Band: The Legendary Tigerman
Country of Origin: Portugal

Paulo Furtado, aka The Legendary Tigerman, has a long history in the Portuguese alternative music scene. He started off as a guitarist in the psychobilly group Tédio Boys in the late 1980s, then founded blues rock group WrayGunn in 1999. The Legendary Tigerman project started off as his one-man lo-fi punk blues project in the vein of Jon Spencer, but has since blossomed into a full-band project. It’s also fitting that he’s kicking off our “5 Questions With…” for 2019 as he appeared on the very first episode of Global Garage (and more recently on our Snowball Garage Xmas spectacular).

Five Questions

1. What is your desert island disc (the one album you couldn’t live without?)

The first American Recordings album by Johnny Cash, produced by Rick Rubin. The first time I heard it felt too good to be true and it still does…

2. How did the band members meet (or, for a solo musician, how did you get started)?

Back when The Legendary Tigerman was a one-man-band, around 1998, I was rehearsing and composing in a garage, all alone for a whole summer, and I was kind of bored, and at some point I saw there was a kick drum and a hi-hat in the back… so I started using it to make some rhythm while I was playing guitar and singing, and some of it sounded ok, and that´s how it started. Now we´re a 4-piece band.

3. What is the underground music scene like in your home country?

It´s really amazing. Lisbon (in Portugal) is a very exciting city to live in, with a lot of clubs and live music everyday of the week.

4. What are some of your biggest influences outside of music?

Well, I think all art influences me, but cinema and photography are very inspiring for me, and sometimes it´s a good exercise to write a song thinking of a movie or a photography. For instance, Motorcycle Boy was written as an hommage to Francis Ford Coppola´s Rumble Fish, and to Mickey Rourke´s character.

5. Tell us about your favorite show you ever played.

Well, a long time ago I played in San Francisco, at The Fillmore, in a night called Incredible Strange Wrestling, that mixed Mexican Wrestling and rock´n´roll! It was a crazy show and one of the greatest nights ever!