BTD Interviews the rock’in band Blue Tiger

Welcome Blue Tiger, very nice to meet you! I am so excited to learn more about your rock’in band but before we begin, where are all of you from?

We are all from the Boston, Massachusetts area.

Blue Tiger has that classic high-energy 80s rock sound, but there’s also seems to be a modern edge to the newer material. How do you balance keeping that classic feel while still sounding fresh today?

We balance our music through legendary artists that we grew up listening to and combining it with our own style. We keep it fresh by combining the old sounds with new sounds, to be original.

If somebody has never heard Blue Tiger before, what song would you tell them to start with first and why?

If you’re a first time listener, we suggest you listen to our new songs such as, TIGER TOWN, HEAR ME CRY and ROCK WITH ME, although some of our original classics we’d suggest PUSH TO THE EDGE, BANG!BANG! and FEEL THE FIRE.

I was checking out some of your live performances from the Volcano Room on Revere Beach, and the energy is still there. What is it about performing live that keeps the fire burning after all these years?

The passion and the love we have with music and of all rock music in general keeps us generating new and up to date material.

 

How did you come up with the band name “Blue Tiger”?

The name BLUE TIGER was Arthur Dauwer, singer and Vince Ciampi, guitarist sitting at Vince’s house in Beachmont, Revere Mass. Vince mentioned TIGER and Arthur felt that was kind of plain, so he picked out his favorite color and they combined the two words into BLUE TIGER.

“Tiger Town” really caught my attention. I saw on the video that it is a tribute or a song connected emotionally to Ozzy Osbourne. Am I picking up on that correctly, and if so, what inspired that song?

TIGER TOWN was inspired by the great guitar riffs and pounding drums and bass into letting Arthur write the lyrics to this energetic song! Arthur wanted this song to become the staple song of the now called band, A.D BLUE TIGER. It’s a song about living in a town filled with killer rock music and a bit of lust that goes along with it.

“Feel the Fire” absolutely rocks. It has that hooky melodic energy that takes you right back to the great arena rock days. Was that song written recently, or does it come from earlier Blue Tiger roots?

What kept our “music torch flame” going was the pure reality of how much we love music and feeding off of each other, it comes naturally to us.

The song “True To You” has a much more emotional and mellow feel to it. You mention Michelle in the video. Just so I do not make any mistakes, who is Michelle in relation to you, and what inspired you to write such a personal track?

The song, TRUE TO YOU was written while Arthur was going through a relationship that was getting troublesome, so he listened to the guitar recording that Vince Ciampi had written and put on a cassette tape. Arthur listened over and over and wrote the lyrics pertaining to his newest relationship, realizing at that time that she was his number one fan, as the lyrics suggest. Arthur was going off of the song HOME SWEET HOME by MOTLEY CRUE, in other words, no matter where this music takes Arthur, he will always be true to his commitments and Home would always be Home no matter where music takes him.

Btw congratulations on the success surrounding Untamed Spirit. Winning Glam CD of the Year and still having people talking about these songs years later must feel pretty amazing. Looking back now, what does that album mean to you personally?

Our first cd, UNTAMED SPIRIT has a lot of meaning with its songs. A lot were lyrically written in backseats of Arthur’s car, or sitting at a house party in his own world. A lot of the songs were inspired by true life stories, such as BEACH SONG, where we all hung out on REVERE BEACH. STOP PLAYING GAMES was written in full by guitarist Vince Ciampi for his long love, Michelle, who was a huge fan and friend our ours. PUSH TO THE EDGE Arthur wrote lyrically at age 15 over losing his puppy love girlfriend due to a tragic accident.

Weird question number two (lol) if I was in the recording studio for a day with all of you, what would I hear or see? Would you accomplish all of your recording in one day or would it take more then two days. Ok, I said weird question number to but actually there are several questions here. LOL

If you entered a recording studio today, you’d see a great group of professionals, as of the earlier years, we were young and full of crazy stories that we wouldn’t let our own Mothers hear. But today, we tamed quite a bit and focus solely on writing great material, with still some funny antics from singer, Arthur. Nowadays, we could record songs in a 24 hour period with authority and professionalism!
Also plenty of laughs in between just to keep us all tension free.

Blue Tiger shared stages with bands like Extreme, Kix, Mass, and Warrant back during the New England rock scene explosion. Do you have one standout memory from those days that still makes you smile?

So many different shows do stand out over the years, but one in particular as we opened for EXTREME in Lynn, Massachusetts. Arthur was singing and performing his usual, jumping around getting the crowd into it and he accidentally smashed his own microphone into his mouth and put a bit of a gash in his upper lip and bleeding all over the mic and stage. Our head roadie at the time, J.P. who then weighed a good 300lbs, jumped up on the stage, ripped off his own T-shirt and began wiping the blood off of Arthur’s face as Arthur was still singing! It’s all caught on tape and it was hilarious at the time. Arthur survived his own “microphone beating” and finished the show!

Damien, your guitar work really stands out. There’s technicality there, but also melody and memorable solos instead of just speed. Who were some of your biggest guitar influences growing up?

I look at all different guitarists from Malmsteen to Randy Rhodes and all in between. I love the styles of the guitarists from all the 80s music and I evolved through the times into today’s music.So with all that mixture of guitar music I kind of created my own. So I owe a lot to my influences and I enjoy what I’m doing now, creating my own style of music,it’s truly a great feeling.

Arthur, your vocals still capture that melodic rock style people love from the late 80s. How do you keep your voice performance-ready after all these years?

As for me, as the singer of this great band, I take good care of myself through exercise physically and I eat healthy foods and I drink healthy fluids, such as powdered mushroom mix to put in anything that I drink, like herbal tea for instance. I don’t use caffeine drinks or sugary drinks. A lot of healthy drinks including water to keep hydrated and of course honey to soothe the throat. I also do vocal exercises to help with singing. As one gets older it’s very important to take care of your instrument, in my case it’s the vocal cords.

Christian and Erek, rhythm sections can make or break a rock band. Blue Tiger songs have a really steady driving groove underneath everything. How important is chemistry between bass and drums for this band?

The chemistry between our “foundation”, being the bass and drums, is exceptionally good. We actually feed of each other and have a chemistry that is important to do, especially for the rest of the players in the band, we have to hold it all together like a cement “foundation.”

Who are the songwriters in the band?

Our songwriters consist of ALL of us really. Guitarist Damien comes up with the guitar parts and then we all kind of work our way into it. We try different sounds or beats for drums and then we connect onto what we feel is what it should be.Arthur, singer, does write all the lyrics and catchy lyrics and titles. So we all kind of gel together until we have the finished product. We seem to be happy when each song finds its way into our own creation. It’s a great collaboration team effort.

The New England rock scene in the late 80s was legendary. What was it like trying to stand out during that era when there were so many talented bands around?

Back in the 80s there was SO MUCH great music and A LOT of competition. We were young, wild and a little bit crazy, but that was part of the scene. We did good as new comers back then and we did open up for some great bands, such as MASS, EXTREME, WARRANT, KIX to name a few. All in all it was a fight for survival then but it also made us work harder, and here we are today, decades later and writing new material and playing out. Rome wasn’t built in a day, not was BLUE TIGER/A.D BLUE TIGER. But we paved our way without QUITTING and we’re a happy group of musicians that accomplished this. Very grateful!

I read you are debuting newer songs live at The Bower in Beverly, MA. What can fans expect from this newer era of Blue Tiger music?

Our NEW music is a combination of some 80s sounds with a touch of today’s sounds! I say we got a bit heavier on the SOUND and guitars SHRED in every song. The backbeat with the drums and bass sound powerful as compared to our 8Os music. Our lyrics are CATCHY and people love hearing a CATCHY tune, and that’s what we do!!!!! Dedication goes a long way, especially when you believe in each other. The fans will enjoy the new music we have, and that’s what makes this worth doing, to see people enjoying themselves to our music!

Looking back now, do you feel Blue Tiger is finally getting the recognition the band deserved back in the original era?

We are DEFINITELY getting the recognition that we all deserve after all the years of putting in timeless minutes, hours, days, years. We are now on a more serious mission. But we do thank our fans that we still have from back in the day, as well as our new ones. It’s very gratifying to say the least.

Last question. When fans leave a Blue Tiger show, what do you hope they are feeling on the drive home?

We only hope that after our fans leave our show(s), that they are completely satisfied and can sing a song or two from what they just heard. Maybe we will inspire some younger musicians to “NEVER SAY DIE and keep their own music ALIVE!” That’s the main thing is to make them remember what they heard.

Well …really this is the last question… were can BTD Radio listeners find your music?

All our fans and new and upcoming fans can find our music on ALL music platforms, as well as YouTube. Some live videos too. We also have our NEW cd entitled “UNCAGED” coming at you SOON! I have a great feeling that you will all like this one A LOT! Dedicated musicians create great music in my opinion!
Rock on and SEE YOU ALL SOON at our next SHOW(s)!
“Peace and Rock!”
A.D BT

 

Check out Blue Tiger here:

 

https://youtu.be/q0jZU8GlGx4

Facebook BLUE TIGER (@www.bluetiger)