Track of the week: Premium Leisure - 'Water Pistol'

We're a little late to the party with this one, but as supergroups go, Oxford's Premium Leisure is up there. The brainchild of Chris Barker, he's joined for live shows by the likes of Willie J Healey and BE GOOD frontman Ash Cooke and the shows look wonderful. It's still a relatively new project, but they're releasing an EP through local tape label Beanie Tapes soon - and this is one of the tunes from it, Water Pistol. Really digging this one!

Follow Premium Leisure online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Gig of the week: Francobollo at Omeara (29th May)

Lots of great gigs this week - our top tip for the week has to be the Francobollo show at one of our favourite London venues, Omeara, with support from Benin City and Wyldest. They're signed to the same record label as Tigmus fave Sivu (Square Leg Records) and their recent single Hoo Ha is all kinds of brilliant. Take a listen below and grab tickets for the show here!

Follow Francobollo online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Track of the week: Little Brother Eli - 'Our Kind Of Love'

Tigmus faves Little Brother Eli shared their latest single Our Kind Of Love last week and played a few shows to celebrate - including headlining a stage at the Alt Escape in Brighton which they totally smashed. We're digging the new tune, so it's earned a mention as our track of the week! Get listening and if you like what you're hearing, check out more of the band's tunes over on Spotify.

Follow Little Brother Eli online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

WOMAD Special - Eight questions with MarthaGunn

As we posted on our socials last week, we're really excited to be working with our friends at WOMAD Festival this year, adding three of our favourite bands to the line-up. We'll have more details soon about the stage and timings, but the bands will each be playing in a "Tigmus hour" slot across the three days. The latest line-up announcement included MarthaGunn and Seramic, who we're really chuffed to have booked for the festival! We're big fans of both bands, having seen them at various shows over the last couple of years, and we've got one more artist to announce soon too who we all adore!

We caught up with Abi from MarthaGunn - get reading our interview below! Grab tickets for WOMAD here and check out the latest line-up announcement here.

(c) Steve Glashier

1. Hello! We’re so glad to have you guys playing for us at WOMAD - we’ve all loved you since catching your set for Communion’s showcase at The Great Escape last year. First things first - who are MarthaGunn and how did you all meet?

Hi! We are really looking forward to playing WOMAD. We are a 5 piece rock band who first met in Brighton some years ago. Frankie plays drums, Ally on bass, Humphrey and Max play guitars and I (Abi) sing and play keys.

 We met just before we started studying in Brighton. Max was living with a close friend of mine who introduced us and we met Humphrey and Ally a few weeks later, all itching to be in a band. Frankie joined the band in 2015 after we saw him play a gig and decided he was the drummer for us. We mark the moment Frankie joined as the real beginning of our journey.

2. We know a little of the story but for those who don’t - tell us where the name of the band comes from! Was it important for you to keep a connection to Brighton through the name?

MarthaGunn was an 18th century spiritual healer from Brighton who is also an ancestor of mine. Brighton is a big part of who we are and our history, the connection was never intentional but a welcome nod to our beginnings.

3. Your sound bridges a gap between the contemporary and some of our best loved bands from the 70s (you’ve earned a lot of comparisons to the likes of Fleetwood Mac) - how would you describe your sound, and who are the biggest musical influences on the band, old and new?

We all love the 70s, especially the songwriting. We draw from many places as individuals, our tastes are quite eclectic between us and our sound is born out of that. Some of our biggest influences are David Bowie, Arcade Fire, Tame Impala, Mystery Jets and Kate Bush.

4. With two pretty successful singles under your belts and a string of shows supporting the likes of Bear’s Den, Mumford& Sons, James Bay and AnnenMayKantereit in the UK and further afield you could say it’s been a pretty positive start for the band. What have your highlights been?

We've had a pretty exciting year, the live side has been a great ride. I'd have to say the highlight has been exploring more of Europe in our van 'Dorothy'. It's a dream for us. It is such a wonderful adventure to explore news places with your best friends through playing music.

5. You appear to have been busy writing and recording for a few months now… how is it all going? When do we get to hear the fruits of your labour?

The last 6 months have been very much geared towards writing. We have been hidden away in Wales and various other places exploring who we are as a band. It's been a very productive and revealing experience. We can't say for sure when we will next release music but certainly before the end of the year.

6. I imagine a MarthaGunn recording session is a pretty fun environment to be in but it’s also clear that you all really enjoy playing live, so it’s great that you’re coming back to the stage for WOMAD in July. What can we expect from the set?

We like to think of ourselves as a live band first and as writing has been the main focus recently, we are itching to play! Expect high energy and lots of new songs.

7. The WOMAD line-up (http://womad.co.uk/line-up/) is looking (and sounding) great already - we’re chuffed to have added you and Seramic. Who else do you think that people should be catching over the weekend?

WOMAD has such a diverse line up, we are most looking forward to finding something entirely new to us. Definitely going to catch Mr. Jukes!

8. Beyond the festival - who else is piquing your interest musically at the moment?

This is a wide question, I'll keep it brief. Jon Hopkins just released a phenomenal new album. There is a disco/pop band called Parcels from Australia via Berlin whom we all adore. Recently Bowie has been in heavy circulation in our van.

Gig of the week: Hazey Jane at The George Tavern (25th May)

Meg here - I've just had a wonderful few days down in Brighton for The Great Escape festival, where Tigmus friends Hazey Jane played a set on Saturday evening alongside Little Brother Eli. The Hazey Jane chaps release their Lifeboat EP this Friday and the launch show is our gig of the week! Not only are the chaps brilliant but the show is in one of our favourite East London venues The George Tavern AND they've got Me and The Moon and Dessie Magee supporting - find out more here and take a listen to the title track of the EP below!

Follow Hazey Jane online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Track of the week: Richard Walters - 'This Fire'

We're more than a little happy that Tigmus fave Richard Walters has shared another new tune, This Fire, so we're making it our track of the week! This Fire is a beautifully delicate track, showcasing Richard's exquisite vocals, which are complimented simply by a piano melody. It's his third new track this year - check out Break Bread and You're Like A Song here!

 

Follow Richard Walters online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram. 

Gig of the week: Chad Valley at The Lexington (18th May)

A couple of years back, we were gutted to hear that Chad Valley had equipment stolen while on tour in America - fans rallied around to raise funds to replace it, but shows unfortunately had to be cancelled, including two in Oxford and London that we had booked for him. Fast forward a couple of years and he's back out on the road on a world tour to promote the upcoming record Imaginary Music, released 25th May. The show at The Lexington in London this Friday is our gig of the week top tip (if you're not heading down to Brighton for The Great Escape, that is) and with support from the mighty Hudson Scott it's sure to be a superb show. Tickets will sell out, so grab yours here.

Follow Chad Valley online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram. 

Track of the week: Jungle - 'Happy Man'

Jungle are back!! They're currently touring the UK (with our fave Rae Morris in support) and dropped a couple of new tunes last night, the first since their 2014 self-titled debut album, featuring the absolute tune Busy Earnin'. Get listening to the new tracks - Happy Man is our track of the week, and we think that it would be a pretty good shout to get along to their tour... the rest of the dates are here!

Follow Jungle online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Gig of the week: Malena Zavala album launch at Bermondsey Social Club (9th May)

The heatwave is back and we've an especially Summery gig of the week courtesy of Yucatan Records. Malena Zavala launches her record Aliso with support from Thandii at Bermondsey Social Club this Wednesday - sure to be a dreamy evening of music! Check the details and grab tickets here.

Follow Malena Zavala online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.

Track of the week: Parcels - 'Tieduprightnow'

Parcels scored one of our first track of the week mentions back in June last year with the absolute tune Overnight. Fast forward almost a year and they've just released this corker of a track - Tieduprightnow and announced a world tour later in the year, including a show at London's Roundhouse on 18th November. We are really really digging this one! Check it out on the #TigDigs Spotify playlist alongside the likes of Matthew and the Atlas, LUMP, Self Help, Franc Moody, Fil Bo Riva, Cosmo Sheldrake and more here!

Follow Parcels online - Facebook | Twitter | Instagram.