Featured Artist: Tumbledown House

“Shady Characters & Eccentric Clientele”
~ Interview with Tumbledown House ~

About the Band

Tumbledown House is a songwriting duo from Bozeman, Montana. Often described as gritty saloon jazz, parlor music inflicted with the unspeakable, or Tom Waits in a cocktail dress, Tumbledown House writes stories that may revolve around shady characters down on their luck, brothels with an eccentric clientele, or a scorned woman out for revenge. These stories are delivered with sultry female vocals reminiscent of a bygone era and placed over a jazz guitar accompaniment.

The Big Dream

Tumbledown House dreams of one day meeting Richard Simmons in person, and sweating to the oldies with him. We also have high aspirations of owning a race horse, learning to tango, and performing in the Sistine Chapel.

The Name

In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer tells the tale of a young Chris McCandless, a brazen idealist whose reckless inhibitions proved to be the death of him. After assuming the moniker “Alexander Supertramp”, Chris sets out across the country and at one point, stays in what the author described as a “tumbledown house”. We found Supertramp to be both brave and foolish, which we found appropriate for our own story, and more importantly, Gillian nerded out on the lack of hyphen in the word ‘tumbledown’ and refused to consider any other options.

Starting the Band

Tumbledown House began on the damp streets of Portland, Oregon. The songwriting began naturally, and without much discussion. Over time and liquor, more songs were written, characters were developed, stories materialized, Montana became our home, more wine was consumed, day jobs were lost, and the music became an increasingly larger and more important part of our lives.

Recording

Tumbledown House is releasing a self-titled debut CD on July 28^th. Our CD release party will be held at Wild Joe’s on Saturday, July 25^th. We would recommend that any band who wants to record a CD be well prepared, save your pennies, and then be ready to spend them all. Other musicians, the internet, and Music Villa have all proven to be excellent resources for building a working knowledge of the recording process and the technical aspects of music.

The Future

We assume that with a career in any art form, it’s risky to look too far into the future. We are extremely grateful for the way things have been going. Our efforts and creative energy is all currently going towards booking and preparing for our first tour, which will be three months long and will cover much of the coastal U.S. We are very enthusiastic about releasing our album, and we’re hopeful for what the future holds.

Lastly, the band details

Gillian Howe sings, composes melodies and lyrics, and has a vast collection of fashion accessories. She sings through a Shure SM58, as well as a Shure Green Bullet . Tyler Ryan Miller plays an Ibanez AF105NT Artcore guitar through a Mesa Boogie DC-5. We also utilize a digital looper, a Boss Octave pedal, a 15” Peavey Bass amplifier, and are currently in the process of integrating percussion into our set.

Show Details

We are very pleased to host Tumbledown House, Saturday, July 18, 2009 at 5pm. Seats are limited, come early. Also note: this show will be during the last hour of our Crazy Days Sale, so don’t miss your chance to hear some amazing live music & get some great gear deals! And as usual admission is FREE! For more information on the show click here. For more information on Tumbledown House click here. We look forward to seeing you this Saturday!