Kevin
Tihista's Red Terror - Don't
Breathe A Word
See a video for "Lose The
Dress": hi-res · lo-res
Parasol re-issue of the Division One/Atlantic title released and deleted in
2001.
A SAMPLE OF THE CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR DON'T BREATHE A WORD:
· UNCUT magazine's #19 album of 2001
· "…these are great songs…happy sad, and then
some."-MOJO
· "With supposedly 100-plus songs in the can, this is thankfully far
from Tihista's last breath. R.I.Y.L.: Elliott Smith, Nick Drake, Big
Star."-CMJ New Music Report
· "Don't Breathe a Word is simply one of the most glorious pieces of
music you're likely to hear this year."-New Times LA
· One of Alternative Press's 100 artists to watch in
2002
"These recordings are dedicated to my best friend Danny Garcia who would
like you to know that Tihista rhymes with Fiesta"
Kevin Tihista's Red Terror
It took Kevin Tihista 30 years to write a song. Now he just can't stop, and that's
good news for lovers of richly-ornamented bedroom pop. "DON'T BREATHE A
WORD," the Atlantic Records debut by Kevin Tihista's Red Terror, is a sharp,
languidly beautiful introduction to a remarkable new talent, a wry, wistful melodicist
in the tradition of Big Star, Elliot Smith, Nick Drake and Eric Matthews. Already,
Britain's New Musical Express has been moved to
declare, "Tihista is making a convincing claim for long-term
greatness."
A self-confessed recluse who lives at his girlfriend's mother's house and doesn't
like to eat in public, Tihista was formerly the bassist in mid-'90s Chicago pop-punkers
Tripl3 Fast Action. He's lived in the City of Big Shoulders since 1989, but came
of age in Northern California, where the working-class Tihista family never lived
in the same house for more than three years in row.
He was born in Walnut Creek, "but I don't think I ever lived there." Second
grade was spent in Watsonville, but that house was haunted. He attended five
different high schools in his senior year alone, and wasn't interested in graduating
from a sixth.
"I just put everything in to being in bands," Tihista says. "I
didn't really have any other dreams." On his 21st birthday, he followed
an old pal out to Naperville, a town in Chicago's Western suburbs. Two forgettable
groups later -- if you really wanna know, they were called Mouse and Wood --
he
joined Tripl3 Fast Action.
"But I was just the bass player," Tihista says of his time in TFA. "I
was kind of a frustrated songwriter. I would stay after practice and mess around,
trying to write rock songs, but they would always end up being really mellow.
I just don't have a lot of rock in me."
Even after Tripl3 Fast dissolved and he was free to pursue a quieter aesthetic,
Tihista wasn't able to make the leap. "My problem was I could never finish
a song. I would get a minute in, then I would drop it and try and write another
one. I could never finish. My attention span was nothing."
He killed time and made money by playing in the most recent line-up of Veruca
Salt, as well as DJing two nights a week at a place called Liar's Club, playing "white
trash metal and '70s stuff during the week. But then on Saturdays I would have
to play a bunch of '80s music and fratrock."
One day in 1999 it clicked. "It just came to me. I finished a song and it
was like, ok, I know how to do it. Now it's really easy." That first song
was "Don't Breathe a Word," and its sleepy Beatles-esque romanticism
was followed quickly by four additional compositions.
Tihista might have been content to stay in his room forever, whiling away the
late nights and early afternoons writing songs and smoking cigarettes. Come to
think of it, he is content to do that. But fortunately for the rest of the world,
his across-the-street-neighbor in Chicago's Albany Park community is producer
Ellis Clark, known for his work with lush indie combos like the Chamber Strings
and June and the Exit Wounds.
Tihista had already played with Clark, Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, and the Chamber Strings'
Kevin Junior on a record by British cult hero Nikki Sudden. Now, at the urging
of his girlfriend, he took his own stuff to his neighbor's basement studio. With
Tihista on guitar, Clark on bass, the producer's brother Tom on drums, and both
Tihista and Clark trading off piano parts, "four songs
turned into thirty."
Tihista still wasn't thinking of his music in terms of something that could be
in record stores. He was happy making tapes for friends -- multiple albums' worth
given his newfound productivity. A few songs found their way to Easy!Tiger, a
U.K. indie that released his first single. Even as that landed Tihista on the
London Times' list of "Artists to Watch" for year 2001, his friends
and colleagues still had to urge Kevin to get serious about his career. Tihista
took the advice and was soon signed to the legendary Rough Trade Records in Europe
and Atlantic Records in the States.
"DON'T BREATHE A WORD" begins with the slow-building pop tension of "Just
Not Enough," then lopes into a song both Tihista and the English critics
have already picked out as a highlight, the lascivious,
snarky-pretty "Lose the Dress." "I'm like a film star who's out
of control/I'm like a millionaire getting blown in a limo." Tihista
sings.
Other highlights include the lo-fi electro-beat of "Outta Site Outta
Mind," the unvarnished emotional delicacy of "Doctor," the toe-tapping
indie strum of "Pretty Please," and the hangdog acoustic
beauty of "Stoopid Boy," which begins, "the only good impression
I ever made was on my pillow."
Tihista's a fan of Burt Bacharach, Todd Rundgren, the Beatles and the Smiths, "but
I'm more influenced by watching a movie," he says, naming Somewhere in Time,
Harold and Maude and Birdy as favorites. And surprisingly, he's not a Brian Wilson
fan. Call it a Northern California thing. "I could never get past the Beach
Boys' clean cut surfer image," he says. "I tried buying 'PET SOUNDS,'
like, three times, and three times I've sold
it."
After 15 years of hiding behind a bass or six-string at one side of the stage,
Tihista went straight into the fire with his first live show ever at London's
Water Rats last year. Since then, he's done a full slate of UK gigs opening for
Heavenly Records star Ed Harcourt. Kevin will soon tour America in support of "DON'T
BREATHE A WORD," and perhaps by then, the stage fright will be
gone. "I still get really, really nervous," Tihista admits. "Like,
crazy nervous."
A reluctant public figure to say the least, Tihista still can't believe he's
writing songs and fronting his own band at all. "I never thought that this
would happen," he s ays. "I really don't have any great expectations
about this. I'm just happy to be able to put out a record."
Anyone who hears "DON'T BREATHE A WORD" will second that emotion.
And there's 100 more songs where these came from. -September 2001
Last year producer Ellis Clark (June & The Exit Wounds/Chamber Strings/Epicycle)
mailed us a batch of incredible songs he'd recently recorded for fellow Chicagoan
Kevin Tihista. We fell head over heels in love with the material and immediately
planned to release the a double-CD to be titled Back To Budapest. Days prior
to our sending our intended disc to the pressing plant, however, we got the phone
call explaining that Kevin had been snatched away by Atlantic Records who were
going to release a single CD on their Division One label. They released a single
CD, Don't Breathe A Word, at a difficult time in world (September 18th, 2001)
and within the company — Atlantic decided to close Division One shortly
thereafter. In the business where "timing is
everything," Kevin Tihista's Red Terror was dealt a cruel hand.
We feel very lucky to have an opportunity to re-release Don't Breathe A Word
and follow-up Judo this month — in effect releasing Back To Budapest...
the hard way.
Here you'll find a collection of beguiling lush-pop orchestrations from a certified
pop genius/recluse (we have the paperwork around here somewhere). Utilizing an
arsenal that includes sweetly sarcastic vocals and expansive harmonies, grand
piano and Playstation programming, acoustic and electric guitars, strings and
horns, bass and drums, KT and his Red Terror perform richly arranged, heartbreaking
pop songs incorporating the very best of the last forty years of pop music; decadent
pop stuffs ideal for falling in or out of love. For fans of The Webb Brothers
and George Harrison, The Smiths and Elliott Smith, Rufus Wainright and Todd Rundgren,
Big Star and Eric Matthews,
Nick Drake and The Chamber Strings, June & The Exit Wounds and Linus Of
Hollywood.
Alternative Press placed Kevin Tihista's Red Terror on their list of “100
Bands You Need To Know In 2002” and Uncut (UK) named Don't Breathe A Word
the #19 album of 2001 noting, "After a couple of low-key EPs, the first
album from Chicago based Tihista transcended the singer-songwriter genre with
unobtrusive lo-fi mini-symphonies of layered harmony and swelling synth. Singing
in a half-whisper that makes Nick Drake sound aggressive, Tihista has arguably
made the most romantic record of the
year.” |
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