‘When you come to a live show, it’s going to be a party’

By Kyle Kirves

In the annals of Hollywood history, a few choice lines transcend even the great movies they appear in:

Wild Love Tigress Live
The band just returned to Colorado after a regional tour. Upcoming shows:
8:20 p.m. Friday, Oct. 10 at The Stockhouse, Trinidad (part of the Fancy Spider Music Festival)
2:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19 at Trident Booksellers and Cafe, Boulder (part of the Boulder Roots Music Festival)

“Frankly, Scarlett, I don’t give a damn.”

“You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

“May the Force be with you.”

And … “Absolutely … my wild love tigress.”

Ok. So maybe the last one isn’t quite marquee-ready dialogue or instantly recognizable even though it comes from a signature Will Ferrell romp. But one Denver-based band may change that.

“We started out playing parties of and for friends of ours from the Denver School of the Arts,” remembers Sam Miller, lead vocalist and guitarist of Denver-based grunge/funk fusion band Wild Love Tigress. “And, like two days before the event, the party host says, ‘I’m making a flyer for the party. What should I call your band?’” He shrugs. “We didn’t have a name. But we were watching “Anchorman” and trying to come up with the silliest name possible. And then, in one scene, Ron Burgundy calls his lover a wild love tigress. And we were like, ‘that’s it. That’s the name.’”

Even in the early going, founding members Miller, Keaton Baker (bassist), and Anthony Felts (lead guitar) knew they were onto something, realizing very quickly that they enjoyed not just playing together, but collaborating as a team and tapping into a wide variety of musical interests that they all possessed.

“We realized we wrote really well together,” Felts says. “And we are good at communicating in that way. We knew we always wanted horns and backup singers and all of that. We always wanted a full setup because the bands we really liked, Tower of Power and the Meters, for instance, they have the larger ensembles.”

Miller agrees. “We ended up finding the right people over the years. And everybody contributes to all of the songs. They sometimes come in layers, sometimes by surprise.”

The fully formed and self-styled “funk force” and groove contagious act they are today, consistently brings a fusion of high-energy rock and dance-friendly music to Front Range stages and beyond.

What started at that party almost by accident has grown into one of Denver’s most fun musical experiences – the now seven-piece-strong latest iteration of WLT. And where willing collaboration and experimentation meet, well, that’s where the magic happens. Felts says of the latest album “On the Prowl” (released January 2025), “We’re willing to try everything, but we really look into every detail of every section, every layer, every part. How do the horns and the harmony fit together? How can everyone fit in in a way that makes it sound exactly the way we want it to? Because we’re not cutting any corners. With the new album, that’s created a more modern sound.”

Baker adds: “There’s this idea that everyone’s ideas matter, and everyone is able to bring stuff in. Everything is a communal writing achievement.”

Miller emphasizes that live shows are an experience in sensory overload. “We put a lot into our live performances. It’s a lot to experience,” he says. “We wear loud flashy clothes and our horn section is fun and gets people moving. When you come to a live show, it’s going to be a party. We don’t just stand still and play our songs. It’s going to be fun and dynamic and we want you dancing. If you’re not dancing….” and the rest goes unsaid.

When asked about memorable live shows, for them and the audience, Baker is quick to mention playing on a flatbed on a friend’s land for “family field day.” And there was a Cervantes Ballroom show in Denver in front of a crowd of 600 fans, many of whom were singing along with the tunes – an experience the band calls surreal. They also recall road trip touring adventures that highlight their now journeyman status as well-traveled musicians - which included a trip to Texas for a Fourth of July show in blistering heat with a broken-down tour van.

But Nebraska receives some singular praise:

“I think my most memorable show might be when we toured the Midwest for the first time,” Miller remembers, “and we played in Lincoln, Nebraska. On a Wednesday. You kind of expect maybe 10 people there. But it was packed. The audience was just rocking out. One of our favorite places to go on tour.”

Speaking of upcoming tour dates, for the coming year and into 2026, fans of Wild Love Tigress have a lot to look forward to. The band booked a date at the Bluebird Theater on Friday, Jan. 9. They plan to work on songwriting over the next few months. Their previously released albums are a composite catalog of work they’ve created over the past 11 years – “On the Prowl” as well as their self-titled debut. Now, after recording their backlog of favorites, they are looking forward to new frontiers of musical expression, with a new album in the works.

“This is the first time we’re writing a new album from scratch,” Felts says. “So we’re gonna play and experiment with a lot of new stuff this year. We’re gonna be field testing a lot of new songs. We’re gonna be playing a ton of live shows.” In addition to Colorado shows, the band has toured in Nebraska, Kansas and Texas most recently.

All that, and the possibility of a live record is getting kicked around.

Wild Love Tigress remains the epitome of the independent act – still self-managed after all these years – and appreciating the creative control that affords them. “We’re totally in charge and the audience gets that this is the real ‘us.’ Getting to connect and talk with fans. That’s the really fun part of being a kind of DIY touring band, I think,” Baker says.

It’s a spirit that has a local flavor to it, too. “We want to be to a place where word of mouth happens and we can play a show at a local venue and people hear about it and just want to come and see us,” he adds. “People inviting friends or just people they’ve met. We want them saying ‘Wild Love Tigress is a really fun local, Denver-based band to see live. You’ll have a good time if you see them.’ That kind of thing.”

You may not have been at the first basement jam Wild Love Tigress played, but the good news – that party isn’t over and shows no signs of stopping. Because WLT isn’t just about making music – they’re throwing the party and everyone’s invited. With their electric live shows and infectious grooves, they bring the fun (and funk) night in and night out (I’m looking at you, Lincoln on a Wednesday). So get out and grab your tickets to a WLT show, get your growl on, and earn your stripes.