Georgia natives, Little Tybee, are simply a group of friends who couldn’t stop making music together if they tried. The core of each of their songs begins in the relentless and creative mind of vocalist/guitarist/pianist Brock Scott. The songs mature through the dedicated musicianship of 8-string guitarist Josh Martin, violinist Nirvana Kelly, bassist Ryan Donald, percussionist Pat Brooks and keyboardist Chris Case. Since the release of their first LP, they have discovered that change is not only inevitable, but indeed good.
Little Tybee isn’t afraid to experiment freely, even dangerously at times, to follow a musical idea to its ultimate end. This mentality has led the group to explore music that transcends genre and packs a much bigger punch than their modest title implies.
With a show at The Earl this Saturday and their new record, For Distant Viewing, coming out next week on April 9th, we were lucky that the busy sextet took the time to answer our questions! Check out what the dynamic band had to say about their fans, their funniest moments and their band name below!
What is the strangest thing a fan has done for you at a show?
“I think a strange thing that is also awesome is that we’ve been able to tour pretty extensively without having to use hotels. Fans and friends have opened their homes to us and it winds up being a great way to really take in the vibe of the city and get to know some great people. It helps to switch up the scene and makes for good traveling.”
What is the funniest moment you have had as a band so far?
“We had to do some night time beach trespassing to reclaim a lost phone in Cali, and suddenly realized we were being followed. What had started as a serene beachfront stargazing session suddenly became an exercise in late night paranoia. In retrospect it was probably just a curious pedestrian but to our minds, at the time, it was more likely an axe-wielding maniac with a grudge towards musicians. Happily enough it all worked out and the phone was retrieved safely but we were bookin’ it back to the car for reals.”
Do you have any pre-show rituals?
“Beyond the lengthy but vital 8-string tuning process we pretty much keep it chill before the show.”
If you could describe your music in one word, what would it be?
“Voluminous.”
How do you connect with a crowd?
“Crowds have typically been super receptive. Hopefully the love we’ve put into the songs comes through in performance. Good friends playing good music is always a nice way to go. It also helps when your friends are awesome musicians. A lot of the songs off For Distant Viewing deviate from your typical verse/chorus/verse/chorus sort of patterns…It winds up being less about a big hook and more just loving the kaleidoscope of sound and the song as a whole.”
How did you come up with your band name?
“Brock grew up in Savannah, GA. Little Tybee is an island off the coast there that is only accessible by boat. The name is obscure enough to not be pretentious and helps us to keep a local footing even when we are abroad. We joke about changing the name to “Lil Tybee” so we can broaden our performance scope into the hip hop world.”
What is the best way [for you as a band] to write music?
“Most of the songs reach the band pretty well formed, but the atmosphere encourages collaboration. Brock wrote the majority of the songs from For Distant Viewing early in the process. Each member interprets the song and brings their contribution which gets refined over time through recording and playing the songs live. Josh Martin is such a cyclone of ideas that a lot of the time it’s a matter of stitching together the best ideas out of the dozens possible. We also included a lot more instrumentals on this record which started as Josh’s guitar pieces. It’s a different experience for every song but by the time they get filtered through the Little Tybee machine they tend to get on the right side of nice.”
Make sure to pre-order For Distant Viewing on the band’s official website! Keep up with Little Tybee on Facebook & Twitter as well!
And of course, grab your tickets for THIS Saturday’s show @ The Earl below!
