The Actual Tigers
The band opened for Counting Crows after their second studio CD was released and, in 2005 after the Actual Tigers had disbanded, Gravelled and Green was ranked by MSNBC as one of the top 20 albums of the past 20 years.
Each had been in other, less-successful high school bands and named their group in part after the older brother character on the long-running TV show Diff'rent Strokes.
The band later got a break at Seattle's Owl and Thistle Irish Pub despite being younger than the Washington State drinking age, and in Sept. 1996 released a 12-song self-released CD, which was mostly recorded in Tacoma.
It was also that year when their sound began being described in news articles as "rootsy pop.”[8] Willis shows included: Nov. 24, 1996 at the Owl and Thistle; Nov. 29, 1996 at the Sit and Spin; April 4, 1997 at The Backstage in Ballard; July 26, 1997 at Club Nights at the Pier and Aug. 15, 1997 at the Showbox at the Market.
Other early venues were Gibson's Bar and Grill, Dutch Ned's Saloon, Doc Maynards, the Tractor Tavern, Bellingham's KISM’s Locals Only radio program, the Crystal Ballroom (Portland, Oregon) and Magnuson Park in Seattle.
Perry, who was a year behind the others at Blanchet, wasn't able to legally hang around before and after the band's bar performances until an Aug. 28, 1999 show at The Crocodile Café.
Collins, who helped launch Beck to national prominence, liked both Willis and the effect of a clock ticking in the background of the song, the sole rhythmic element in the original recording.
Manager Brad Hole sent a request to perform on the Late Show with David Letterman, which was denied, but the band received T-shirts in adult sizes as a consolation.
The previous year, the band met Silver Jews frontman David Berman at a San Francisco poetry showcase and, during their conversation, explained the name problem.
[22] On Gravelled and Green Seely had vocals, guitar, ukulele, vibraphone, tambourine, hand claps, music box and tapes.
When Gravelled and Green was released, the Actual Tigers were Perry, Seely and Low, though the album had Cullen playing guitar drums and percussion.
Joe Seely, Tim's brother who later formed the folk rock duo Pillowfighter with Margaret White, joined.
[25][26] In Aug. 1999, Seely said he thought Capitol "just wanted us to be a straightforward pop band," and the label's original plan was to have Willis re-record their self-titled, self-produced album.
"[27] The band later convinced Capitol to scrap that idea and let them record new material, which Seely described as having a fuller sound with more strings and horns.
The Actual Tigers "basically ended because there was some extreme frustration involved throughout the process of us being signed with Capitol Records, and then it was farmed out to another label called Nettwerk," Seely said in 2005.
[28] "Capitol was supposed to help out with that and they kind of dropped the ball, and we were at the point in our lives where some guys wanted to do things that actually made money besides music.
Funeral Music was released July 19, 2005, and received praise from David Dye of National Public Radio's World Café and from Doug Miller of MSNBC.
Bublé told the Seattle Weekly, where Seely's older brother Mike is editor-in-chief, that “it's one of the most beautiful fuckin' songs ever,” and not putting it on the record was one of his toughest decisions.
[36] In May 2011, Perry released a work-in-progress version of “Said She'll Wait,” recorded and mixed by Yevgeniy Frid at Heavy Genius Studios in Ballard.
[39][40] Cullen, Mooncalf bassist Matt Millet and Jason Rowe, who did sound for Willis and the Actual Tigers, also played with Seely as the Army of Tim.
[41][42] For Seely's song “On Film I Play Myself,” which featured Cullen on drums, Miller filed a Super 8 video that was produced by Jason Reid of 2R Productions.
