Tony Presley

Tony Presley plays music as Real Live Tigers. Sometimes solo, sometimes with a band, almost always on the road. Since his first tour in August 2004, he's played over 300 shows in the US and Canada. Looking toward 2007, he's contemplating life after Greyhound.


Why did you start touring?

Well, I initially went on tour with another band. I was playing guitar for someone else. It was a short, two-week tour but I really like traveling a lot and I really like the concept of touring. So when I got back from that tour I started writing some of my own songs so that I could tour by myself.

How did you set up your first solo tour?

Trial and error. A lot of hardcore music contacts/experiences and a lot of really bad coffeeshop shows and there’s this website called bookyourownfuckinglife that helped. But mostly a lot of trial and error. Picking a city and trying to find a venue that would have me.

But you’re not hardcore.

Sure I am.

Yeah?

No, I don’t play hardcore music. The first band that I booked a tour for was a political hardcore band from Austin, Texas.

What do you enjoy, and detest, about touring?

Are all these questions about touring? (Laughing)

Well, yes and no. There’s a few that aren’t, but I think that that is what’s most interesting about you.

Okay.

I mean, that’s a major part of your life right now.

Right, it has been, that’s true. I honestly enjoy pretty much everything about touring. I think I’ve grown past the stage of really detesting anything but there’s definitely some frustrating moments with touring. When a show doesn’t end up how you expected it to go or you show up somewhere and the show gets moved around the day before or all the details change. Some of that stuff is frustrating, but I think I’m at the point now where I’ve mellowed out a lot. I really enjoy most aspects of it, when I do tour.

Does that mean you are going to start touring less?

I think that’s where I’m headed. I’m going to scale it back a little bit. Maybe tour just as often, and do just as many tours, but have them be shorter tours. Probably that’s best for my sanity.

Is touring worth the effort?

Yeah, for me it is because I tour for the sake of touring. I enjoy playing music and I really enjoy playing shows. Some bands think that touring is just a mechanism for getting more popular and the more you tour the more popular you’ll get. And I don’t really think there’s that big of a market for the kind of stuff that I play so I’m not expecting to get huge by touring all the time, I just enjoy playing shows.

What’s more fulfilling: recording an album or playing live?

Playing live, definitely.

Why are you recording your new album on reel-to-reel tape?

Mostly because I can. And I think it will sound really good when it’s done. My friend has recorded a few bands now with this set-up and I really like the results. And some of the things we are going to do I think are going to sound really good in that setting.

My only other question was about touring, but if you don’t want to talk about it...

No, you can ask about touring.

Don’t you play like 200 shows a year?

I don’t know. No, maybe not that many. Maybe 150.

Actually, what pays the bills?

Well, I don’t really have that many bills because I don’t really live in one place that long. But lately I’ve been working at a daycare when I’m in Austin. And sometimes I do medical research studies, also in Austin, in between tours.

What’s next for Real Live Tigers?

I’m working on my second album. It’s called “This is Sometimes a Riverbed.” It’s going to be more collaborative than anything I’ve ever done before. A lot of other people are going to be playing and singing on it. And I’m also working on an EP called “Night Danger.” It’s a concept EP about driving cautiously and safely. And I might be working on some writing projects that have nothing to do with music, which I’m right now pretty excited about. So I might focus on that stuff more in 2007 than music.

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Downloads

No Regrets.mp3
Life Is Easy alternative.mp3
Rest Little Hummingbird.mp3

Websites

http://www.reallivetigers.com
http://www.myspace.com/reallivetigers