I, of The Tiger

Tiger Army drummer Fred Telles (a.k.a. Fred Hell) called Chico home for seven years. While here, he worked at the Synthesis selling ads, and he played in a band called Union of the Dead. Self-dubbed as "the sweatiest band in Chico," Union of the Dead graced the local scene with a dark blend of punk rock that drew from the realms of hardcore and psychobilly. The band first met in the dorms of Chico State University when frontman Cliff Greenwood would come up to visit his brother. Two years later, when Cliff moved to Chico to attend college at CSUC, he became better friends with guitarist Gerardo Wackenhut and drummer Fred Telles, and eventually, the three started jamming. On November 23rd, 1998, Union of the Dead played their first show in a basement and later became a prominent fixture in Chico's punk rock circuit.
In the summer of 2001, Fred left Chico to move on to bigger and better things. He moved to Southern California, seeking employment, and ended up getting a gig drumming for Tiger Army, who are signed to Hellcat Records, the Epitaph imprint owned by Rancid guitarist Tim Armstrong. Though Telles found greater success upon leaving, he credits his time in the local Chico music scene as an excellent training ground for what he's doing now. "Pretty much, I play music, and there's a good music scene up there," says Telles. "I got to learn about the music scene from all aspects. There's such a variety of music going through Chico that it kinda gets you prepared for all aspects of the music industry."
However, he also admits that leaving Chico's friendly confines can be quite a shock to the system. "Financially, it's so easy to get by in Chico that when you go anywhere else, it becomes a struggle. It costs more to live anywhere else so you can't do what you want or work as less as you want, like you can in Chico," says Fred, reflecting on the way of life in the fast-paced, high-expense cities of Southern California. He also adds that he misses Chico because of "the people and the community and how laid back and safe it is."
Perhaps another intimidating situation was joining punk rock's summer-long caravan, the Vans Warped Tour. Fred and Tiger Army hopped onboard in July. As he puts it, the tour might not have been the easiest thing he's ever done, but it was definitely worth it. "It was hard work because we did it in a van, so we pretty much got two or three hours of sleep a day. That was really hard. Plus we played in the south, so it was humid as fuck. But other than that, we met a lot of really good people, and it was a great experience. We played a lot of places that we played for the first time, and we had a lot of really good sized crowds, so that was amusing, and it made it a lot easier."
Tiger Army ended its stint on the Warped Tour on August 8th. After making new friends and fans and traveling a good chunk of the nation, Fred says the band is ready for a short break before they get right back to work. "We got a month and a half off. After that, we're going to be writing material for a new album, and we're going to be learning old songs which were on our first 7-inch that we never play, but now they're coming out on an E.P. [The Early Years, due out on October 8th]. Then we're going on tour in October with The Damned. We'll be having some shows on our own at the end of October in California."
Fred Telles has definitely come a long way from pounding the drums at a show in a Chico basement. What does he have to say to others who hope their time in Chico will be the start of something big? Fred's words are few, but undoubtedly hold true. "Just keep going at it," he says "and don't give up…that's pretty much it."

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