Originally published in Excommunication issue #1

Hi Nathan. I like the new Selby Tigers album. The cover art is pretty creepy though! Who came up with the whole cover art concept for The Curse of the Selby Tigers?
I think we sort of hatched the idea collaboratively on tour and finalized it in the studio while we were recording the record. It was inspired by a lot of the schlocky and eerie poster art of Hitchcock’s films and Italian shock horror cinema of the ’60s.

What exactly is this supposed “Curse?”
I dunno really what we intended by that, but I guess it was like we came from beyond to make this record…oooh, scary.

So, tell me a little bit about the Selby Tigers. Who is in the band, how did you form, and where did the name come from?
The band is Arzu on guitar, Dave on drums, me on guitar, and Sammy on bass and stand-up comedy. We started with a different bass player, then things really gelled with Sammy coming around. The name is half school team mascot and half revolutionary army. We all lived on the street Selby Avenue in St. Paul, Minnesota at one time or another. So, it just clicked.

Whenever I think of Minnesota I think of Garrison Keillor, Kirby Puckett, and that crazy wrestler who runs the state.
Well, I guess those associations are better than the ones you might have from the movie Fargo.

The sound of the Tigers is incredibly unique, especially for this era — I can’t think of too many new wave/dance/punk bands out there. What did you listen to growing up, and does that influence a lot of the songs you write?
I think we all come from really different tastes in a lot of ways. I guess that our backgrounds all sort of intersect with late ’70s and early ’80s punk rock and new wave.

So what are you into now?
If I had a jukebox, I would fill it with Les Savy Fav, the Kinks, the Von Bondies, Hot Snakes, Radio 4, the Walkmen, Lifter Puller, Rocket From the Crypt, Sean Na Na, Dillinger Four, Scared of Chaka, the Briefs, etc.

Now, you are married to the other Selby Tiger vocalist/guitarist, Arzu. I love her beehive wigs. Does she ever let you wear them?
No, never.

Even if she doesn’t, your Vegas outfits are great. Did you ever see that movie Swingers? I love that movie. “Vegas, baby, Vegas!”
I saw it sometime, but I don’t remember too much about it. I love Vegas culture, though. We know some great people in that city, and they actually threw me a birthday party last time we were there. It was such a fun time, we ended up at the most insane ’60s-style cocktail bar (thank you folks at Beacon Lights!).

Personally, what is your favorite aspect of being able to play in the Selby Tigers?
I have learned to be who I really am up on a stage, to not worry when people think you are a freak, because it means you are inciting a reaction. Getting people to see a little “outside the box” with punk rock.

What is your favorite Selby Tigers song, and why? Are there any particular songs that you, for some reason, dread playing live, or avoid altogether?
I guess the most fun song for me to play live right now would be “(Is This) the Boulevard?” It is really up-tempo, falling house of cards to get on the back of and ride. I always dread when someone calls out a really old song we haven’t played in a while if we try to play it. It often ends in train wreck.

I think my favorite song on the new album is the retro (and final) track, “The Prom I Never Had.” Did you go to your senior prom? I didn’t go to mine. I knew that, no matter what, it wouldn’t be as cool as that ’50s “Under the Sea” dance in Back to the Future.
Yeah, that one came out of nowhere. It was fun to do, though. We used all weird old drums and amps making it, with like one mic on in the room. It was neat. And no, I never went to the prom…hence the song title.

What is in store for the Selby Tigers in the future? Any albums planned? Any touring coming up this summer?
We are going to tour in Japan, Southeast Asia, and Australia again. Then after that we are going to come home for a while, I think and enjoy the small summer we get in Minnesota.