It was a mild Saturday night in Ybor City this past weekend, New World Brewery’s indoor bar and outdoor courtyard scattered with 100 or so people, small groups of friends drinking and chatting and waiting in patient anticipation for the two out-of-towners to hit the stage – support act Royal Bangs, and headliners Tigercity. [All photos by Phil Bardi.]
My husband and I met up with our crew and grabbed beers just before Royal Bangs [pictured left] kicked off their set at around midnight. The Knoxville, Tenn. synth-rock five-piece seemed almost too big for the space, the band and their music ready to burst at the spirited seams. Scrappy guitarists Brandon Biondo and Sam Stratton played off each other with skill, lean and towering bassist Henry Gibson leaped all over the tiny area without ever knocking anyone down (as I feared he might), drummer Chris Rusk kicked out the lively beats, and frontman Ryan Schaefer performed on a two-tiered keyboard and picked up the odd percussion instrument while singing with New Wave-affected vocals that were dead-on Robert Smith and out-of-sync with his sensitive bearded appearance.
Brooklyn’s Tigercity brought a bigger crowd to the dance floor — the majority of those who remained by the time they started around 1 a.m. — and the dance party was in full swing by 1:30 a.m. to the band’s disco-meets-‘80s electro rock. Lead singer Bill Gillim [pictured right] has that certain captivating something that makes you want to keep your eyes glued. Bald (nicely shaped) head, dark and penetrating eyes above a full-on unkempt beard, an expressive face and a powerful vox that conveys deeply-felt emotion, whether in a full-throated wail or high-note-hitting plea. Gillim and goofy-cute long-haired bassist Joel Ford (who was in the tightest jeans this side of NYC) shared some nice fal-soultto harmonies and Ford jammed with fuzzy synthed-out bass.
This article appears in Sep 30 – Oct 7, 2009.
