FFO: Bright Eyes, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Paul Baribeau
Hailing from the wonderfully sunny San Diego, ‘Sledding With Tigers’ is the Folk-Punk baby of singer/songwriter Dan Faughnder. With a little help from his friends, and even with mostly downcast lyrics, he has put together a project of some of the most uplifting music you might have heard recently.
The response to five track EP ‘The Arrested Cats’ back in May this year has been fantastic. Download sales of the free EP have been immense, and feedback has remained largely positive. Listening to it you see why: songs such as “Carmel Mountain” are seriously charming and the duo of “Going to Stockton” and “Going to San Diego” are packed full of emotion. The latter even contains an incredible homage to Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” from his 9th Symphony.
However it’s opener “The Kids Will Be Alright, Eventually” which remains Faughnder’s own personal favourite. He told us, ”I wrote it when those emotions were really fresh, so playing it is a kind of cathartic experience. I’m a pretty cartoonishly goofy person, so that song is my chance to access a pretty dark part of my brain.” Sledding With Tigers are an outlet for emotions rarely seen, and that’s why it’s so special.
The band itself takes influence from the likes of Spraynard and Andrew Jackson Jihad. Pessimistically, Faughnder says “I wish we could write songs as good as them” but the truth is they really can.
(Sledding With Tigers – The Arrested Cats)
Unfortunately, there are no current plans to bring Sledding With Tigers to the UK in the immediate future. This is largely due to full time work commitments ”as a music teacher for tiny babies,” but don’t let that put you off. Sledding With Tigers is an absolutely fantastic concept, and there’s a pretty big gap for it in the Punk Rock scene at the moment. Dan Faughnder and co. deserve to be heard, and they’re some of the most hardworking musicians you’ll come across.
They’re also going about it in entirely the right way for their position – all content has been released on a pay what you want basis, they play shows with their friends, and make new ones along the way. This summer will be dedicated to recording a new full length album, expected out towards the end of the year. Perhaps more importantly there is no agenda or underlying reason for them to do this other than to make music for people to enjoy, Dan Faughnder says ”We are very lucky” and isn’t that just refreshing to hear?
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CHRIS MARSHMAN