Atlantic Records

Kansas City, Missouri’s The Republic Tigers are quickly making a name for themselves as one of the most exciting alternative acts around. As the first signing to Chop Shop Records the band have already toured England with Travis and performed alongside everyone from Weezer to Blink-182 in the States. The are preparing to release their new EP No Man's Land next month, their follow-up to 2008’s Keep Color — and if you’re lucky enough to catch them at South By Southwest you’ll be able to hear some of those new songs live. We talked to vocalist Kenn Jankowski and guitarist Ryan Pinkston to find out more...

Have you played South By Southwest before?
Jankowski: We played eight separate shows two years ago; I believe one of which was an acoustic thing but we count that as part of our running-around-with-our-heads-cut-off adventure. It was a lot of fun; we got to sweat and carry our gear around a lot, meet a lot of people and party late and early and get a lot of good shows in as well.

Did you have any highlights in Texas performance-wise?
Pinkston: It seems like all of the shows do start to blend together for the most part, but we played a show at Maggie Mae’s that it seemed like went over really well and to me that was one of the highlights of the last trip down there.
Jankowski: There was some kind of spirit or energy that manifested itself in that performance, I believe. That was pretty fierce.

How many shows are you doing this year?
Pinkston: We're doing three shows and then an iTunes live recording for an online EP and then after that we have three separate shows.
Jankowski: Two of the shows are during the same day but other than that it won't be like the eight-shows-in-one-day experience two years ago. This will be a lot more focused on just a few shows and talking more to people. I think it will be more enjoyable experience because there will be less running around and carrying amps through the streets.

Is SXSW something you look forward to ever year?
Jankowski: Yeah, it's different from any other scenario for playing a show because it seems like every other show you play is more geared toward a crowd coming to see you but at SXSW there are so many bands that you're just blending into this sea of random musicians. It's definitely different than any other shows you play because you can't even know exactly what to expect; I guess a comparable experience might be spending a day on a deserted island and you weren't ready to. [Laughs.]

Are you going to be debuting any new material in Texas?
Pinkston: Some of the new tracks we've only played once or twice so they still remain pretty fresh. We've only played most of these songs in Kansas City so they're still sort of work in progress; they're pretty much there but we're still working on fine-tuning. Part of figuring out the song is playing live because that helps formulate tit.
Jankowski: I think that playing SXSW is kind of like you're coming-of-age event. I feel like you want to show people what you've been working on and what they haven't heard yet as opposed to a normal concert where you play for over an hour and perform all the favorites. I think SXSW is for all the new stuff and showcasing what you've been working on.