My Favorite LP's of 2007 list was instantly skewed earlier in the month. It was the day that an unexpected gem of an album by Real Live Tigers appeared behind my mailbox door. This is Sometimes a Riverbed [Sanitary Records] - a name that echoes all throughout this feature - was the name of the release, and it sparked something that was in a Nyquil-ish deep sleep in my frail body. Eleven compositions from one songwriter Tony Presley, joined effectively within by Karrie Hopper [guitar / harmonies] and Marcus Rubio [violin] - this album was talking with me. Song topics of being alone [with productive results], the path of non-belief [and that being 'daringly' alright] and - above all - the gut instinct that life would be ok if we all just trusted one another. There are many [x many] humans that are not comfortable with believing that the best of times and truths are contained within each one of us - the living, rational warm bodies that we are. Real Live Tigers is not for those reverse-pathed mortals. Real Live Tigers is for us.

"No Regrets" [ MP3 ]

us: This is Sometimes a Riverbed is my first exposure to your music [some friends I have!]. I'm curious as to your early life and beliefs "religiously" that may have been presented to you. I'm *with you* - so you know - but after the weighty content of songs like "Beard of Bees" [ new LP ] and "no regrets" [ Hospital Songs EP ] I am extremely curious as to how you got *here* [to what you accept now]. {side note: I've lived all of my 31 years in Lynchburg, Virginia; Jerry Falwell.. .}

Tony Presley: I was raised by Lutheran parents, but we also lived a very transient lifestyle. So there was aways this huge contrast between a strict, uncreative Christian belief system and seeing different countries and cultures. As I got older I realized the two didn't fit together. A distillation would be this scene from my catechism class when I was 16-- The pastor of my parents' church and I were meeting for instruction and we came to the passages in the bible about the last supper. How Jesus told the disciples, 'This is my body, this is my blood.' Well, he was still alive and so the words he was saying were obviously metaphor. The pastor and I disagreed on this. See, this synod of the Lutheran church is very literal and doesn't believe in metaphor in the bible, and so I had to lie to him and tell him that yes, I did believe, somehow, magically, that Jesus was *actually* giving them his body and blood, even though he was still living. And as I got older I realized there was more magic in this world than the bible, that we each have our own religion that we shape throughout our lives.

New thought. Karrie Hopper! What gorgeous accompaniment on them new album - how do you two know one another. I'm familiar with her release on Nobody's Favorite Records.

I'm glad you're already familiar with Karrie Hopper. More people should be. We met in Austin, Texas in 2006. She played a show at a house I was staying at during that time and I wrote down a line from one of her songs she played that night-- "Living reckless didn't work for long." I asked her if I could quote her in a song of mine, that when I came across a line that made perfect sense I'd rather quote it than rephrase it. I ended up using that line in 'Yes, Still,' a song that Karrie sings and plays electric guitar on.

That summer was an important time for many of us and we formed a real community, a family of musicians. In the fall Karrie and I lived together for two months when I rented her roommates' room, who was on tour. We began playing music together then and she became part of Real Live Tigers. In the summer of 2007 we did a U.S. tour together and at the end of that she moved to New York City and I moved to Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Personal: the bio to 'Riverbed' mentions "mental health and cycle of emotions" - was the album written during a particularly dark/vacant period for you? I have demons - too many to name, I decided to number them in colors [perhaps I need a God..?]

The album was written over a long period of time, but I wouldn't call much of that time dark or vacant. This is Sometimes a Riverbed is the second Real Live Tigers album and I've actually been told it's much lighter than the first.

I think most artists are familiar with the inconsistent flow of creativity, dry spells and floods. I'm in a dry spell now and so I wouldn't even think of recording these songs and sending them out into the world.

You tour like a carnival performer [not in a cage, to say - just non-stop]. Do you enjoy the open road? Favorite places?

The touring lifestyle has been my life for the past four years. I've been off tour now for about two months, which is the longest break I've taken since I started and it feels good. I think I'd like to strike more of a balance between a domestic life and a touring life. There are more projects I'd like to work on that aren't music-related.

But there are favorite places-- Milwaukee and Chicago always. I absolutely love Astoria, Oregon. Philadelphia, Baltimore, Lexington, and Ypsilanti have always been good to me. Savannah, Georgia is a place I've only been to once, but I'd love to get back there.

"Beard of Bees" [ MP3 ]

"Life is easy" is messaged a few times on Riverbed - it opens the album, then you later state how it "blows your mind" ["Beard of Bees"]. Sorry to dig so much into your words - but is it, you believe, the way you [or an individual] live or accept life that makes it so "easy". I know if I tried to tell most around me "hey, life is easy" - they'd implode or smack me. I guess what I'm thinking is how did life get easier for you.. ? Minimalism.. ?

"Life is easy" is something that rings true for me at certain moments in this life. Obviously I don't feel that way all the time, but I think it's important as an artist to record those moments when things make sense and to provide that evidence for others to see or feel. The song 'Yes, Still' is actually a response to the song 'Life is Easy' on the first album. That song is darker and so 'Yes, Still' is a series of reaffirmations, for myself and for friends who've given me a hard time about that phrase.

But there has been a simplification as I've gotten older, of belongings and beliefs. It's easier to be happier when there are less expectations.

How'd you end up in Arkansas? You were in Texas for a while, yeah? [no...?]

I've played in Fayetteville, Arkansas a few times and made some close friends here. The musician Sam King, who I did some touring with in August, also lives here. Fayetteville seemed like a good place to be after four months of straight touring. Austin, Texas is very much a big city nowadays and I wanted something smaller and quieter, some place that moves at more of my pace. I'm not sure yet if it's a permanent home.

Riverbed is [in opinion] a pretty perfect Winter album [Winter *is* coming on, I guess]. Did you have a particular season in mind when writing the songs [or were they written - for the most part - in one season??]

I hadn't thought about it before, but I think most of these songs were written in winter months. There's definitely a cycle of seasons throughout the album-- winter and the expectancy of spring, then spring and its floods, healthy and unhealthy.

Follow-up to your "There are more projects I'd like to work on that aren't music-related." Can I ask what types of projects.. ?

I'd like to do more writing that isn't songwriting. It was my main outlet before I started recording and touring and I'd like to return to that.

Well - you spent some time in Texas - any political/realistic/intelligent views on the current US Cowboy -or- hopes for the future replacements... Ron Paul's Texas, right?

I don't have anything nice to say about our current president. Nor do I have much to say about Ron Paul. I'm not interested in supporting anyone who doesn't respect a woman's right to choose.

"Life is Easy" [ MP3 ]

Lastly - what makes you happy?

Things that make me happy these days - the leaves changing and dragging my feet through piles of leaves, whiskey in my coffee, exploring a new town, new friends and new stories, a train ride to Chicago this week, Richard Brautigan books.

Real Live Tigers This is Sometimes A Riverbed Sanitary Records

: : inspected by: kaleb ›››Nov. 2007