“Tiger! Tiger! Burning bright
In the forest of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?”
– William Blake
By: Ty Velasquez
Watching Bulletproof Tiger is like watching a shooting star. Bright, increases your heartbeat, and hurtles upward at an exponential rate. I knew from the first song that they are poised for success. The band has taken cues from other
Electronic bands such as Daft Punk and Gorillaz. This is seen in their musical style,
but also proven by the plastic tiger masks to conceal their identities. The disguises
establish a wonderful air of mystery, immediately creating a new dimension of
interest for the observer.
Who are these masked men? Where do they come from? How do two people
create such a full sound? The tiger boys are pretty nondescript when they perform
wearing the usual hipster garb: t-shirts, sneakers, and skinny jeans. No identifying
them from the rest of the usual scene of skinny, cool, music savvy cats. Even when
drinking the proverbial Pabst tall can, they don’t leave character, letting their masks
hover on their noses as they imbibe.
Bands need to have something to set them apart these days. There’s so many
groups out there that are here one minute, then gone the next. Just playing good
music is not enough. The music scene is a bourgeoning smorgasbord of sound,
which is great for us listeners, but might not fare so well for up and coming groups.
Bulletproof Tiger’s enthusiasm while performing is positively infectious. The
guitarist, whom I only know as Bobby Miracles, warms up the crowd, quickly falling
into the steady synthy groove him and his cohort, Jean-Luc Duvalier, create. Their
love of French Electro is evidenced by the hints of bands like Justice and Jupiter, the
latter who they opened for at cozy El Dorado on November 4th.
The duo started out in 2009 in their hometown of El Paso, Texas.
Coincidentally, their friendship began in a high school art class. After high school,
they went on to perform in separate live hip-hop groups. They fused their love of
hip-hop with an electro style but soon after gauging the crowd, shifted into the
synth-rock style that has become their signature.
The musician’s first big gig was the Sun City Music Festival in 2011. They
were fortunate enough to perform alongside well-known acts such as Crystal
Castles, Wolfgang Gartner, and Armin Van Buren. 2012 was the year of the
Bulletproof Tiger! Not only were they chosen to play SXSW but they played the
Neon Desert Festival with an incredible line-up that included Dirty Vegas, CSS, and
MSTRKRFT. In the spring of 2012, after a tour of the West Coast the guys decided to try
their luck on the sunny coast relocating to San Diego. So far I feel it was a great
move they’ve had luck playing in many popular spots such as The Griffin, The Office,
Tin Can, and Soda Bar. Now is your chance to catch these meteors before their
talent catapults them into bigger, more expensive venues. There will be a show on
December 18th in Hipsterville, San Diego aka North Park. The venue is U-31 and all
the cool kids will be there, so we better see you there.