10 QUESTIONS: Blake Mobley
The man behind Tiger Party offers his take on music in Colorado and beyond
By Eric Frank and Blake Mobley
1. When did you first develop an ear for music and how has it evolved?
My ear came from growing up in a musical house, for sure. Either my mom was playing violin, my dad plucking out some piano or guitar chords, or the record player was rocking. I think my favorite was when all of those things were happening at once.
2. How did the idea for Tiger Party come to be?
After grinding on the road for some years with bands like Basshound & Damn Right, I had the opportunity to play with and meet some REALLY talented musicians. Baltimore (where I'm from) has a ton of talent, and Colorado is just a madhouse when it comes to players. SO MUCH TALENT!!
I also love the idea of collaboration and some of my favorite musical moments have revolved around spontaneity and improvisation. So, it sorta just made sense to me. Keep it interesting for the players, who get to play with folks they might never had even met and meanwhile, are given a little sense of, "oh man, what is going to happen tonight?" as well as keeping it interesting for the audience who will probably not ever see the same Tiger Party show twice. Win/win!
Regarding the name Tiger Party, it is both homage to Damn Right!, who used a lot of tigers & various animals in the art and promo, but also a reference to the term, “Jazz Lions”, a name given to some amazing young jazz players in the early 80's. I thought that if the jazz scene had lions, maybe the jam scene could have tigers. Get those tigers together and you have yourself a Tiger Party.
3. With a rotating cast of musicians, the band(s) must take some chances up on stage. Have there been challenges in that regard?
You know, I look at those chances taken on stage as less of a challenge and maybe more the purpose of the group. One of my favorite things in music is to get out of my comfort zone and maybe to push other people out of theirs a bit. I think that just about anybody, if they really think about it, obtains their most rewarding moments in life outside of that comfort zone. I think Tiger Party is in a unique situation to be able to do that every show.
4. Could you tell us a bit about your rig?
Absolutely. My main keyboard is a Nord Electro. I love it for its portability factor and for its very solid vintage tones (organs, Wurlitzer, Rhodes, piano, Clavinet). I then run that through guitar pedals (EQ → distortion → delay) and then through a guitar tube amp whenever possible. However, if I could take my real Rhodes or Wurlitzer pianos to every gig, I would. But I think it's pretty easy to get sick of the repairs and weight involved with the vintage gear. Huge respect to the players for keeping it old-school. When I wanna get funky, I bring out the Roland VK-7 organ. It gives me more variety in organ tones and I can also bring in some strings and choir effects, when appropriate. When I'm on the road, I might sub out a smaller midi keyboard in place of the VK-7.
For synthesizers I've had the Korg MS2000B for a long time and like to run it into a Kaoss Pad for some extra effects (delays, distortion, phasers). I also recently picked up an Arturia Mini-Brute which has a killer analog monophonic tone. I think it crushes in the low-end department especially.
5. You split time between Colorado and the east-coast. How do the two music scenes differ from another? How are they alike?
So Colorado has this amazing scene going on. I think the word ”'thriving” may even be an understatement. One thing there does not seem to be a lack of are music fans out here. The obvious sign to me is seeing multiple large venues with sold-out shows on the same night in Denver. It's wild. That doesn't seem to happen as often on the east coast.
As a band in Colorado, there is no shortage of venues, however the beauty of being a band traveling the east coast is being able to hit Boston, NYC, Philly, Baltimore, DC, Richmond, etc. all in the time it would take you to get through Kansas (that may or may not be true). But maybe somewhere in the necessity to compete for life as a band on the East Coast is what leads to what I see as more band-loyal fans, as opposed to the venue- or genre-loyal fans I see in CO. Sort of a story of collaboration versus competition. Each with great results, just different. Having said that, Colorado and the East Coast breed amazing players and music lovers alike.
6. You released your first album Roar Like A Tiger this April. Describe the process of making it and its resulting sound?
What a challenging but fun process! I went the Kickstarter route and thanks to 116 amazing friends, family members and fans, I received what ended up being a good chunk of the funding for the album. I put a fair amount of the album together in Denver, flew to Baltimore, spent a day rehearsing with the East Coast Tigers, and then five days at WrightWay Studios. That studio is a hidden gem in Baltimore with a large amount of vintage keyboards and gear and a killer audio engineer/producer named Steve Wright (give a listen to a band called Lake Trout). So yeah, lots of moving parts, but a blast recording with some talented friends and seeing it all come together.
7. What, to you, makes music relevant?
Speaking only for myself, I'd say that it's the human connection that comes along with it. I think music is a deeply personal thing to most music lovers, but I guess it becomes more tangible or palpable to me when I can see it affecting a roomful of people.
8. What is your favorite road-story?
So I should probably plead the 5th on my favorite stories, but if you ever meet a guy named Craig Gruen, he might have a couple for you.
9. Tiger Party will be hosting a residency at Denver's Armoury this June. What can we expect?
You can expect that each night is going to be very unique, the sound largely dictated by the tiger-lineups! We've got members of The Motet, Particle, Octopus Nebula, The Malah, Kinetix – and that’s just in the first two weeks! I think we can also expect a fair amount of dancing and carousing as well.
10. What's next for Blake Mobley?
Well, Tiger Party has some great summer shows coming up. We have this residency at the Armoury, the Lohi Music Festival, we are gonna break out the cowbell for the Denver Disco, opening for The Motet at State Bridge, and are already planning a cool show for Phibstock. But I think I finally convinced someone today to be in a band with me called Dance Attack, so that could get weird.