Whiskey tangos to the beat of its own drum

Many bands struggle to find a genre where they can situate themselves, but local band… Many bands struggle to find a genre where they can situate themselves, but local band Whiskey Tango Foxtrot found its own unique solution. It invented its own.

‘I have declared a new genre of music: helter-skelter. It’s what we’re tagged under on iTunes,’ said band guitarist Ash Halli.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is made up of Halli and vocalist MJ Doe, both juniors at Duquesne, Duquesne senior bassist Brandon Siple, Pitt junior drummer Seth Reighard and Pitt grad student Eric Martich on guitar.’

In conventional terms, the band members say the name of their style would probably have ‘garage’ in it somewhere, possibly accompanied by ‘rock’ or ‘indie.’

‘Different feels play into different songs. We’re not scattered, we do have a sound,’ said Reighard.

All of the band’s members are full-time students working part-time jobs, but they still manage to find time for their music. They practice in the house where three of the five band members live together and perform regularly at local Pittsburgh venues.

The band frequently plays benefit concerts throughout Pittsburgh, such as a VH1 Save the Music concert on April 5 organized by Pitt service fraternities and sororities.

‘We always like to play music for people who need to hear it the most,’ said Halli.

Since forming in July of 2008, the band has played several large venues, including the 2008 Fall Fest and two shows at the Hard Rock caf’eacute;, but it felt uncomfortable with the separation from its audience.

‘Even a six inch stage removes you from your audience. Also, it’s more intimidating to get up there,’ said Doe.

‘We don’t believe in the fourth wall. Music should be inclusive,’ said Halli.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot typically prefers playing at hole-in-the-wall-esque dive bars and smaller venues that don’t separate the band from its fans.

The band has shows coming up at Envy in Garfield on April 10 and at Saddle Ridge in Station Square on April 26.

Doe said one of the band’s favorite audiences is Bloomfield.

‘It’s this really fun group of kids who go out for the night and forget about everything else and just have fun with us. That’s the kind of crowd we like,’ she said.

Concerned that its devoted fan base might be unable to afford the usual band merchandise like CDs and T-shirts on their student budgets, Whiskey Tango Foxtrot came up with an unusual idea. Inspired by the movie ‘Fight Club,’ it began to sell organic soap.’

‘It’s cheap and useful and doesn’t cause trash. A friend of ours is an industrial artist who made us a brand, so we stamp each piece with the band name,’ Halli said.

Though conceding that some amount of ego is necessary to be a performer, the band members firmly believe in keeping it in check.

Halli said of some of the national acts Whiskey Tango Foxtrot has played with, ‘They are exactly the people we want to stay away from. There are dirty parts of the industry, but these people take it to a whole new level.

As Reighard diplomatically put it, ‘We’ve been to some bars that we don’t care to go back to.’

‘The volume of assholes in the music industry is significantly higher than other businesses,’ Halli added, somewhat less discreetly.

The band members bounced between names for a while before settling on the military jargon term for ‘WTF’ — Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Doe said that when they came up with the name, she thought, ‘That’s always been our name — we just haven’t been able to articulate it.’

The band said that the name resonates with what its music represents. Reighard said that the name reflects the band’s political views as well.

‘After eight years of the George Bush administration, that’s all you can say,’ he said.

As theater and film students, with the exception of microbiology major Reighard, the band members describe themselves as collaborative artists who rely on the giant resources available to them through friends.

‘We don’t make a lot of money. As far as we’ve gotten, it’s been riding with our friends,’ Halli said.

Finances permitting, the band hopes to go on a mini-tour this summer, possibly toward Chicago, and record a debut album.

‘I could never work a nine-to-five job in my life. I think success is sort of irrelevant; it’s a state of mind, a silly hat you wear when you’re proud of yourself. We’ve been successful since we sat down together and started playing music,’ Halli said.