Christian Tremblay and Ryan Garvey have been making music together for years. In 2017, Tremblay met Dua Boakye at the Boston Music Awards where Boakye won Male Vocalist of the Year and his group Bad Rabbits took home the award for R&B Artist of the Year. It would be almost another year before all three would connect. “I had set up two jams on a Sunday—one with Ryan, and one with Dua—and TiDES was born when all three of us met and started creating,” says Tremblay. “Everything we jammed on felt fresh, and we were just constantly able to create new material.”
When asked to describe their collective sound Tremblay says, “Beat-driven psychedelic gospel? It's hard to pinpoint our sound from the various stylistic influences.” There’s plenty of overlap in their musical tastes, but the collaboration allows them to defy genres and explore individuality within a shared space. I caught up with TiDES to learn more about their first experiences, where they find inspiration and their upcoming EP release party. Excerpts below.
Their first recording session was brimming with ideas...
We came up with a few random song seedlings. The best one that comes to mind was called "Dark." And “Drowned” was one Christian and Dua had created, followed by Ryan tracking guitars to finalize it for the EP.
...and their creative process is easy and intuitive.
We all know how to support and nurture each others' ideas. We're also very direct if we feel like something isn't working, and we're each very adaptable to changing circumstances.
At times one of us will even create an inception, and the others see the brainstorm through, leading to a fully collaborative effort.
Collective inspiration comes from many places...
We listen to a lot of soul, hip hop, jazz, R&B, indie, experimental, etc. We love Radiohead, Quasimoto, and J Dilla.
We also know many talented local artists and friends that inspire us: Anjimile, STL GLD, Cliff Notez, Lightfoot, Oompa, Alec Hutson, Dephrase, Latrell James, Rah Zen...too many to name them all.
...and they have a couple of favorites to jam to.
We cover “Keep it Real” by the wondrous Georgia Anne Muldrow and it’s always a thrill to play. We also fool around a lot with “Rapp Snitch Knishes” by MF Doom between the seams.
We bond over “Skrr Skrr” by Dear Silas. We really have a lot of go-to jams and musical inside jokes, and those always find their way into our rehearsals.
Their first show as a trio was at Brighton Music Hall...
We opened for Kat Wright and Dead Messengers. Needless to say, we were a little nervous, but it was like a walk in the park once we got to the groove of things.
When people came up to us after the show they asked us how many years we’ve been together. We took joy in watching their reactions when we told them that we were only together for a few months and this was our very first show.
It's been amazing to see how far we've come since then too; we've tightened up our trio set up and we've adopted a five-piece band for some shows as well.
… and their first show as a five-piece was Oompa’s “Cleo” album release party at The Sinclair in August 2019.
It was with our good friends Jack Griffin (bass) and Ryan Scalia (drums) filling out the rhythm section. The room energy was high for literally the entire night.
That venue has hosted so many of our friends and influences, and to be on that stage sharing our music with a sold-out crowd was a night we’ll always hold dear to us.
Rehearsals come with a meaningful tradition.
We sometimes have a drink or two; when we do, we toast to each other saying: “here’s to loving you, and to loving music.”
And before rehearsals, I (Christian) always make sure my computer crashes before we start so that my audio interface will work.
Career options outside of music?
We would all definitely still be creating in some capacity. We each have different creative outlets through other collaborations and our own solo projects, but there's something special about our trio that makes the experience unique.
Where Boston can see you perform next?
Our EP release show is on
October 30 at the Lizard Lounge, with performances by Tim Hall and L’Duke. We are honored and very eager to display the work that we’ve had under wraps for a little while now.
The Boston Music Awards recently selected TiDES to be a part of the 617Sessions, a program that recognizes Boston-based artists who are making great contributions to the local scene and rewards them with a day of studio recording. You can listen to their song "Deceit" below.
