then
on."
The album was so successful for the band that it garnered them three
hit
singles (including their as of yet lone Top 40 hit, "Heaven") and their
very own "calling card" in the form of a bubblegum, over the top mega
anthem by the name of "Love Bomb Baby." A song so ridiculously popular
that it was impossible to escape it's seduction. Co-founder Pepsi Tate
says "That was like our statement of intent: completely over the top,
catchy as hell and with a mega portion of 'Tailz style topping. 100%
pure
Tigertailz as someone once said". It also brought them two Top 5 home
videos in the form of 'Bezerk Live: 1990' and 'Video Frenzy' as well as
a
slew of MTV and press attention.
The next year saw the band sign to Sony Records in Japan where they
released 'Banzai', a collection of b-sides and independent singles. Two
versions of the album 'Wazbones' followed (released through Mercury
Records), as well as a live album, entitled 'You Looking At Me?' which
proved to be Tigertailz' final musical output for a while. Jay Pepper
-
"Being in Tigertailz had sucked every last drop of blood from me, I had
given her my all and there was nothing left to give. I had to get away
from her for a while to try and rejuvenate myself. That 'while' turned
into
10+ years but now I feel re-born and am in a far better position to
control her than I ever was before and our relationship is much
stronger
for it. Having said that, being in this band is still totally crazy
and
recording 'Bezerk 2.0' was like going right back to 1990, nobody had
changed a bit - it's just like being in the BANANA SPLITS!"
Now, with 2006 upon them the Mad Welshmen have returned with their most
powerful output to date. 'Bezerk 2.0' wastes no time in picking up
where
'Bezerk' left off. "It's really just a natural progression from the
original album, " says Hooker. "It just feels right." Songs such as
"Do
It Up", "One Beat Of Your Heart" and "Sugar Fever" hit you in the face
immediately with their tradition 'Tailz huge choruses and over the top
riffing. With "TVOD" Pepper relates, "We called this record 'Bezerk
2.0'
because it is a musical continuation of the original album and most of
these songs would be at home on that album as well. 'TVOD' is one of
those songs, it stays in line with what people expect from us."
"Falling
Down", new drummer Matt Blakout says "has a bit of a tribalistic feel
to
it and people have started to latch on to it a bit. This is the kind of
thing that we should be doing, very contemporary and a little left of
center for this band." With "I Believe" the band has reached what may
possibly be their creative pinnacle, "We just took everything we had
and
threw it in, it's got a bit of a gospel feel to it, which again is a
bit
different for us."
The band now has complete control of their destiny and are at will to
do
things on their own terms. “We’re just back in this because it’s fun,
“says Jay Pepper. “We’re not under a ton of pressure to do silly
promotional stunts like being photographed arm wrestling with speed
metal
bands and going shopping in markets and things like that anymore. It’s
simple, really. While it remains fun, we’ll keep doing it. When it
stops
being fun we’ll stop.”
