The Actual Tigers, originally known as Willis, were an American rock band formed in 1994 in Seattle. They released two full studio albums on CD: a self-titled debut and Gravelled and Green, produced with Dennis Herring. The band opened for Counting Crows after their second studio CD was released and, in 2005 after the Actual Tigers had disbanded, Gravelled and Green was ranked by MSNBC as one of the top 20 albums of the past 20 years.Bob Harkins, If we were picking the best albums: MSNBC.com offers its top selections of the past 20 years, MSNBC, July 5, 2005 The band played together for seven years, having a sound often compared to Paul Simon and early Wilco.Amazon.com album description and reviews Accessed June 28, 2011
Beginning
Early days and self-releases
Willis formed after Tim Seely (vocals, guitar), Max Perry, (bass, background vocals), John Low (keyboard) and Diarmuid Cullen (drums) met one New Year's Eve. Each had been in other, less-successful high school bands and named their group in part after the older brother character on the long-running TV show Diff'rent Strokes.John Fisher, Willis interview in the 103.7 KMTT Mountain Music Lounge 1997Tom Phalen, Show Time At The Showbox -- Up-And-Coming Band Willis Is Part Of A Hot Week At Seattle Nightclub Seattle Times - Aug. 14, 1997 "We started out parodying music ... from there, we came up with our own sound," Low said in 1996.Florangela Davila, Talkin' About Willis: Band Plays Rootsy Pop Music Seattle Times - November 21, 1996 "Diarmuid is the only trained musician in the group. The rest of us taught ourselves how to play. That leads to our original sound." The band's first song was Freakynuts, about a man whose hair was growing the opposite way.
In March 1994, Willis debuted that song, dedicated to the Chuba Chuba Posse, at an assembly following the conclusion of Tradition Week, an annual event at Bishop Blanchet High School. "The crowd was really responsive," Seely said in Dec. 1997.Casey McNerthney and Laura Hooper, Willis signs success with Capitol records The Miter – Dec. 19, 1997 "They were gettin' a little too rowdy and they had to pull the plug on us two or three times because everyone was gettin' a little excited. It was a good welcome from the crowd."
The band later got a break at Seattle's Owl and Thistle Irish Pub despite being younger than the Washington State drinking age, and in Sept. 1996 released a 12-song self-released CD, which was mostly recorded in Tacoma.Image from Facebook page I Think At Least 500 People Would Like To See A Willis Reunion Facebook – accessed July 1, 2011
During shows in 1996, including a May 13, 1996 show at the Colorbox in Seattle, members of Willis wore suits to stand out from other bands. It was also that year when their sound began being described in news articles as "rootsy pop.”Florangela Davila, Talkin' About Willis: Band Plays Rootsy Pop Music Seattle Times - November 21, 1996 Willis shows included: Nov. 24, 1996 at the Owl and Thistle; Nov. 29, 1996 at the Sit and Spin; April 4, 1997 at The Backstage in Ballard; July 26, 1997 at Club Nights at the Pier and Aug. 15, 1997 at the Showbox at the Market. Other early venues were Gibson's Bar and Grill, Dutch Ned's Saloon, Doc Maynards, the Tractor Tavern, Bellingham's KISM’s Locals Only radio program, the Crystal Ballroom (Portland, Oregon) and Magnuson Park in Seattle.Image from Facebook page I Think At Least 500 People Would Like To See A Willis Reunion Facebook – Accessed July 30, 2011
Perry, who was a year behind the others at Blanchet, wasn't able to legally hang around before and after the band's bar performances until an Aug. 28, 1999 show at The Crocodile Café. He turned 21 that week.Tom Scanlon, Willis Maintains Its Vision While In The Belly Of The Whale Seattle Times – Aug. 26, 1999
Seattle radio success
John Fisher, a disc jockey on KMTT in Seattle, had seen the band before their debut CD was complete and put "Reason For a Rake" in the stations regular rotation after receiving the completed track in 1996. Seely wrote what became the song's lyrics as part of a University of Washington poetry class.Casey McNerthney, Band with Blanchet ties appears poised for succuess The Jet City Maven – Sept. 1997, page 15.
By fall 1997, the song had reached No. 5 on the KMTT listeners' request list. "We get a lot of calls from people (who) have just heard us talking about them and have wanted to hear more," Fisher said that September.Casey McNerthney, Band with Blanchet ties appears poised for succuess The Jet City Maven – Sept. 1997, page 15. Also in 1997, KNDD disc jockey Marco Collins played "End of May" on his show. Collins, who helped launch Beck to national prominence, liked both Willis and the effect of a clock ticking in the background of the song, the sole rhythmic element in the original recording.Chris Kornelis, Marco Collins Picks Up the Pieces Seattle Weekly – Dec. 29, 2010Mike Seely, An Incomplete History: Michael Buble's "End of May" Seattle Weekly – Nov. 10, 2010
In summer 1997, Willis took second place in a Late Night with Conan O'Brien college band search. The prize was a form letter and four sweatshirts, sizes small and medium. Manager Brad Hole sent a request to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman, which was denied, but the band received T-shirts in adult sizes as a consolation.Image from Facebook page I Think At Least 500 People Would Like To See A Willis Reunion Facebook – Accessed July 30, 2011 In Aug. 1998, Willis played Fiddlestock III at the Fiddler's Inn in Wedgwood, a North Seattle neighborhood. Their set, which began with then-unreleased “Testimony,” included a cover of N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton."Image from Facebook page I Think At Least 500 People Would Like To See A Willis Reunion Facebook – Accessed July 30, 2011
National exposure
Capitol Records contract The band signed a six-record deal with Capitol Records in 1997. "We decided on Dennis Herring because we have a good chemistry with this guy and we thought he worked well with the band," Seely said in Dec. 1997. Herring also has been a producer for Counting Crows, Elvis Costello, Modest Mouse, and Ben Folds.
Willis was featured on the soundtrack to Never Been Kissed, a 1999 film starring Drew Barrymore. Their song “Standing By,” written years earlier but previously unreleased, was the second of 16 tracks on the soundtrack released April 9, 1999. The album also featured songs from R.E.M., Jimmy Eat World, The Beach Boys and The Smiths.Amazon.com album description and track list Accessed June 30, 2011 On Sept. 3, 1999, the band had their second Bumbershoot performance (the first was 1997), and on May 20 that year Seely played a solo show at the Tractor Tavern.Patrick MacDonald, Rock Notes Seattle Times – April 15, 1999
Willis followed in 2000 with a five-song EP, Bourgeois Blues. Three of the songs, “Bourgeois Blues,” “Bad Day” and “Testimony,” would be released on Gravelled and Green. The other two, “Truckers' Lullaby” and “Sunshot Vistas,” were acoustic and only released by the band on the EP. The disc was released on the Collective Fruit label.Amazon.com album description and track list Accessed June 30, 2011
Legal concerns were among reasons Willis changed its name in summer 2001. The previous year, the band met Silver Jews frontman David Berman at a San Francisco poetry showcase and, during their conversation, explained the name problem. He later sent a postcard that would inspire their new name, the Actual Tigers.Tom Scanlon, Actual Tigers finally roar: on album and at Showbox Seattle Times - July 20, 2001Mike Seely, An Incomplete History: Michael Buble's "End of May" Seattle Weekly – Nov. 10, 2010
Willis' final performance was at 8 p.m. June 8, 2001, at the Experience Music Project's Sky Church. The second set was billed as the Actual Tigers; the first set was Willis and concluded with “Broccoli McGee.” Cullen, an Ireland native, played the last notes on an Irish tin whistle. Gravelled and Green was recorded at the time, but wasn't released until July 17, 2001 on Nettwerk America, Sarah McLachlan's record label. The band followed with a July 20 show at The Showbox across from the Pike Place Market in Seattle.Tom Scanlon, Actual Tigers finally roar: on album and at Showbox Seattle Times - July 20, 2001
Gravelled and Green On Gravelled and Green Seely had vocals, guitar, ukulele, vibraphone, tambourine, hand claps, music box and tapes. Perry played bass and sang background vocals. Low played accordion, piano, Fender Rhodes piano, organ, Wurlitzer organ, Mellotron, synthesizer, hand claps, sampler and background vocals. When Gravelled and Green was released, the Actual Tigers were Perry, Seely and Low, though the album had Cullen playing guitar drums and percussion. Eric Gardner, a Los Angeles-based drummer, replaced Cullen, who had previously studied at Seattle's Cornish College of the Arts and left the band to study jazz.Tom Scanlon, Actual Tigers finally roar: on album and at Showbox Seattle Times - July 20, 2001
Joe Hancock played French horn; Jeff Callaway played trombone; and Jared Bacon played tuba on album's final track, “The One That Got Away.” Gravelled and Green was produced by The Actual Tigers and Herring, who also sang some background vocals. Engineers included Richard Hasal, Mark Howard and Joe Chiccarelli. Audio mixers were Chris Lord-Alge, Mark Howard and Hasal. Gravelled and Green was recorded at seven studios: Ardent in Memphis, Tenn.; Iltho in Seattle, Wash., Image, in Los Angeles; Ironwood in Seattle; Mad Hatter in Los Angeles; Sweet Tea in Oxford, Miss.; and Teatro in Oxnard, Cali. Photography was done by John Clark.CD Universe album description Accessed June 30, 2011
In 2001, the Actual Tigers opened for Counting Crows. Joe Seely, Tim's brother who later formed the folk rock duo Pillowfighter with Margaret White, joined.Heidi Atwood, Counting Crows concert well attended, huge success The Elm – Oct. 19, 2001Katherine Stevens, Counting Crows keep mood light Yale Daily News – Oct. 8, 2001
Solo projects and ‘’End of May’’ In Aug. 1999, Seely said he thought Capitol "just wanted us to be a straightforward pop band," and the label's original plan was to have Willis re-record their self-titled, self-produced album. "We spent a lot of time trying to make the old songs sound new," he said. "Hearing those old songs, a lot of them I wrote before I was 18 - I compare it to getting tattoos when you're young, and then as you get older you realize they suck."Tom Scanlon, Willis Maintains Its Vision While In The Belly Of The Whale Seattle Times – Aug. 26, 1999
The band later convinced Capitol to scrap that idea and let them record new material, which Seely described as having a fuller sound with more strings and horns.
The Actual Tigers "basically ended because there was some extreme frustration involved throughout the process of us being signed with Capitol Records, and then it was farmed out to another label called Nettwerk," Seely said in 2005.Abe Beeson, In-studio interview and performance with Abe Beeson KEXP - July 9, 2005 "Capitol was supposed to help out with that and they kind of dropped the ball, and we were at the point in our lives where some guys wanted to do things that actually made money besides music. So I decided to keep churning out the hits. And that's what is embodied on Funeral Music."
Tim Seely’s Funeral Music