The Tiger Lillies
Date: November 1st, 2006 · Venue: St. Ann's Warehouse · City: Brooklyn, New York
The Tiger Lillies
The Tiger Lillies was playing in New York the night after Halloween 2006, promoting their latest album, Die Weberischen. This interview took place backstage before the show.
The Tiger Lillies is a theatrical three-piece band composed of singer Martyn Jacques, drummer Adrian Huge, and bassist Adrian Stout. The band has been around for almost 17 years, and has played everywhere from tiny, seedy bars to large theatres — wherever they've played, they've managed to draw an underground cult audience.
Video Interview Downloads
The video interview is about half an hour long. Since I incorporated it into my show, I have the full show available to download. The interview is on the lighthearted, merry side, and shows a more personal side of the Tiger Lillies.
MP4 (Mpeg 4) version available: Feel free to download the MP4 versions of the Tiger Lillies interview on the pages above — right-click the video and choose "Save Target As." Each is about 130MB, clearer and less grainy than the streaming version, with hardly any loss to the original quality.
Ms. Divine's Tee Hee Heure
This video interview aired on my local sketch comedy TV show, Ms. Divine's Tee Hee Heure. At the time this page was written, it aired weekly on Mondays at 11:00 AM and 8:30 PM on Queens Public Television (Channels 34/35), and Mondays at 10:30 PM on Manhattan Neighborhood Network (Channel 67) — check the current showtimes page for up-to-date airings, since schedules change over time.
Sitting with the Tiger Lillies
I've already aired the Tiger Lillies interview on TV, but if you're a resident of either county, send me an email and I'll let you know when I repeat it.
My show is a collection of short sketch comedy films. If you're interested in finding out more, I recommend downloading my sketch film Dancing Girl or "A Most Particularly Peculiar Bank Heist," that is if you're in the mood to see something peculiar.
Discovering The Tiger Lillies
I was introduced to the Tiger Lillies in a most unusual way. A longtime viewer of my show suggested I watch them. Pretty flowers? I wondered. A few weeks later, the viewer emailed briefly: "Tiger Lillies, tonight on local arts channel." I tuned in, only to enjoy a very strange performance.
The lead singer, Martyn Jacques, was dressed in clown makeup, singing in opera style over cabaret-styled music. His lyrics unravelled a sadistic, often melancholy story.
The Tiger Lillies as a Visual Comical Performance
There are many comic elements to the Tiger Lillies that I enjoyed. The drummer, Adrian Huge, was very fun to watch — as big as he was, his gentle tapping of the drums was very funny, similar to petting a newborn baby or a little kitten, and seeing this big guy pet something akin to a little kitten was quite amusing. He also had a rubber chicken that occasionally sat on his drums. At times, Adrian Huge would pretend to be a real tough rock star drummer, mimicking their actions — hands flailing wildly in the air as he pounded the air with his sticks. This invisible performance is a special moment for him, since at that point his bandmates, Adrian Stout and Martyn Jacques, stop playing and just stare at him.
Adrian Huge is a fan of peanut M&M's, and during the performance drops M&M's on his drum, creating a groovy little beat — fun to watch. I wonder what else Adrian Huge likes to eat? Some have even heard his cool drumming just from kitchen utensils when no drum sets are available. He has an interesting, comical expression on his face most of the time, and is clearly proudly enjoying his funny antics.
The other musician, Adrian Stout, has his own moments too. Unlike his name suggests, he's actually a slim-looking fellow. Though his appearance isn't as "freaky" as his counterparts, he manages to maintain some very interesting facial expressions by contorting his face in the most unusual ways. At times, he sets his instruments aside and plays the saw — I never knew music could be made from a saw, but having seen him play it, I understand how melodic the sound can be. Adrian Stout also plays the contrabass and musical saw, and does vocals at times. He's got several other musical projects too, including one recorded with Dana Gillespie, and current work with Sexton Ming.
Martyn Jacques is the lead singer, and also plays the accordion. He's classically trained to sing opera, and wrote the music for Shockheaded Peter, winning an Olivier Award for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical for his memorable role.
The Tiger Lillies as a Musical Band
In addition to watching the Tiger Lillies, listening to the music is quite nice. The additional instruments — accordion, piano, and saw — combined with their unique opera-style singing, makes for a very nice listening experience. It's not often one hears opera-styled singing set to this unusual style of music.
Standing with the Tiger Lillies
Tiger Lillies Links
Please note: the following comments have nothing to do with the members of the band Tiger Lillies, their manager, or their genuine fans. I felt the need to write about a highly unpleasant experience that resulted from various incidents that night, dealing with an unhelpful venue staff and a rather pretentious Halloween audience.
In the middle of taking a picture of the band after the interview, the lights were abruptly turned off. Raising this with venue staff was met with hostility, and the associate manager made no effort to address the issue — suggesting little regard for independent media genuinely trying to cover the Tiger Lillies. Later, venue management told me not to leave my seat to take pictures, even though that request had already been approved by the same associate manager earlier. The lack of communication resulted in poor, unusable pictures of the band in concert.
The New York audience that night seemed to largely consist of people there mainly because the show had been branded "the" Halloween event to see, rather than out of genuine appreciation for the band's actual work — leading to a fair amount of friction and unpleasantness throughout the show.
The venue itself — a warehouse space without a properly elevated stage, awkward seating, and a hard floor that echoed every footstep — didn't help matters. Simple things like getting up to use the restroom were met with visible irritation from those around me. It's worth remembering that the Tiger Lillies built their audience playing small, unpretentious venues, and that audience deserves room to move and breathe, not two hours confined to a folding chair in a room that took itself far too seriously.
