Tiny Masters of Today

When Tiny Masters of Today walk out on the stage, jaws drop before they have even played a single note. With an average age of twelve and weighing in at a total of 120 lbs, the Tiny Masters are certainly one of the youngest and tiniest bands toughing out the New York club scene. Those tempted to dismiss them as a novelty act are quickly set straight as they tear through a ferocious set of their original and inventive songs.

The band is comprised of thirteen-year-old Ivan on guitar and vocals and his eleven-year-old sister Ada on bass and vocals. They began writing songs in the summer of 2004 when Ada was only eight. “We started the band ‘cos we were bored. We aren’t allowed to watch TV on school nights and we don’t have a Playstation or anything like that, so we had to find other ways to entertain ourselves,” says Ivan. Their crude home recordings found their way to the internet via a Myspace page and the band quickly developed an international reputation. Within weeks, a reporter from Newsweek Magazine stumbled upon the page and declared their “brief, bratty” songs “remarkable.”

Upstart UK indie label Tigertrap soon came into the picture, releasing their home recorded demos as a 45 in July of ‘06. The three-song ep Big Noise became a cult classic, quickly selling out and receiving rave reviews and BBC and XFM airplay. UK magazine Artrocker put the band on the cover of their October issue, declaring them, “the Future of Rock and Roll.” Perhaps the most surprising endorsement came from David Bowie, who declared the single “Genius” and recommended it as one of his favorite new records to readers of the London Times. The K.I.D.S. ep. their second home recording session, was released in December of ‘06. It too received raves and quickly sold out. Up until now, the duo had created backing tracks of drum loops on the computer. For live appearances an old laptop served as rhythm section. Somewhat inexplicably, Russell Simins of the legendary Jon Spencer Blues Explosion also found the band via Myspace and petitioned to be their live drummer. “Our parents had to talk to him first and make sure he wasn’t some psycho,” recalls Ada. Passing the audition, Russell began appearing with band whenever schedules permitted. Simins also undertook getting the kids into a proper recording studio with eyes on making another single. The prolific Tiny Masters had a plethora of songs and contagious enthusiasm which caused the single to quickly turn into an ep which subsequently grew into a full length album. Russell brought in Chris Maxwell and Phil Hernandez, aka the Elegant Too to co-produce and engineer. The project took on a life of it's own, sprawling out over several months. When school schedules would conflict, the kids would record tracks at home and email them to the studio. With Bang Bang Boom Cake, Tiny Masters of Today have delivered on the promise of their singles, offering up an unabashed punk pastiche that touches on everything from hip-hop to good ol‘ garage rock. Youth is certainly part of their charm but only to the extent that it contributes to the generally unaffected ambience. Amidst the general youthful exuberance is a refreshingly anti-authoritarian stance which spares nobody, from school cliques to the President of the USA. Within the album are several surprising and successful collaborations with varied outsider rock luminaries. Ex-Moldy Peaches singer Kimya Dawson (who also met the kids through Myspace) sang back up on several songs and co-wrote the song Trendsetter. B-52s’ frontman Fred Schneider joined in on Disco Bomb. Their Brooklyn neighbor Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers came in for the aptly themed Texas. In one particularly astonishing moment, the pair face off against Karen O and Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs for the track Hologram World. The song was largely composed over email and is a wild romp that seems to have something to do with money, magic, and national security.

The band has also proven to be a formidable live act, sharing the stage with bands such as Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Man Man, Smoosh, The Dirtbombs, the Detroit Cobras, and Matt and Kim. They appeared at the SXSW Festival in ‘07 and are the youngest band to ever play CBGBs. Their recent UK tour featured several sold-out dates and they are returning this summer for a more expansive stint including an appearance at the Underage Festival in Victoria Park alongside Cajun Dance Party, Patrick Wolf, and Crystal Castles.

Still, despite all the hoopla, they are basically normal kids. They attend public school in Brooklyn and spend the great majority of their time doing normal kid things. But for Ivan and Ada it’s jut one tiny step to working double-time “stickin’ it to the man”, dropping “disco bombs” and inciting “radio riots” all over the “hologram world”.