Interview with Tiger Mimic: ‘Every part has to have a reason to be there’

London-based rock band Tiger Mimic brought out their latest single ‘King of Machines’ last week, a politically-charged, fiery anthem that begs to be played on a loop!

From its unearthly choral intro, to its jagged verses and snarling choruses, ‘King Of Machines’ is essentially a rebuttal to the hypocrisy and callousness that has defined the political landscape in recent years on both sides of the pond.

Tiger Mimic comprises Jess Rhodes (vocals and keys), Bram Johnson (guitar and vocals), Ben Willis (bass and backing vocals) and George Latham (drums). Rhodes and Johnson moved from New York to London at the end of 2017 and, by the end of the year, Tiger Mimic was formed. Rhodes, who was born in Germany but spent some time in Lebanon as a child, grew up mainly in Europe but moved to the US to study. A high school friend in London knew Willis who, in turn, brought them Latham: ‘George started playing and we were all smiling,’ Rhodes said. ‘Bram had a huge smile, it just all clicked. It makes the whole process so much easier when we’re all on the same page.’

The challenge proved to be finding a name: ‘It took us forever to find a name,’ she laughed. ‘We were making lists of names! Bram took the words ‘tiger’ and ‘mimic’ and put them together, we didn’t know it was a thing but the tiger mimic butterfly imitates the look of a poisonous butterfly, it’s a way for it to protect itself, we liked that. We’ve got a cat and he’s my little tiger.’

‘It gave me a very dystopian sense’

‘King of Machines’ offers a bleak assessment of the political climate in the US and the UK. ‘I started writing the words in 2018,’ Johnson said. ‘I was watching the elections here with Corbyn and all and Bernie (Sanders) over there during the last presidential election. Bernie just felt so honest. We were watching people choose one kind of shitty, hateful option – and there are so many to chose from right now – over hope and it gave me a very dystopian sense.’

That sense of dystopia comes across very clearly in the lyrics: ‘The king of the dirt is so proud of his lies, he thinks he has on such a clever disguise but it’s easy to tell by his desperate eyes, even he knows it’s just a matter of time.’

Johnson describes ‘King of Machines’ as ‘a bit of an adventure’: ‘We got very excited by the middle section before we changed it, it still dropped down but it was bass-focused.’ Rhodes chips in: ‘Bram wrote the verse and riff, he laid down the instruments and I was like “I want to sing on this” so he said “Ok, write the chorus!”. So I didn’t get far and then about a month later I felt inspired and said to him at midnight that I had an idea and he was like “But it’s so late” and I said but can we try? So we did and the song was close to being done!’

It felt appropriate to be discussing this song on Wednesday (4 November), when the world was waiting to see if voters would grant Trump another four years in the White House. ‘I feel like if he wins, I’ll lose all hope for humanity,’ Rhodes said. Johnson points out that you can’t even really look at it along party political lines: ‘There’s a lot of fuzzy ground, it’s not really about Democrats or Republicans. Trump’s not a Republican, he’s doing what he always does, he’s looking out for himself. He didn’t even win the popular vote last time.’

We all lament the US’s electoral college sytem, which typically operates with a winner-takes-all system, meaning that the candidate with the highest number of votes in a state claims all of that state’s electoral votes. (For example, in 2016, Trump beat Clinton in Florida by a margin of just 2.2%, but that meant he claimed all 29 of Florida’s crucial electoral votes.)

‘Jess swooped in with the perfect chorus when I didn’t know where to go’

Last year, they brought out an EP, Elephant Skeleton, comprising five tracks about issues such as how the female body is judged and grief. Johnson describes the title track, ‘Elephant Skeleton’, as ‘telling the story of a person watching something that was formerly beautiful withering away’: ‘I’d gone through a personal loss and watched my family going through it as well. Jess swooped in with the perfect chorus when I didn’t know where to go.’

The song is very reflective: ‘And soon the wounds became too big to ignore, like an elephant skeleton at the door and no one knows what it was put there for or what it means and how could we know for sure.’

Rhodes’ sweet-as-molasses vocals against a backdrop of smooth, disco-infused basslines – which contrast against searing bursts of post-punk guitar riffs – is what gives their songs such a unique flavour. She’s actually a trained opera singer, something that has allowed her to be more analytical about her voice and its range. ‘I get very specific about it,’ she said. She also has a law degree and is currently doing a Masters in psychology as well as a counselling course. ‘The statistics class makes me want to cry,’ she laughed. ‘I can’t even hear Bram say the word “statistics”! Lockdown made me rethink what I love. Part of it is music but I also love helping people.’

As a child, she says she was very shy and would only sing for her friends if she could do so from the bathroom while they waited outside. It wasn’t until she took singing lessons as a teenager and started working on arias that she realised what else she could do with her voice: ‘I didn’t even know I could sing like that,’ she laughed. ‘I ended up doing a masterclass in Vercelli, Italy for a week and I loved it so much that I moved to Italy for several months when I was 19.’

‘Every part has to have a reason to be there’

In addition to singing and playing guitar, Johnson plays a variety of instruments, including the uke and banjo. ‘I love to sit around and play guitar solos in the bedroom but every part has to have a reason to be there. Violins are very loud if you play them a tiny bit wrong, it sounds like the worst sound in the world!,’ he laughed. ‘We had a trumpet, it’s like a dead elephant!’

Another track on the EP, ‘I Took Off My Body’, is about how women’s bodies come under intense scrutiny, offering up an enticing, repetitive guitar line that builds into a synth-infused, dancey climax: ‘Our bodies are just what we live in but it’s how we’re judged, especially as a woman,’ she said. ‘It’s getting worse with social media and how we’re viewed. I admire beauty but it goes much further than that, it’s not supposed to be the defining thing. There’s so much pressure about how skinny you should be. I have a friend who feels pressured to get plastic surgery because of her job, although she knows she doesn’t really need it. It’s so scary for little kids, they’re growing up so much faster. But women are starting to show retouched and not retouched photos more and I think that’s so important, I’m really glad this is happening.’

Johnson calls the track a progression for them. ‘Like you said, we added synths. Jess basically took over writing that song. The riff became electric and I worked out a rockier arrangement. I like playing bass, it’s very riff- driven but then I always hand it off to Ben who puts all the flourishes and final touches on the part.’

I didn’t used to use a lot of guitar effects but I realised that I wanted more of a palate to choose from sonically. The single note riffs sound very full and exciting with this guitar pedal. You need the riff before the pedal and I have a few now.’ Rhodes jumps in: ‘He dreams about guitar pedals!’ Johnson starts laughing: ‘Yeah, if I had all the money in the world, I’d have a room full of pedals!’ (When I ask him, he says he currently has 13, which is ‘modest’.)

They are hoping to do a gig on 22 December at The Amersham Arms in London, providing the gig is allowed to go ahead. A Void, Healthy Junkies, and UK Paint Horse are also playing.

Johnson listened to The Doors and Neil Young a lot growing up. Rhodes, for her part was, in her words, ‘quite obsessed with Kurt Cobain’. ‘Joni Mitchell was a big influence. I felt my voice was too high for many covers on the radio but she tends to sing high, so I could sing that. I love her songs, they’re like poems. Björk  is also incredible. I love everything she does. Regina Spektor (a Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist) was also a big influence. System of a Down (an Armenian-American heavy metal band in California), I love them, they’re my jam! You’ll see me dancing!’

Johnson is also a huge fan of System of a Down: ‘We like how they did unpredictable things that were right for the song, their sense of adventure, the perfect mix of musicality and ferocity.’ Rhodes also loves Anna Calvi: ‘She’s so talented and different and sounds like nobody else.’

When I ask who they’d like to tour with, Johnson starts laughing: ‘Right now, I’d tour with Weird Al!’ Rhodes jumps in: ‘Anna Calvi because she’s fresh in my mind. Or Nirvana, but I don’t know if I’d be able to perform!’ Johnson is thinking about it. ‘It’s hard to choose a band I’d want to tour with versus a band I’d like to see live every night. Radiohead would be really exciting or Tom Waits, that’d be a surreal experience!’

(Photo from left to right: Ben, George, Jess and Bram)