Playing everywhere from labor rallies to rock clubs, Tigerman WOAH have become Boston’s favorite rabble-rousers, blending blues, punk and Appalachian folk into foot-stomping revivals that champion the working class.
“It’s all coming from the same place, a response to a repressive world,” says frontman Adam Kaz, who howls like Tom Waits and whacks away at a painted banjo-ukelele. He and electric guitarist Jon Feinstorm migrated to Boston from Georgia, enamored with both early-century roots music and socialism.
Raised on politically charged punk in his teens, Kaz moved on to Pete Seeger and the Smithsonian Folkways series. “When Jonny and I got [Folkways], we lost our shit,” he says. “That was a good two years where I didn’t listen to anything but that, the Carter Family, Son House and Bukka White.”
The underemployed friends moved to Lynn, where they fueled their interest in community-building—and building a band. Adopting a name that nods to a Rufus Thomas song, they drafted acoustic bassist Kevin Landry and eventual drummer Adam Lentine and played Lynn’s tiny Buchanan Café. “It’s like a 50-year-old fishing trailer,” Kaz says. “It has kind of a bad history, but it’s a great spot that’s been reborn with neighborly people of all stripes.”
They’ve since expanded their reach, even playing Boston Calling and local-band offshoot Boston Clawing at Ned Devine’s on the same day. “I think I slept for two days after that,” Kaz says. “It’s rare that we play a packed bar, let alone a packed City Hall Plaza.”
The band’s been giving away the first two volumes of its Up South EP series and plans to start a third by fall. But people should experience Tigerman live to get the full WOAH, complete with ZZ Top-ish beards that Kaz claims were not a schemed shtick. “We never talked about it,” he says. “They just got bigger because the four of us hung out all the time.”
Loud and Clear
Ten Top Local Acts Who’ve Been Making Noise Around Boston and Beyond.
By Paul Robicheau Aug. 1, 2014
Tigerman WOAH
Playing everywhere from labor rallies to rock clubs, Tigerman WOAH have become Boston’s favorite rabble-rousers, blending blues, punk and Appalachian folk into foot-stomping revivals that champion the working class.
“It’s all coming from the same place, a response to a repressive world,” says frontman Adam Kaz, who howls like Tom Waits and whacks away at a painted banjo-ukelele. He and electric guitarist Jon Feinstorm migrated to Boston from Georgia, enamored with both early-century roots music and socialism.
Raised on politically charged punk in his teens, Kaz moved on to Pete Seeger and the Smithsonian Folkways series. “When Jonny and I got [Folkways], we lost our shit,” he says. “That was a good two years where I didn’t listen to anything but that, the Carter Family, Son House and Bukka White.”
The underemployed friends moved to Lynn, where they fueled their interest in community-building—and building a band. Adopting a name that nods to a Rufus Thomas song, they drafted acoustic bassist Kevin Landry and eventual drummer Adam Lentine and played Lynn’s tiny Buchanan Café. “It’s like a 50-year-old fishing trailer,” Kaz says. “It has kind of a bad history, but it’s a great spot that’s been reborn with neighborly people of all stripes.”
They’ve since expanded their reach, even playing Boston Calling and local-band offshoot Boston Clawing at Ned Devine’s on the same day. “I think I slept for two days after that,” Kaz says. “It’s rare that we play a packed bar, let alone a packed City Hall Plaza.”
The band’s been giving away the first two volumes of its Up South EP series and plans to start a third by fall. But people should experience Tigerman live to get the full WOAH, complete with ZZ Top-ish beards that Kaz claims were not a schemed shtick. “We never talked about it,” he says. “They just got bigger because the four of us hung out all the time.”
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