Review: Tigers Jaw, the Exchange

Tigers Jaw are a band that many who are currently in their early 20’s will associate with their not so long ago teenage years.

Tracks from their second and third studio albums, 2008’s self-titled album Tiger’s Jaw and 2010’s Two Worlds formed the soundtrack to many school lunchtimes and house parties and formed the backbone of the most played playlist on our iPod Nano’s during our slightly regrettable emo phases.

Since those years the band has undergone some quite major changes. After no new releases for three years, the band took a hiatus in 2013 which saw them lose founding member, frontman, guitarist and songwriter, Adam McIlwee as well as bassist Dennis Mishko and drummer Pat Brier. Those changes left just guitarist, singer and songwriter Ben Walsh and keyboardist and vocalist Brianna Collins from the original line-up. At the time it looked like this would be the end of the band, but the pair vowed to continue and released their fourth album, Charmer, around a year later.

Tigers Jaw have continued as a two piece since then and have used a number of special guest performers to fill their ranks. Tonight at the Exchange they have Ben Russin, drummer from fellow Pennsylvania band Title Fight. Tigers Jaw and Title Fight have always been close knit due to having come up in the same scene in the same part of the world, so Russin’s addition is an obvious fit.

The band start with two tracks from their most recent album, Spin. Right from the off the energy is electric. Every band member commands their space perfectly and rarely pause between songs throughout the set.

Looking at the crowd, it’s fair to assume that a majority of them are people like myself. Early 20 somethings who enjoyed the band a lot in their teenage years but tapered off either after the band split or as their musical tastes changed. If this is the case, it would also be fair to assume that the newer material may not be as well known as the older material. However, this was not the case. In a set that contained eight tracks from Spin the energy never dipped and the audience sang along to every song.

That being said, the new material was nicely intertwined with many old classics. The first track from Tigers Jaw, The Sun, comes in early in the set and has all of The Exchange moving. On from there Thank You Noah Lowry and Return come in almost back to back.

Throughout the gig Ben and Brianna only address the crowd a couple of times to thank them for coming out and say how great it is to be back in Bristol etc. Other than that, they seem entirely focused on the music.

The show ends with two tracks from Tigers Jaw. That album, and especially the first half of it, can easily be put up there with the best works of the genre. Plane vs Tank vs Submarine and I Saw Water are the absolute perfect anthems to end what has been a really excellent performance.

Tigers Jaw still tour relentlessly. They are currently doing Europe before heading back to America. This UK tour saw them play ten dates across the country. Due to their large fan base here, it is fair to say they are likely to be back in Bristol before too long.