Alternative garage rockers, hailing all the way from Pennsylvania, Tigers Jaw are certainly not a name to merely overlook, even with their promise of being ‘a pretty cool band’ in their Twitter bio. Their material is upbeat, bouncy and sheds light on more than a few relatable home issues which has made so many fall in love with them. Tonight, as the band make their first ever appearance in Brighton at The Haunt, this crowd are more than eager to join in some crazy garage rock antics.

Tonight holds only one support slot, but easily makes for one of the best supporting bands I've ever seen. Muskets are a local four-piece, and a brilliant representation of Brighton talent at its very finest. Their sound is simply huge and an immediate start sees the band pinging around the stage. There is so much energy to be seen that even a large portion of the audience don’t know whether to jump along or simply look on in awe. Muskets’ set added one of the best initial sparks to a show I've ever seen at a gig and are certainly a band I will be keeping an eye on around Brighton’s scene and would highly recommend you looking up too!

Tigers Jaw soon enter and, just as Muskets had, they too open their set with a brilliant level of energetics, opening with ‘Follows’, the debut on their latest record, Spin. The track holds a brilliant upbeat start to the show and introduces us eloquently to vocalists Ben Walsh and Brianna Collins’ tones. Seems as through Spin was released only the day before tonight’s show so, it is fantastic to already see so many singing along to the new track whilst simultaneously showing a great amount of love for the band’s older releases.

Ben’s voice holds far more of a baritone feel whilst Brianna’s higher notes lovingly flicker and emphasise the sound in a pleasing manner, the two work in a perfect tandem, definitely playing to each other’s strengths in order to create the best sound possible. Similarly, all of the surrounding talents are blazing tonight, with the drumming in particular being especially exquisite, supplying such an electric buzz to the opening numbers that it becomes impossible to remain static. Brianna soon takes the lead in ‘June’, which makes for a personal favourite track of the set, her voice is so delicately unique that it is really nice to see it being utilised in such a forward manner. Despite being a somewhat uncommon vocal style to apply to this music genre, the elevated feel to her voice works fantastically around the distorted rocky sounds and supplies just that added bit of individualism that Tigers Jaw have built their name around.

The evening progresses on with a continuous buoyant feel and a number of tracks both from albums new and old are still met with equally large chants from the crowd; ‘Chemicals’ and ‘Plane vs Tank vs Submarine’ in particular both make the room swell with unison chanting. Likewise, a few slower tracks in the form of ‘Escape Plan’ add a nice bit of breathing room to the set’s pacing that was definitely needed. It is clear that Tigers Jaw certainly know their way around writing songs which not only mean a lot to so many but hold a beat which, even after the first listen, you can’t help but sing along to.

Tigers Jaw have definitely left their mark on Brighton this evening and, as the venue empties, smiles can be seen all around and a strong sense of community seems to have formed. Spin is a fantastic record that any grunge/garage rock fan will find themselves enjoying and has certainly put another brilliant mark next to Tigers Jaw’s resume. Seeing the tracks live has put an all new meaning behind them for myself and I can certainly see Tigers Jaw making a triumphant return to Brighton in the not to distant future after receiving such a positive response tonight!

Ben Walker

Website: tigersjaw.com
Facebook: facebook.com/tigersjaw
Twitter: twitter.com/tigersjaw