RISING - My Tiger My Timing

“Some people came to us at a gig and said that they’d illegally downloaded two of our tracks, and I was like: fuckin’ right!” My Tiger My Timing may sound somewhat like an upcoming Kill Bill sequel from Tarantino, but in fact, are a group of five humble musicians who complete the line-up of one of the most amiable and charismatic bands you could ever meet, oozing down-to-earth charm with a hefty dose of songwriting talent. Relentlessly striving for recognition within an ever mutating industry, self assurance and a bit of naughtiness are the key to success, and these guys are letting it all hang out, literally!

Exuding confidence, not only in song composition but also as a tightly-knit collaboration, MTMT give the impression that they’re one big happy family that have been to together for... well, forever; And in fact, they have! Well, almost. The family connection being that Anna and bass player James are brother and sister and founders of the band. However, the current line-up has only been in existence for around two years. James conveniently got to know guitarist Jamie and drummer Andy at University in Brighton. Sebastian, head of all things with keys and drum pads, then came along a little while afterwards having played with the electropop band ‚ thecocknbullkid. Anna remarks, “We all decided we wanted to do something new, something concise that was about the songs and not about individual virtuosity... there’s no one person that’s the best in the band... I always get uncomfortable when people say I’m the lead singer, because that’s just the instrument that I use, it doesn’t mean that I’m the leader of the band.”

Whatever it is, it seems to be working! Their songs have an undeniable feel-good quality about them and you can’t go wrong when citing impressive influences ranging from ground-breaking band Talking Heads to rhythmic geniuses The Rapture. Their first single release ‘This is not the Fire’ produced by Andy Spence from electropop band New Young Pony Club, is living proof of how a song can sound effortless but with closer attention, turns out to be a complex piece of workmanship. MTMT are all about township - inspired rhythms, chiming melodies that characterise their unmistakable sound, and vocal hooks with a singalong factor of 10! Anna explains: “James and I grew up in South East London, and township and dancehall were definitely sounds we heard while growing up. We didn’t wanna just do dance beats or four-to-the-floor.” My Tiger My Timing continued their producer collaboration and went on to record an entire EP with Andy Spence which, in turn, attracted some very useful support during the early stages. ‘This Is Not The Fire’ was up for the pick ‘n’ mix single of the week on Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie’s BBC Radio 2 show, and MTMT were also broadcast as part of Xfm’s Xposure Live sessions with John Kennedy. As a direct result of the radio attention, the band got picked to play on the BBC Introducing stage at this year’s Radio 1’s Big Week- end event in Bangor, North Wales. An event which included big names such as Rihanna, Florence and the Machine, and Vampire Weekend. As if that wasn’t enough, French label Kitsuné, who are notoriously well-known for finepicking new talent, chose to include them on their eighth Kitsuné Maison compilation. Not to mention that Modular included them on their Leave Them All behind III compilation alongside a dream team of artists including The Presets, Ladyhawke, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and newbies Delphic.

Remarkably, after all that success it’s still not possible for them to truly live a life of excessive rock ’n’ roll decadence. Each member of the band has a second job to help finance their music careers, ranging from cinema ticket collector to call centre slave. There’s no chance of anyone developing inflated egos, let alone inflated bank accounts. Bassist James says, “We don’t want to buy Aleistair Crowley’s house like Led Zeppelin. We don’t want mansions, we just want to be able to have a roof over our heads!”Anna spends a great deal of time and effort in keeping up MTMT’s online presence. “Using the internet is really important for us because blogs were a huge thing for us early on in terms of support... I think that a lot of labels and more mainstream radio stations do look to what blogs are saying first... so if you’re getting support from those kind of places, it’s seen as a good sign that you’re doing something that people might like.” The important thing is spreading the music and creating a name. Drummer (Gary) says, “Some people came to us at a gig and said that they’d illegally downloaded two of our tracks, and I was like: fuckin’ right!”

Having played a great deal around the UK and completing a mini tour this year in Germany, My Tiger My Timing are setting their sights high, with plans for a European tour next year as well as the completion of their debut album which is planned for release in March 2011. The important question is, how will they cope with spending so much time together in close quarters? Anna: “Every time we go on tour together, we get a little bit closer and sometimes it’s too much!” Possibly, a certain amount of anticipation or anxiLety has arisen due to keyboardist Sebastian’s tendency for wandering around naked in hotel rooms sporting merely his favourite item of stage attire, his bow tie...