LITTLE TYBEE, known for fusing progressive music with folk rock and psychedelia, is getting ready to help usher in a new era of live music in Savannah with the launch of Victory North. The venue, designed to be both a live music hall and a wedding venue, is the mid-level music destination that many have been waiting for, and Little Tybee is just one of a slew of acts slated to take the stage over the next several months.
Ahead of their performance, we spoke to bandleader Brock Scott about their music and the exciting gig.
Let’s get this out there first - tell me where the band name came from?
Scott: I grew up in Savannah, on Whitmarsh. Ryan Donald, our bassist, also grew up there. We went to Savannah Arts Academy for high school. So it’s kind of a way for us to keep our roots, even though we all moved to Atlanta. It was just a way for us to pay homage to our upbringing.
What was your musical upbringing, so to speak? I’m curious as to how you ended up in this progressive, experimental world the band lives in.
We all have different musical tastes. I’d say Josh, our guitarist, is the reason we have that kind of progressive following. Ryan and I, when we were living in Savannah, would play with this band called The Roundtables. It was kind of in that emo era, so it was a little bit heavier - sort of prog and emo. There was kind of a heavier style of music going on at that time.
The music scene was kind of interesting at that time - a lot of bands would play at the local YMCA and stuff.
A little more DIY.
Yeah, Savannah’s always been DIY. We’ve always needed one of those spaces that was a little bit larger and professional, but we never really had it. So we just always created it wherever we could. That’s what’s cool about this new place - Georgia-grown, local promoters who are really trying to push the music scene down there.
This show is kind of a culmination of our contacts in Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah coming together. I feel really honored that they want us to be a part of that christening. I’m excited to be one of the first bands to play there and kick off what I think is going to be a great thing for Savannah.
Having done four records and lots of touring since 2009, do you feel like there’s been an evolution in the band so far that you can identify?
Yeah! We’ve done four studio records as Little Tybee, but a bunch of other music projects with the same group of people. I think Little Tybee is kind of rare in that we’ve been a collective group that have been playing together for a long time, so we kind of write knowing what the other members are going to do.
You learn a little bit. The first few records we recorded ourselves, and then as we got more mature we decided to start working in other studios. You just kind of pick up little tricks as you’re working with other engineers. I think we just matured in our writing and recording process by just doing it so much, but also exposing ourselves to as many different types of music and ways of recording as possible. To not pigeonhole ourselves and really look for inspiration anywhere we can find it.
Are you guys working on anything new? What’s in the pipeline for y’all?
Yeah, this show will be the first of a two-week run we’re doing up to Boston and back. We’ll be doing a bunch of new songs, we have some fun covers, and we’ll actually be bringing down a jazz guitarist from New York named Rotem. He’s going to jump on stage with us.
But yeah, we’re definitely all figuring out a bunch of life stuff right now. We’re not 18 anymore, so touring’s a little harder. We have to be more strategic about it. We still love playing live. Whenever we do, we’re very specific about where we want to go and the markets where we know we have a huge fan base in. That’s why Savannah had to be on the list.
There’s something special about playing for Savannahians. I don’t think enough music gets down there, so I think it’s important to come down and say hello.
