BFF.fm Listening Party x WOTP: Bad Tiger Reflect on "Bliss"

Bestiiiiiies we have been LOVING the new Bad Tiger record, Bliss! Last month, Yasi Lowy and her band Bad Tiger played our first Listening Party of the year, debuting songs from their new album, Bliss,yucking it up with DJ Space Abuela in-between tracks, and answering some very thoughtful audience questions. Then, on February 11, the band chatted it up with MJ on West of Twin Peaks Radio. Yasi, Tyler Gholson (bass), Jacob Sherfield (drums), and David Garges (guitar/keys/shaker) engaged with MJ in a conversational tapestry that weaved together thoughtful interpretations and personal connections to the material, revealing new layers in the sounds and sentiments for the listener and the artists.

It’s cozy events and chats like these that remind us of the many ways that great music connects us and demonstrate how art passes from the artists' minds and hands into the lives of listeners, where it can develop new meaning and sometimes reflects back to the artist in unexpected ways.

Enjoy some songs from Bliss LIVE! from our Listening Party alongside a few snippets from MJ and Bad Tiger's conversation below. Listen to the full West of Twin Peaks: Bad Tiger episode for even more insights.

MJ: Since Yasi is the main lyricist, when you found each other so to speak, did the collaboration happen organically or did you have to kind of feel each other out a bit to figure out where the sound was heading?

Tyler: Initially, we were really starting with the EP that Yasi had written and recorded on her own with the help of Mack [aka Mackenzie Bunch]. Initially it was really just, like, matching part for part what's on the EP and learning how to play those songs live, but we pretty quickly transitioned into new material and started recording in 2022. A lot of the new material that's on Bliss, aside from the scratch track of just acoustic guitar and lyrics, was almost developed in the studio as it was happening, day-of…you know, with some ideas that we worked on as homework beforehand, but I know, at least for myself on bass, it happened organically in the studio. That's my favorite way of writing, and I think a lot of the band feels similarly. I think we're all very intuitive.

Yasi: I think there’s also this simplicity–and things can be lost this way–but I’m in charge. Everything is kind of vetted by me. So everyone came into the studio with, like, some ideas but then me and Mack were sitting there with everything thinking, does this make sense to the vision? Because the songs were written, they just weren't, like, fully arranged. But I feel like what people added made [the songs] soooo much better.

MJ: Did you four actually have a verbal conversation about what you wanted it to sound like, or was it more of a conversation musically?

Jacob: It's a little bit of both, but definitely more musical conversation for sure. For me, the process is kind of like a relief sculpture almost, like the block was there. It was more about finding what doesn’t work or works for the song, which personally I had actually never done a record like that before. I’ve been in a lot of bands in my life, and I'm very used to, like, playing songs live and working it out in a room, having a song ready to go, and then getting into the studio. So this process was really like the opposite of that, but I found it to be a bit more intuitive in that it relied more on my intuition in the moment to really interpret this stuff and work with Yasi and Mack to figure out what this needs to be. It was fun, it was really cool.

Yasi: Also, the kind of context for your question, I think, MJ, is that more important than the conversation about the music is the culture of the band. And I think that was my priority in, like, finding these people and trying to figure out how we work together, how we talk to each other, how leadership flows, how we give feedback. And once all that stuff is set, then you can kind of move more intuitively once there’s that trust and resilience.

MJ: It just struck me as you’re saying that, Yasi, that as you listen to the album, the lyrics make me think more about how you’re trying to fit into a romantic relationship, but in the bigger picture of you all making this record, you’re all trying to figure out how to fit into the band relationship; who you are within the band.

[all exclaim in excitement and laugh]

David: Well said, well said!

MJ: Why did you choose Bliss as the title?

Yasi: There is this interpretation that I’m exploring where all of these songs are different angles of looking at “bliss” or having the thing you want. For me, it’s a concept that’s a lot more complicated than simply “joyful”, so it’s something that I wanted to think about from different angles. I also wanted something…short. [Laughs] And something that doesn’t spoon feed you what it’s about. Like, that’s one interpretation. “Bliss” is a concept I’m thinking about, but there’s a lot more that it holds.