Miniature Tigers began in Charlie Band’s house and since has moved on to major stages such as the massive Lollapalooza music festival earlier this month in Chicago.
But don’t think Brand takes anything for granted. He didn’t when the Phoenix-based band broke out with its debut album, “Tell It To the Volcano,” and it won kudos from Rolling Stone and other major music tastemakers, and he won’t now.
“To be honest I haven’t really felt like we have made it big or anything,” Brand said after a sound check for a recent gig. “We never had a Vampire Weekend where it blew up overnight.”
Not that Brand is sorry about that. Less pressure on the band means the members can follow their musical instincts. In the case of the band’s latest album, “Fortress,” those instincts developed from some chills Brand and his bandmates developed from watching the 1980 movie “The Shining” in upstate New York. But despite press reports that the song “Mansion of Misery” was inspired by that song, Brand says it’s not totally the case.
“We were watching [the movie] right before it was recorded,” Brand said of the song. “So it wasn’t really inspired by it, but we tried to use that creepy [vibe] from the movie.”
But there is a lot more behind the sound, including plenty of music spice from producer Chris Chu of the Morning Benders, who brought in a multitude of tones and different ideas that helped complete the sound.
“We collaborated [and] made it a combined effort,” Brand said, noting how the energy was so intense the group worked at least once from early evening until the next morning. “He was very focused, and we tend to drift off for a while, but he stayed very focused. … It was all about catching the moment.”
That live moment was made even richer because the band had fine-tuned many of the songs on the road.
“We have been touring a lot … and playing a lot of [the songs from the album] live,” Brand said. “When we went to the studio, we had a feel what they should be sound like live and could expand on it. … We like to approach things live and then make treats. It is fun experimenting and keeps things interesting for us, too.”
