PropertyOfZack was lucky enough to snag a quick interview with Dennis Mischko of Tigers Jaw before the band departed for their UK tour with Basement and End Of A Year. Dennis and I discussed the initial reception to Two Worlds, how the writing process brought the band closer together, future touring plans, and another possible release in 2011. Read up, it’s a good one!

For the record, could you state your name and role in Tigers Jaw?
I’m Dennis Mishko, I play bass in Tigers Jaw.
 
Two Worlds came out about a month ago. All the feedback I’ve seen from it has been pretty spectacular. How’s it been received in the band’s eyes?
It’s weird that it’s been a month already. I don’t think we’ve played any shows since then. For us, it’s been really great, I think. The fact that this is the first thing we’ve done all together, because the first full-length was kind of a compilation of older things. So it’s really been a bonding thing in a weird way. Everything is nice that anyone has had to say about it. It’s been spectacular. It’s really big to hear from all our friends that they enjoy it as much as we do.
 
In May your split with Balance & Composure was released. Are you guys pleased with how that’s been received to this point as well?
Yeah, for the most part the songs were a little bit older. Not that I don’t like the songs that Adam and Brianna had before I was in the band, because I do, but I think that writing the songs together has been a good experience. The new songs have been a lot of fun to work around with. In terms of the Balance & Composure split, we’ve heard a lot of nice things about it. Their half is amazing, it’s so good. I think that was kind of the more enjoyable part, just getting to do it with them. They’re really nice guys, so getting to know them better was nice. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to play a lot of shows with them because of school scheduling, but we’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from that. “Jet Alone” is definitely a song that I like a lot that was on that. It had a lot of good memories to go along with it.
 
Like you said, this was the first record made with kind of the full band. Did just writing together make everybody closer?
Yeah, definitely. We spent a lot more time together, and doing that and driving back and forth down to Philly to record made us spend a lot of time together. It was really nice getting to know everyone a lot better. Ben and Adam had been friends for a while before I joined the band and Brianna had been in the band for about a year before I had been in it, so getting to know them, especially Brianna. Music tends to be a big boy’s club and that’s really annoying and I really hate that. So when we’re on tours, they’re a lot of guys and I feel like she’s not doing the same things that we’re doing. So getting to spend more time with her and thus getting to know her better was amazing. In that respective, it’s been a great experience.
 
The album sounds a lot better in terms of production than your previous releases. Are you guys pleased with how everything turned out in terms of sound?
Personally, I’m extremely happy how everything came out. The drum sounds are great. For me it’s very reminiscent of Nirvana or later Brand New drum sounds. I really like the drums a lot. I don’t play drums or anything, but I think it sounds really great. We did everything how we thought it should sound and I really like it a lot.
 
Not too long ago a music video for “Two Worlds” was released that was filmed by Alex from Basement. Were you happy with how it came out?
That was really great just with the way he got everything to line up and us playing live was amazing. The way he put everything together was great. He’s a great guy. We haven’t met Basement yet, but if they’re anything like Alex, I’m sure we’re going to have a really great time in two weeks.
 
Tonight the band will actually be playing one of two record release shows with Made Do And Mend, Kite Party, and Three Man Cannon. Will you guys start playing more material off of Two Worlds starting tonight?
I imagine so. I can’t really say right now. I’m not sure because I can’t be there tonight. I think Adam is going to play bass. I think we’re just going to have keyboard, bass, one guitar, and drums. I’m not sure to what extent because there is a lot more guitar work going on in Two Worlds than previous releases. I’m not sure how much new stuff will be going on it.
 
Just a few days after Christmas, Tigers Jaw will be heading overseas for a run of UK shows with End Of A Year and fellow label mates, Basement. How stoked are you for those shows?
Extremely excited. I’ve never been out of the country. Well, I’ve been to Canada. I don’t think any of us have ever been to Europe, I’m fairly certain about that. Just for that alone, it’s kind of a vacation. Like I said, if Basement is anything like Alex, we’re going to have a really good time. We played in Canada with End Of A Year and they were amazing and so funny. Extremely intelligent and extremely funny. I think it’ll be really, really fun.
 
Jeff from Run For Cover will actually be joining you if I’m correct. Looking forward to that as well?
Yeah, we definitely are. We met one of his interns at Make Do And Mend’s record release show and we were trying to prod him to tell us what weird things Jeff does when he’s working or at his apartment. We didn’t get anything out of him, which is disappointing. We know he Tek Decks a lot, or at least he was telling us about his Tek Deck abilities last time we were there, but he wasn’t showing us. We’re hoping to get him to Tek Deck a little bit. I’m not sure what else will happen. We’ll have fun for sure.
 
It really has been a great year for Run For Cover and a ton of your friends like Balance, Title Fight, Man Overboard, and Transit. How happy are you on the label?
We’re so extremely grateful that Jeff decided to work with us because he just gives us so much control over everything that we do. Being able to work with someone that cares so much and is friends with the people that is he kind of the boss of is amazing. We’ve met so many amazing people on and through Run For Cover and they’ve all been really amazing and we’re so happy to even get the chance to meet these people. It’s a wonderful thing.
 
Jeff has mentioned that he really sees you guys becoming a big, big thing, but only a little more slowly than a bunch of the other bands on the label because you don’t tour fulltime. Will we be seeing tours more frequently next year?
Well, next year…I can’t say for sure. I know both Pat and Adam will be graduating from college. That’s probably going to lead, from Pat, a lot more interest in playing a good amount in shows. Ben, Brianna, and I are still deep in school. I would hope so, but with everything going on I can’t be certain. We’d love to play a bunch of shows with our friends, but we’ll do that when it’s possible.
 
There haven’t been many complaints about Two Worlds, and this hasn’t been one in particular, but the record is only around 26 minutes long. Was there more material that did not make the record?
[Laughs] I don’t know if I should say sort of. There was something that didn’t get on there. It wasn’t anything really though. 26 minutes is a fine length. It’s brief, but to the point.
 
Due to its shortness, is it possible that we could see another EP or even full-length released in 2011?
We really hope that that will be the case. We definitely have been working on things and trying to work on things. Again, school kind of steps in the way of it. We’ve been trying to do stuff and hopefully it will get finished in early 2011, but that’s kind of a mystery. We just got tapes of Spirit Desire 7” that has been out of press for a long time. Right now that’s the closest thing to coming out with a new release.
 
Thanks so much for your time, is there anything else you’d like to add?
Thank you so much for doing this, and there’s a new band…It’s Adam from Tigers Jaw, Greg Barnett from The Menzingers, Bobby Barnett from Captain, We’re Sinking, and Pat from Tigers Jaw. Their name is Sheep. It’s going to be pretty good, pretty grungy. Look out for that.