Imagine a piercing falsetto, bordering on the edge of freakish,
singing about naughty children being blown to bloody bits while
accompanied by carnival-like accordions, toy drum solos and even
screeching cats. Although this sounds like something directly out
of a horror movie, it’s a fair summation of a Tiger Lillies
album.
Over the last decade, The Tiger Lillies, a British trio, have
established themselves as a premier avant-garde band by pursuing a
musical direction that is entirely unique. To quote a line from
their song “Roll Up,” their music centers itself around
“a life of death, decay and disease.”
Songwriter and Tiger Lillies’ frontman Martyn Jacques
confirmed the band’s unique direction.
“We’re very bored with the mainstream, and so our
approach may seem a bit mad,” Jacques said.
However, contemporary writer and illustrator Edward Gorey
instantly connected with The Tiger Lillies’ eccentricity and
unorthodox approach to music. Gorey sent them a letter proclaiming
them to be “the cat’s pyjamas” and immediately
suggested that they begin a project together.
This collaboration eventually resulted in “The Gorey
End,” an album featuring some of Gorey’s previously
unpublished works put to music by The Tiger Lillies and the
renowned Kronos Quartet.
What began as an interesting collaboration becomes even more
fascinating when examining how similar the works of Gorey and The
Tiger Lillies actually are. The Tiger Lillies first gained acclaim
with their cabaret show “Shockheaded Peter,” based on
Heinrich Hoffman’s tales of naughty children coming to
gruesome deaths.
Similarly “The Gashlycrumb Tinies,” arguably
Gorey’s most famous work, sends an alphabet’s worth of
unsuspecting kiddies to their demise, beginning with “A is
for Amy, who fell down the stairs.”
“What I like about Gorey is his eccentricity,”
Jacques said. “We are both outside the mainstream world of
art or music. This was my goal in this work: to capture
Gorey’s eccentricity, or nonconformity. His is a strange
world from another time. We both find the world full of dark,
peculiar things.”
The presence of the Kronos Quartet greatly enhances “The
Gorey End.” The Tiger Lillies initially met the Kronos
Quartet after a performance of “Shockheaded Peter” and
later suggested that they participate in the Gorey project as
well.
“Gorey’s work and illustrations have a very 19th
century feeling, Edwardian in a sense,” Jacques said.
“It feels as though it comes from the past. (We thought) a
string quartet would fit in nicely with this time frame.”
Although “The Gorey End” sounds like an ideal
collaboration, it did not reach completion without some difficulty.
Jacques had to sift through a box of Gorey’s writing to find
rhyming verse or couplets that would translate naturally to song.
Occasionally he had to edit some lines, but Gorey’s writing
constitutes the majority of “The Gorey End’s”
lyrics.
Unfortunately, three days before The Tiger Lillies were planning
to perform their arrangements for Gorey, he unexpectedly passed
away. “It was very upsetting,” Jacques said.
However, Gorey’s death raises some interesting questions;
namely, would he have enjoyed or endorsed this work as his own?
“It’s a very curious situation,” Jacques said.
“I mean, if Gorey had lived, he would have listened to the
songs and would have been able to say he loved them or hated them,
which would have been a full collaboration and could have validated
our work.”
So far, The Tiger Lillies and the Kronos Quartet have performed
“The Gorey End” in London and Germany to very receptive
and positive audiences. Jacques believes that The Tiger Lillies and
Kronos Quartet’s integrity as performers will override any
negative feedback.
“Honestly we haven’t gained much out of doing this;
we’ve definitely lost money on this project,” Jacques
said. “It really came down to our respect and love for Gorey.
I mean, everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but so far we
have received a positive response. Gorey has a very strong identity
in this project; I kept true to his work as much as I could. This
album is simply my best interpretation of his work.”
The Tiger Lillies perform with the Kronos Quartet Oct. 28 at
8 p.m. at Royce Hall. Go to www.uclalive.org for ticket
information.