Tiger Bike is a four-piece emo band who found its genesis after its members attended BYU-Idaho. Based now in Salt Lake, the band has collected a large underground following with seven releases since 2022. The band’s latest EP released is called “3 Sundays in a week,” which was followed by a B-side acoustic release and a collaborative EP with groups Laughing Matter and Boy Sprout.
Three of Tiger Bike’s members—Noah Shelton and Ben Sleight who play guitar and sing, as well as Nate Foote who plays bass and trumpet—were involved in another project together during their time in Rexburg, Idaho called Poor Sports. Shelton described Poor Sports’ sound as “more accessible” and a more indie sound than Tiger Bike, but it still was eerie with emo.
“I think we wanted a more true-to-the-genre outlet, more ’90s emo-influenced or just a little bit heavier. And I think that’s kind of why we all transitioned into this—I wouldn’t say darker, but just more heavier, intense sound,” Shelton says.
In the meantime, drummer and producer of Tiger Bike Ivy Fraser opened a venue in the basement of a building that had gone through multiple different transitions. The basement venue became a safe space for the members of Tiger Bike, as they evolved into the group they are today. It gave them a space to more or less “be themselves” as they navigated through a college that they didn’t share the same values with.
“The basement did a lot for all of us,” Foote says.
In this episode, the group talks about the releases they love and the ones they hate. They discuss what being raw to them looks like, and how they strive toward a sort of underground sound. Plus, they discuss their time in an LDS-centered college and how they think the places you make emo music are the places you hate.