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Biography
In times of great tragedy, sometimes the only thing you can do is try to see the positives that came from it, without ignoring how others are affected by it of course. Hurricane Katrina was a tragedy the likes which we rarely seen in the United States and while it’s the smallest of small comforts, without it we wouldn’t have one of the most promising, fascinating and all-around exciting indie groups in the country.
However, without the hurricane forcing the band members together they would have gone on to create some great music anyhow. New Orleans is a hub of music coming in all shapes and sizes, and music of all shapes and sizes is what Givers do best. It’s even in the bands pedigree, the members knew each other from their joint hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, where various members played in Zydeco bands, sang with gospel choirs and frequented the local Cajun music and jazz scenes.
However, lead singer Tiffany Lamson moved out of Lafayette to attend college in New Orleans, and both she and her roommate and future co-lead singer Taylor Guarisco (a fellow Lafayette native) were rooming together when the storm hit. With nothing else to do and nowhere to stay, they returned home and began writing and performing music together. However, it wasn’t until 2008 that the band truly came together, and it began with a local club, and a local band dropping out at the last minute.
The promotor called Lamson and Guarisco to fill in, so the duo recruited Kirby Campbell, Will Henderson and Josh LeBlanc to make up a band and fill the vacant slot. The vacant, two hour slot that the newly formed quintet improvised the whole way through. They were so good that they were immediately invited back and soon had a regular slot playing improvised sets. It was these sets that a lot of the bands early songs were formed from, and they soon had an E.P’s worth of material.
By 2009 the band had been christened Givers and had wrangled a slot opening for one of Guarisco’s favourite bands, the Dirty Projectors, but it was 2010 that made the band. They recorded their debut album in January, toured with Ra Ra Riot over the summer and played a set at the Austin City Limits music festival that Glassnote Records founder Daniel Glass ran a mile to catch from his train to the venue. Needless to say, the band signed to Glassnote in 2011, and on June 7th of the same year, their debut record was released. Since then the band has gone from strength to strength, their songs appearing in everything from football video game FIFA 12 to the TV series Glee. They seem set for great things in the very near future, and they come highly recommended.
Live reviews
Givers are without doubt one of the most liveliest of bands I have ever seen, they wasn’t an area of stage they didn’t explore and they certainly set the place alight – there may as well have been fire. But no, it’s surprising to hear such a loud and carefully crafted sound come out of three people.
The band has been well-acclaimed by others in the industry notably Dirty Projectors whose Dave Longstreth invited them to support an East Coast tour in the states. Along with this Dave Byrne in his book Bicycle Diaries gave the band a warming review which must have certainly got the band excited. Both of whom can be seen as strong influences on the band. The sound was at times slow and controlled, with lazy-afternoon sounding riffs, only for there to be a sudden shift, a quick change of tempo and a flood a well-executed lyrics. The band produced a contagious energy on which reached its height with the song ‘Up Up Up’ where everyone around me was using all of the dancing room they had, and sung all the vocals they knew.
Tiffany Lamson’s voice has a similar quality to Lady Lamb The Beekeeper, from long hold of notes and stretches of words to bursts of words, like something is trying to escape out of her mouth. The same can almost be said about the male singer Taylor Guarisco, however in his case it’s almost as though he’s curdling the vocals in his chest before releasing them for us to hear.
nicky-preston
With an interesting history and rich musical background, indie pop outfit Givers have no issues standing out from the crowd when it comes to their music and performance. Taking inspiration from their times in cajun and jazz groups, the band come onto stage with a huge array of instruments in hand ready to perform for the waiting crowds. The hotly tipped quintet had no issue building up a fanbase in the early years and after impressing as support act for The Dirty Projectors it grew further.
The word of mouth recommendation of Givers has always been strong so tonight the venue is filled with hardcore fans and the curios bystanders. It is the latter of the two the group have to work hardest for as they recreate tracks from their debut album 'In Light'. As the night goes on and the vocals get more impressive, the instrumentals last longer and everything simply grows in epic proportions it would seem they have won over even the most uninterested of attendee. The whole room is clapping on command of the confident and suave Taylor Guarisco as a melange of percussion, flutes, guitars and even brass come together for 'Record High, Record Low'.
sean-ward
