Words by Jason Lee; Photo by Sonja Petermann + Alyssa
“Lions and tigers and snakes, oh my!” is a famous line ritualistically chanted by Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man as they skip down the Yellow Brick Road in apprehension of the animals that they may encounter along the way and the potential dangers of this strange new Land of Oz more generallly…
…and ok to be fair we changed “bears” to “snakes” in the quote above cuz we figure you’ll allow us a little artistic license not that you have a choice but hey we still care what you think nonetheless cuz THE DELI CARES™ with the point being that moments later the trio do in fact encounter a lion who as it turns out presents far less of a threat in reality than they’d imagined seeing as the cowardly lion’s more scared of them than vice-versa…
…with the even-more-relevant point being that NYC rock band Alphabet City’s brand new single “Year of the Tiger” (their second!) dropped just today and this blog entry certainly ain’t about “Yesterday’s Papers” but rather it’s about the Chinese zodiac ya see and there ain’t no Year of the Bear when it comes to labeling celestial cycles in Chinese cosmology so we changed it to “bears” to “snakes” seeing as 2025 is the Year of the Snake with the latest Year of the Tiger having come not that long ago in 2022 and that’s the year Alphabet City’s “Year of the Tiger” is about ya see as explained by the band’s vocalist/guitarist/head honcho songwriter, lyare Osarogiagbon:
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“2022 was an awkward stretch. I’d recently graduated from college and reality was waiting in the wings. The post-grad job hunt was becoming monotonous while other classmates seemingly managed to skip onto greener pastures. A long distance relationship I’d recently started was also coming to its inevitable end (not that distance would’ve made any difference mind you) and to top things off I’d also developed urticaria, an autoimmune disease with no definitive cure. These are all small potatoes in the grand scheme (there are worse fates than being stuck at home with your middle class parents), but I was certainly very lost. It felt like I was going nowhere.
Between dead end zoom interviews and visits to my allergist I’d started writing songs again. I joked with friends that it was my “blue period” (per Picasso). It almost felt too easy: I had all the time in the world on my hands and a lot on my mind. But it felt good. Slowly but surely, I was pulling myself out of some sort of ditch. In retrospect I was going through a bit of a metamorphosis, the period of time where you’re trying to make sense of your early 20’s, deciding where you want to go. The stuff I was writing reflected that change: gone were the happy-go-lucky naive garage stompers I’d written in college and here now was something more self-reflective and introspective. I wasn’t even aware of this until Max told me.”
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…so ya see lyare is basically like Dorothy in this story, blithely skipping down the Yellow Brick Road one minute on the way to losing his/her innocence and naiveté the next where it’s made abundantly clearl “we ain’t in Kansas anymore” as they embark upon a journey of discovery and self-awareness and learning to face a sometimes scary world with a brave face cuz being a cowardly lion ain’t no way to go live, son…
…better instead to trust your instincts cuz when you do, as often as not, it turns out at least half yr fears were totally unfounded while the others can only be overcome by facing ‘em directly ya see and what’s more the so-called “Wizard” is just some sad, old dude twisting knobs and dials behind a green curtain (“pay no attention!”) in the name of putting on a big ol’ show of bullshiz just to scare your ass into doing his bidding by using yr own trepidations and fears against you and you can’t go thru life being a Cowardly Lion can ya cuz that ain’t no way to live which is why Iyare, Alyssa (who plays ze bass), and Max (who plays ze drums) have learned to trust their instincts and each other…
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“Year of the Tiger” was one of the first songs to emerge from that period. The songs for our first album were already picked so I figured I’d save it as a bit of a Hail Mary for the next one. Max wisely talked me out of this. He too seemed to sense the song’s potential and was determined to not let it slip by. A year later when Alyssa joined the band she also felt there was something there, excitedly playing the demo to her fiancé after we showed it to her (it felt like we were showing off a family heirloom). Three years later it’s our second single and almost feels incredulous to have it any other way. Trust your instincts, but trust your bandmates too.
“Year of the Tiger” embodies the heart of the band more than most of our songs. Aesthetically there’s a playful “chip on your shoulder” element to ABC, reminiscent of the “all for one/one for all” stuff we grew up with as kids like Recess and Codename: Kids Next Door. It’s the feeling of you and your group of friends being the dark horse in the race with something to prove. Whether that stems from our own adolescence, our diverse racial mix, or the lengthy gestation process of the band (since 2019!), who’s to say? But “Year of the Tiger” tackles that mentality from an almost existential angle, championing perseverance within the face of rejection, hopefulness amongst a sea of bleakness.”
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…with Alphabet City being a threesome made up of just such a motley crew as seen in Codename: Kids Next Door who get the job done in no small part thanks to their diversity and the various background and skills and hangups and superpowers and whatever else they each bring to the table which is why likewise the band can’t be pigeonholed in terms of their overall sound and vibe cuz whereas their debut single “Yesterday’s Papers (That’s Me)” had a kinda T.Rexy garage rock/glam rock stomper vibe to it “Year of the Tiger” goes in another direction entirely which we’ll dub “feel-good inspirational indie rock with cool little stop/start sections adding additional drama” while still sounding distinctly “Alphabet City” with the new song only hinting at the strange, compelling encounters still to come as they continue skipping down their own private Yellow Brick Road on the way to releasing their debut album later this year…
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With “Yesterday’s Papers (That’s Me!),” our prior single, people seemed to have us stylistically pegged. But while there’s an undeniable garage rock and bluesy feel to our sound, the new single is a good illustration of what’s to come, not only for our upcoming album, Neverland, but also the material we’ve written since then. It’s the sound of a band finally building off of its prior influences and coming into its own. If “Yesterday’s Papers” was our “Love Me Do”, “Year of the Tiger” is our “Please Please Me”, something more refined that gives a sense of where the music’s headed.
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…and even if there may be some lions, tigers, and snakes along the way, in reality the lions are mostly cowardly and the tigers mainly paper tigers while snakes are slithering, cunning, but ultimately pathetic little creatures which actually makes them the most dangerous of the bunch cuz while lions are tigers seem the scariest you’re at least gonna be cautious around ‘em whereas snakes can easily rule the roost by playing off people’s fears and paranoias and prejudices in just the right way…
…and if this sounds like any particular current public figure in American life at present we can assure you the resemblance is more than merely coincidental with 2025 being quit literally the Year of the Snake for reals which only makes it all the more urgent to have your eyes of the tiger peeled in 2025 seeking out those slithering little beggars rather than getting scared and running away which’ll only embolden em and given ‘em room to reproduce so better to stomp ‘em to death whenever and wherever ya find ‘em…
…cuz if you don’t show those snake who’s boss before long they’ll be taking over faster then you can sing “Crawling Kingsnake Blues” and suddenly we’re all living in a Kingdom of Snakes snakepit hellscape and snakepits ain’t no fun cuz ain’t no Indy Jones gonna ride to our rescue and save us plus that “whip with a whip” is a coward who’s afraid of snakes anyway…
…and hey anyway if ya gets bit once or twice or thrice you’re still likely to survivce and there is such a thing as building up antibodies leading to full-on inoculation to snake venom so we all probly oughta take a cue from the guy described below on a popular but not that popular late night talk show and learn to live life as devoid of fear as possible as described by a certain four-term prez-o-dent from this country’s past who we hope was right when he said fear itself is the biggest thing we got to fear word to ya mutha (ok he didn’t really say that last part) with Alphabet City’s “Year of the Tiger” being the prefect soundtrack for facing and taking on the Year of the Snake…
Year of the Tiger — lyrics by lyare Osarogiagbon
Ra-a-a-a-age!
Yes, rage against this time and place,
Enga-a-a-a-age,
And still come over for what you claim,
Compassion and respect,
All rather circumspect,
Genuine and correct
Bra-a-a-a-ave!
A current ‘gainst a tidal wave,
So sa-a-a-a-ave,
This notion for what you face,
You know not what to do,
And yet you get to choose,
How could you ever lose?
Ra-ai-ai-ai-ain!
And poor upon you night and day,
Pai-ai-ai-ai-ain,
No pitiful price to pay,
It hurts because it means
That love did reign supreme,
Little it may have seemed,
You carry the weight of the world on your shoulders
‘Cause you’re bolder, you’re bolder than me!
Now decree that you know that your life isn’t over,
Roll it over,
Listen to me,
It’s time to be good, as good as can be-e-e-ee,
Perfection’s illusion and there lies relief,
Taaaaaaaaaaaaame (Ooh!)
A tiger hanging by its tail,
Enga-a-a-a-age,
Or else you lose your head one two ways,
Compassion on the brain,
Enlightened or just sane,
Maybe they’re one and the same