Weekly > Interviews
Tiny Masters Of Today
If you are in your teens this should be easy, if you aren’t though think back to when you were (no matter how far back it was). What were your main worries when you were at school?
I’m guessing for most it will be how you could you get your school crush to fancy you back, how were you going to explain scuffing your brand new shoes climbing a tree, which one of you is the tallest to get served in the nearest off-licence?
A brother and sister group from over the pond though have very differnt worries facing them, it’s not the usual teenage angst, I mean yeah i’m sure they have them as well, but they also need to balance with those, being in one of the coolest bands around at the moment, fitting in worldwide tours and writing and recording.
Such is the life for Tiny Masters Of Today, they are almost veterans now though with a 2nd album out this week (Skeletons) they have moved things on a step in their sound and are getting stronger and stronger with each release. I caught up with Ivan from the group to find out if they suffered from sibbling rivalry, how they balanced their various commitments and how bloody cool it is to have celeb fans at their age!
Let’s start at the beginning, at what point did you decide you wanted to form a band together?
We didn’t really decide anything. I was making music with my friend one day and Ada announced she wrote some songs and wanted to be the singer. Since neither of us wanted to sing or write songs at the time it made sense. My friend dropped out right away and I was stuck with Ada!
Brothers and Sisters are renowned for fighting anyway in their younger years, yet being in a band together at a young age must put extra pressure on your relationship, how do you keep things sane for you both?
We don’t really fight about the band that much, just about who finished the Lucky Charms or whose turn it is on the computer, stuff like that. When we are on the road, Ada reads and I listen to my ipod and we try to ignore each other.
Things really started to take off for you when you uploaded some tracks onto MySpace, did the reaction to those songs and the interest generated take you by surprise?
Yeah, we didn’t really expect anything to happen so it was shocking, It still is.
You’ve released several singles and your debut album Bang Bang Boom Cake already, do you have to stop and pinch yourself sometimes, it must be an unbelievable feeling to have achieved so much already?
It is pretty amazing. We have been very blessed. Probably the most amazing thing is that we have been able to go to a lot of places that we never would have gone to if we didn’t have the band, but most of the time we are doing homework and going to school and leading these very normal lives.
How do you balance trying to push your music career and also completing your education?
We don’t miss a lot of school because we do this mostly on school holidays and summer vacation. There have been things that have come up that we couldn’t do because of school. Kate Nash and The Horrors both asked us to do US tours with them but we couldn’t make it work because of school. That was a big drag, but life goes on.
Weblinks
- Tiny Masters Of Today MySpace Site
- Tiny Masters Of Today 'Pop Chart' Youtube Video
- Tiny Masters Of Today 'Skeletons' Youtube Video
You’ve picked up celebrity fans such as David Bowie along the way, have you had chance to meet any musical heroes of yours yet?
We have never met David Bowie. We have met a lot of people but a lot of times we don’t even realize who they are at the time. Wayne Coyne from the Flaming Lips came to a show once but I didn’t get a chance to talk to him, I would have liked to.
You have a new album out this month, what can you tell us about that and how does it vary from the debut in sound and the techniques you’ve used?
It is a little weirder and more experimental but it still sounds like us. We recorded most of it at home and took it to a studio for overdubs and mixing.
You’ve previously had remixes of your tracks done by CSS and Liars, what elements of your music do you feel lend themselves to remixes and will you be commissioning any from the new album?
Remixes are cool because sometimes other people find things in your songs that you didn’t even realize were there. Or they move something slightly and you wish you had thought of doing that.
Which other bands / artists are you listening to at the moment?
The new Mos Def album is amazing.
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