The Number Twelve Looks Like You

Bergen County, NJ
http://www.myspace.com/tntllu

4/23 San Francisco, CA - Slim’s
4/24 Hollywood, CA- Knitting Factory
4/25 San Diego, CA - Soma Sidestage
4/26 Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
4/27 Tempe, AZ - The Clubhouse
4/28 Albuquerque, NM - The Launchpad
4/30 Dallas, TX - The Door
5/1 San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
5/2 Houston, TX - Java Jazz
5/4 Atlanta, GA - The Masquerade

more dates here...

To properly appreciate the Number Twelve Looks Like You, one has to challenge themself. And not just musically, by attempting to wrap one’s logic-craving brain around the band’s almost unbelievable technical and compositional complexity—there’s also an entirely unique and equally vital lyrical component to the group’s music, that issues forth a challenge of its own, in many cases demanding that each listener take a hard look at their view of the world, as well as their place in it.

Clearly, TNTLLY have been asking themselves these very same questions.

On their fourth and latest full-length release, Worse Than Alone, the Bergen County, New Jersey-based experimental/progressive metal quintet raise the bar still further for themselves, pushing past every creative boundary, both sonically and intellectually. Brimming with both beauty and brutality, high concept and gleeful banality, Worse is the kind of album that throws a curveball at every turn, and dares one to keep up. The rewards are well worth the pursuit.
“It’s always hard to try and digest for everybody,” admits vocalist Jesse Korman. “We’re always classified as something really weird, but basically we just want to combine any kind of music that’s aggressive and heavy, so listeners can all rock out to one sound, or style of music. We’re still trying to classify what it is, but the one thing we’ve found that’s kind of cool is ‘World Metal.’…We are trying to push a new genre.”
Formed in 2001 by Korman and co-vocalist Justin Pedrick, TNTLLY went on to release their 2003 debut full-length, Put On Your Rosy Red Glasses, for Brutal Records. The band then signed with Eyeball Records in 2004, issuing the An Inch Of Gold For An Inch Of Time EP in early 2005, followed by the full-lengths Nuclear. Sad. Nuclear (2005) and Mongrel (2007).

Along the way, the band built an impeccable touring reputation, thanks to their frenetic live shows and tireless dedication to their craft, as well as an innate sense of fun; one TNTLLY tradition is to pull a kid up on stage who’s never been kissed, then find a girl in the crowd who’s willing to do the honors. If only every show was as memorable for us all.

“We want to spread love and happiness, because it will come back to you,” says Korman. “The kid’s never going to forget that first kiss for the rest of his life, and second, everyone in the crowd is smiling and happy. Even before we start our set, I tell everyone to give the person next to them a hug.”
With the buzz surrounding the group at an all-time high, TNTLLY went all-or-nothing for their latest release: Bearing down in Backroom Studios in Rockaway, NJ, Worse was self-produced by the band and mixed by Steve Evetts (Every Time I Die, Dillinger Escape Plan), and represents the next stage in the TNTLLY’s evolution. Worse Than Alone (03/10/09, Eyeball Records) miraculously fuses literally every style of music the band is influenced by, from classical and jazz to screamo, grindcore and death metal, into one molten morass of auditory carnage.

“Nowadays we all have such different influences, we try and throw it all under one roof,” explains Korman. “We have a guitarist who’s listening to Radiohead all the time, our other singer [Pedrick] is listening to Tom Waits, our drummer listens to literally just drums, you have our bassist, who’s listening to Tool, and then you have me, who listens to pop-punk, like Saves The Day. We all just have our own take on the album, and you can hear it throughout.”
Lyrically, Korman and Pedrick dig deep on Worse, presenting a wide range of topics and thoughts, from the overtly playful to the shockingly sadistic. In just its first three tracks, the tongue-in-cheek machismo of opening track “Glory Kingdom” gives way to Pedrick’s tantalizingly abstract “Given Life,” then on to Korman’s stirring, autobiographical “To Catch A Tiger.” “Marvin’s Jungle,” an anthem for everyone who’s ever been bullied, comes next, leading to an obligatory ode to TNTLLY’s home state, “The Garden’s All Nighters.”

“I just got ‘NJ’ tattooed on two of my knuckles,” says Korman, perking up when the subject is mentioned. “For us Jersey dudes, there’s no place like home. The people are just really straight shooters; everyone is genuine. It is definitely my favorite place.”
For Korman, who was a skinny kid often on the wrong end of schoolyard jokes, issues of self-image at times inspire his art. The band’s name comes from the title of a particularly relevant episode of The Twilight Zone, set in a futuristic era when humans undergo a transformation at age 18 that makes them perfect and immune to disease. Similar discourse on societal totalitarianism makes its way into “The League of Endangered Oddities,” while informing the real-life story of “Marvin’s Jungle,” whose portly protagonist is terrorized by local kids, until Korman steps in to take his back. “There was a lot of bullying, and it really scarred me more than anything else in my life,” says Korman. “I used to follow Marvin around so I could make sure he was protected. To this day, if I see anyone getting picked on, I can’t help but feel this rage inside of me.”

The centerpiece of the album is the two-part tale of “To Catch A Tiger,” and “If They Holler, Don’t Let Go,” which recount a traumatic encounter Korman had as a boy, with a neighborhood gang who attacked the singer and his friends, who were playing hide-and-seek. While “Catch” is based on truth, “Holler” is Korman’s revenge fantasy, in which one of Korman’s tormentors is captured and placed in a grotesque situation reminiscent of Saw. For a band that often preaches peace and love, the imagery couldn’t be more visceral.

“I’ve done my time, so to speak, and have had my experiences, and I can tell everybody what happened, but now I can show where I’m at now, and that I have become a better person,” explains Korman. “Music is the only reason I haven’t lost my mind or killed myself. This band lets me get out all my aggressive anger….singing these lyrics is therapeutic.”

True, Korman never got to enjoy the slasher-flick retribution described in “Holler,” but instead he exacts his vengeance every day now, just doing what he and his bandmates do best—reaching, and hopefully changing, people through music. Armed with Worse’s 10 unforgettable new tracks, in 2009 TNTLLY will be reaching more potential fans than ever; for those listeners with sharp ears and an even sharper mind, the meeting will be the first of many.

“We have one chance to be alive in this world, why not try and make a difference, and change people’s lives?” questions Korman. “We have a lot of high expectations. We don’t want to just get by and do well with our records; we want to make history.”