Search - Romance of Young Tigers :: I Have Supped Full On Horrors

Sometimes it's very easy to lose sight of when independent music is at its best. It usually happens when you're out of your element and in a spot surrounded by "American Idol" or pop culture fans (it's a numbers game and completely inevitable). Perhaps a wedding... maybe a birthday party for an acquaintance you know through a friend. You'll be cornered by a family friend or some guy in a fauxhawk and a track jacket. They will ask what you "do." You will sigh deep and curtly try to explain that you do an independent record label. Before you can offer up any further info, said inquisitor will immediately light up and take over the conversation. "My son's in a band! You should SIGN THEM." "Dude, I make beats... YOU NEED ANY?" All being said with no context, recognition, or established commonality. It would be like walking into a fine dining establishment and proclaiming "You guys make food?!?! Fuckin' A, can I get some wings and some moz sticks, bro?" You'll return home and it's even worse. The mail pile has a stack of faceless, characterless CD-R's and bios. In 2003, every one of them said they sound like "Thursday meets Poison The Well." In 2006 (often same guys, different bands), all proclaim they sound like "Isis meets Mastodon." In 2008, they're back again as "Explosions In The Sky meets Coheed And Cambria." As such, packages just start to sit after a while... often unopened. And then, one day out of nowhere, somebody sends something amazing in and you begin to question whether you were possibly separated at birth. In this regard, ROMANCE OF YOUNG TIGERS is a band from Dayton, OH that embodies every reason Magic Bullet Records exists in the first place. In short, the music is unapologetically revolutionary and the packaging is obsessively arduous in its creation. Whereas 99.9% of bands looking to connect with a label think that a list of "bands we shared the stage with" and a Staples-brand CD-R of "unmixed stuff we need to finish" will do the trick, ROMANCE OF YOUNG TIGERS initially dropped a visual and aural treasure chest upon our doorstep, making perhaps the greatest first impression we've ever had from a band. Masterfully-crafted songs (that truthfully can't be likened accurately to anything else out there) were housed in painstakingly hand-screened, hand-made packaging (wooden boxes, maps, the works). Not even a mention of "shopping" for a label. In short, they made fans of us instantly. "I Have Supped Full Of Horrors" is the formal launching of their previously self-released (and inaugural) triumphant bludgeoning of all things mediocre. 4 tracks, 35 minutes of sheer brilliance. A lot of bands can shove a wall of sound in your face. Plenty of bands have a guy or two who is technically "amazing." Very few bands can unite both into an engrossing, captivating listen... and even fewer can do so WITHOUT PERCUSSION. It is in this rare air that ROMANCE OF YOUNG TIGERS hovers high above the glut of instrumental rock to inundate listeners in recent times. For a band to come right out of the chute with such a dynamic and captivating sense of taste versus composition is truly a treat to behold and indicative of a revolutionary trajectory in years to come. They know when to come in, they know how to hook you, they know when to leave you wanting more.