Martyn, Adrian, Budi, The Tiger Lillies

0:09HostWelcome to Interceptor Beyond Podcast. My name is Arthur and today on the episode we have the one, the only, the Tiger Lilies. This band is really cool. Anyways, don't forget to follow this podcast on Spotify or any platform if you dig it and rate this show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Last time I said Podcasts, so I'm sticking with it. Podcasts. Anyways, let's talk to the Tiger Lilies. My introduction to the Tiger Lilies is I heard the music sometime in 2003-2004. I heard the Bully Boys and this song actually scared me. And actually the whole band scares me. It's a scary band. It's an unusual band. It's a completely unique band. The music is completely unique. I think so. And that's what I like about it. So at the moment you are right in the middle of touring, right? And you're coming in to Vienna, Austria in April.

1:24HostYes, you have two nights at Porgy and Bess in April, on April 13th and 14th. And then you go to St. Petersburg and then Banschalebach and then Innsbruck so that people can buy tickets. Actually, there are no more sitting tickets at Porgy and Bess. There's only standing tickets. So it's almost sold out.

1:47HostYeah. What are you going to play?

1:52?Old songs.

1:53HostOld songs, right. Old songs, yeah. The hits.

1:56AdrianYeah, well, yeah. Hits. Yeah, some of the hits, yeah. Yeah. All the misses.

2:04HostI heard that you never rehearse for the show.

2:08AdrianWell, no, we do a bit these days. A little bit. We do. Not very much, but we do rehearse more. We do, don't we?

3:03AdrianYeah. I've mellowed with age and there was a time when I was young, when I was, I used to torture Adrian and Adrian and the drummers because I used to, I just started playing a new song on stage.

3:21BudiBut of course, Budi, that still happens because Budi hasn't been playing with us for very long. So we play songs which he's never heard on an almost nightly basis. Don't we, Budi?

3:59HostWell, you have to be a really good drummer to play with the Tiger Lilies, considering all the songs that they have of 35 years.

4:17HostBudi, was it hard for you to get into the rhythm of the Tiger Lilies?

4:29HostI can disconnect them if you want to.

4:57HostWhat was your experience with them? Did it ever happen to you that when you're playing drums and then all of a sudden, like, what the hell is going on, guys? I mean, what? Is this normal for you?

6:00HostAnd yeah, I mean, the whole band is based, not based, but it has a lot of influences from jazz, from, I mean, a lot of improvisation is involved in a band, I guess. I mean, I've never been to a live show, I have to say. I've only heard the music as a recording, which is actually really good to listen in the public transport, which is funny.

6:27HostBeing me, a little bit of misanthropic, it's perfect.

6:37HostIt's absolutely great. The crack of doom or fire in public transport in a tube. It's absolutely great.

6:49HostActually, when I was thinking about the tiger lilies, how to explain it to the people, I would explain it as imagine getting completely pissed one night and then waking up with a horrible hangover. And you have all these deities of these musicians out there as hallucinations commenting on your daily life, something like that.

7:15?Okay.

7:16HostThat's my personal experience.

7:34HostIt's your subconscious talking to you in... Dead silence.

7:42?So, and I guess you don't do a set list during the performance.

8:35AdrianWell, maybe not 85%.

9:00HostYeah, I checked out, there's a service set list that records all your set lists of the bands that are doing during the shows over the years. And I could see sometimes people were, yeah, asking for something completely unexpected for the encore.

9:18?Yeah.

9:18AdrianI think we did, we even managed to do a little bit of Thousand Violins, didn't we?

9:28BudiFirst verse, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

9:31HostHow does it feel after the COVID? Because it was a long time when nobody were playing live. I mentioned, I read an interview that Martin had to remember some tricks, how to perform live, how to deal with the audience. That's what I mean. What kind of tricks do you usually have?

9:53HostI guess something like to warm up the audience or how to deal with the audience during the live performance?

10:04AdrianThere's no real kind of tricks.

10:36AdrianI wouldn't mind keeping my eyes open for those bits, actually. In fact, I remember we did a gig in the Torture Garden in London. It was, you know, and it's like a fetish club.

10:51BudiAnd there was about, oh, there were all these girls and apparently that was it, wasn't it? They were, apparently they were all flashing us and I never saw, I never saw a thing.

11:02HostBut I guess it was not the weirdest experience. I mean, it's a pleasant experience, but I guess you went to, you were invited to many private shows or like birthday parties or shows. I mean, what was the weirdest experience?

11:17BudiThere's some quite weird ones.

11:17AdrianI remember being invited by the Rothschilds to play on the river and they all arrived in their helicopters. And then we performed to the Rothschilds.

11:31HostAnd you performed the Crack of Doom for them. I performed, I remember I performed an especially obscene set.

11:38AdrianI went through all the, I went through all the, you know, like the songs and found all the filthiest, most obscene songs. And I, and I sang them to the Rothschilds and they were all, they were all standing like several, just a few feet away from, from me.

11:57AdrianAnd, and, and, and they were all drinking their cocktails. And we had a really expensive PA system and everything, and which was turned down to zero. And, and then we sat and so I was singing these obscene lyrics at these, these, these bankers heads.

12:13BudiAnd, and, and they all, they all just carried on drinking their cocktails.

12:17AdrianLike I wasn't there apart from one old lady, who I think must've been the one that was, got us, got us the gig. And she actually cheered loudly at the end of the first song, but then shut up because nobody else did.

12:30?That was a strange one.

12:31HostYeah. It's pretty strange on all kinds of levels. Probably. I mean, I can't imagine. I mean, there are so many questions regarding that, but, uh, I mean, I hope they paid well.

12:44HostIt would be, it would be funny if they paid not really well or the Rothschilds.

12:49AdrianBut we weren't allowed, we weren't allowed to, uh, we weren't allowed to mix. We weren't allowed to, uh, we had to, we had to stay in the kitchen.

12:55HostActually, it was one of the questions I had is, uh, like you mentioned some time ago that in the beginning you were treated, um, as a musicians, as beggars because you're basking. And, uh, at what point did it change? But when you mentioned that sometimes it doesn't, it, it comes back.

13:25BudiYou used to busk before the Tigles, didn't you?

14:34HostYeah. That's what was my next question. It's like, do you get sometimes stuck in the Tiger Lily's universe? I mean, the image of it that you created over the years, no, I'm not stuck, but you know, like there's a public, there's a, a, a way. How people view you.

15:30?Yeah, you don't fit in any genre.

15:32HostYou're completely on the side, but you have your own voice, but it took quite a while to find it. Yeah. And what kind of people usually come to, to the shows?

15:52HostYeah, that's what I mean is because the, the topics that you cover are universal. They're not really, they're not really focused. I mean, they, um, you don't comment on the, like really current events, except maybe the COVID albums, uh, the, the, the songs, but there's nothing about the technology or robots or something like this. Or it's more about the universal feeling about all this.

16:21?Yeah.

16:55?So do I.

17:03AdrianYes. I didn't even know what that was until about two weeks ago.

17:10?Yeah.

17:14?Yeah.

17:17HostOh, please don't. You know, I already have like enough of that stuff in my, at my life because I talk about AI a lot. Okay. Uh, but no, I need something to escape from, from reality. I want to, the world of whores, prostitutes. Exactly. Backstabbing killers. All the fun stuff. All the fun stuff. I can listen.

17:49?Yeah.

17:50HostHow do I, I mean, it might be a stupid question, but, uh, how do you know if the song is good? Like what kind of reaction do you get from the audience during the live performance? Why I'm asking is, is because you're a different band. You play in the theater, right? For example, I have more experience in rock concerts and I can see the reaction from the rock concerts, but in a theater, especially when it's seated, it's a bit different. How do you know what's, how do you know what is working or not?

18:18BudiMartin? I think you feel it. I think they're, uh, they're, uh, you can tell when the song's not very good. People, you can feel the energy. They look, they start, they start to feel, you can start to feel there was a bit of a, they're not, they don't really react or make any sound.

18:33AdrianThey just sit there and I think they start to, I think they'll get, they're a bit kind of, um, you can feel, I think you can feel, not exactly bored. They're not bored, hopefully, but, but they are a bit, a little bit bored, you know? So, you know, whereas when you do a good song, the people respond verbally or laugh or, you know, what kind of, uh, what's the best reaction you can get from an audience? Well, with us, I think the best thing is when they, you get the different reactions, you know, so you, you get people and they cry and then they, they laugh and then they feel a bit uncomfortable.

19:13?Yeah.

19:17?Yeah.

19:25BudiWe don't start fights, guys, so much as I used to, but there was a time when we used to have a bit of that as well. Yeah.

19:33HostIs Tiger Lee a good wedding band?

19:35?Good what band?

19:36HostA wedding band. Oh, wait a minute.

19:38BudiWell, we, I, I, we've done a few weddings and, uh, we also did a christening once, but I think that was someone's sick joke. And I think, well, also, I've also read people have, uh, you know, several people have said they'd like us for their funerals.

19:52AdrianGoing to hell was a particular popular one. So when the coffin goes into the flames, you have going to hell playing.

20:23BudiWe had a priest once he had, yeah, only, yeah, he was missing a hand and he had a hook where his hand should have been. And, uh, he was dancing to bank, banging in the nails. That was at a wedding as well. He just, he just married, married the couple.

20:38HostActually, like the, the question, uh, I want to ask is like, because of the topics that you think about and the music is about, it's like, do you get some weird people approaching the band and telling the stories about their life? I'm pretty sure it happens all the time.

20:51AdrianWeird people that we had, uh, we, we, Adrian, uh, Adrian Hughes, the, uh, the, the original drummer. He used to, he, we, he used to have this noise. He made this noise every time, uh, strange, a strange person was there and he'd say it rhymes with butter.

21:10BudiIt also, yes, we've had some weird people over the years because especially as we let people, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as, as we always sign CDs afterwards.

21:18AdrianSo, we actually get to meet the people as well.

21:22HostYeah, I, I, I read your rider, uh, it's a great rider, actually. It's a great experience. Uh, it, you can see the, the story of the band in the rider and yeah, you, you, uh, sell merch and you sign CDs after the show. So, you're always there.

21:36BudiSo, everyone gets a chance to insult us.

21:39HostYes. And you have three lagers there. Beers are ready, waiting for you. It was a really modest rider, actually.

21:57HostOh, yeah, regarding, regarding that, it's like, uh, you also do a lot of theater performances and, and you played in, in all kind of, uh, places like a circus kind of, uh, performances. What was the wildest ones?

22:28AdrianOh, that one. Yes. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. They, they, they, it was a sort of a live, um, yes, theater thing. And they had, they were blowing up, blowing, blowing things up. And I was wandering around and things were exploding.

22:54BudiAnd we started that one by, or showing our arses, didn't we?

22:58?Yeah. Remember?

22:59BudiYeah, yeah. The curtain was drawn and, and, uh, and we all had to show our arses. Poor audience.

23:12?when you've got lots of people and it's a bit more, you know, structured. We did that thing in the castle in Poland, didn't we? Where there was all the woman, the woman in the bath doing Hamlet.

23:30AdrianOne of the, one of the shows was all about, um, children and they all, they all, um, you know, did, uh, mild misdemeanors. And, uh, I used to scream dead. Every one of them died at the end. I used to scream dead at the audience. And then we did that in, um, in, um, Chicago, just after, um, nine 11 and I started screaming dead at the audience every night.

24:03HostAnd, uh, that was one of our greatest, um, theater triumphs when you tell me about your experiences, it's, it's, it's, you don't know if it's part of the song or it's your life. It's like, it's so mixed together, I guess. Yeah.

24:22HostI mean, you've been in the show business for a long time and you've seen a lot and you've learned a lot. So what's, what you wish you could, could have known when you started?

25:22?Do something with it.

25:26BudiAdrian, did you learn anything?

26:39HostAnd maybe something to watch out for, for like, because I'm trying to ask questions, like I want, I want experienced musicians to share a little bit of their knowledge if they could for the, for the starting musicians, maybe something to watch out for in the show business. When you start out, it's also very special and you know, you don't realize because it's probably quite hard, but it is very special when you, especially when you're starting out, because it is kind of most exciting time.

29:11?Great advice.

29:12HostUh, all right, guys. I don't want to bother you too much. Uh, the shows in, uh, in Vienna are happening in April 13th and 14th.

29:21?Yeah.

29:21HostUh, everybody should buy tickets. And in the end, I always ask if you could give me a song in your case, the Tiger Lilles song that should play at the end of the episode, which song is a good introduction to the band.

31:48HostThank you. Thank you. The Tiger Lilles. And thank you, dear listener, for staying till the end. Don't forget to follow this podcast if you dig it. More stuff to come. Until next time. Bye.