OKC’s Tiger Lily reunites Saturday for a 2000s-themed grand finale

All good things must eventually end.

Oklahoma City-based pop-punk and emo band Tiger Lily plays its last show 6:30 p.m. Saturday at 89th Street Collective, 8911 N. Western Ave. It would be enough of a draw to see Tiger Lily’s grand finale, but the night also is dedicated to some of the best alternative and emo acts of the 2000s.

Tiger Lily covers Taking Back Sunday and performs original tunes at Saturday’s showcase.

The act covered Taking Back Sunday more than a year ago at a Bad Granny’s Bazaar gig in Plaza District and had such a good time that it decided to do something similar for its final act.

“We’ve just always listened to them, and they’re one of our favorite bands,” said singer-guitarist Jimmie Miles. “It was super fun, so we decided for our last comeback thing to get some bands to do some covers.”

Three local bands join Tiger Lily for its farewell show: Life Lessons covers All-American Rejects, Alice Awaits interprets My Chemical Romance and Shywriter performs Weezer tunes.

Miles said Tiger Lily has shared shows with Life Lessons and Alice Awaits several times. He said he’s also eager to perform with the relatively new powerpop act Shywriter.

Moving on

Tiger Lily technically split about two years ago, though it has performed several reunion shows since then. Bandmates said they’re sure Saturday’s showcase will be their last show together as Tiger Lily.

Fellow guitarist Cale Horton will soon move to Portland, Oregon. Bassist Seth Kellerman manages tours for electronic music artists and, at the time of this interview, was on the road with Swedish-born artist Liquid Stranger.

Horton and drummer Jordan Huckabaa started trippy, melodic post-rock act wallclouds. shortly after Tiger Lily officially broke up. Miles was engaged this year and is in school majoring in sociology and human services.

“We all were just doing other things,” Miles said. “Everyone just went on to do their next thing.”

The band reached out to 89th Street Collective to plan its final show and wanted to have a good time with Horton before he moves.

Tiger Lily formed in late 2010 and split in November 2014. It released several projects, including the 2014 EP Won’t Let This Kill Me, and toured for about a year and a half. Miles said his tour memories are a highlight of his time with the band.

“I like just going all over the country and seeing people that knew our music and would sing it back to us and would hang out with us,” he said. “Just a lot of really cool and nice people we got to meet. That was probably the highlight for everyone.”
Miles said he is looking forward to Tiger Lily’s last big hurrah.

“I’m excited to see all my old friends, and I’m excited to see all the new kids who maybe haven’t gotten to see us before,” he said. “They’ll get to see us for one last time, and we’ll get to see all of them and make new friends.”

Saturday’s showcase is also a holiday canned food drive. Admission is $5 with a canned food donation, $7 without. Visit 89thstreetokc.com.

Print Headline: Proper sendoff, Oklahoma City’s Tiger Lily reunites one last time for a 2000s-themed cover show Saturday at 89th Street Collective.

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