We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ciggy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ciggy, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

One of the coolest projects we’ve ever put together was our first album release show in 2023. After being a band for 2 years at that point, we had several songs that were ready to record. We reached out to our friend Phil to record us, and he set us up in a small room in his house. We recorded 13 instrumental tracks live with layered vocals, and Maximum all the Time was born. Soon after we began to plan our album release show. During this time we would make really ominous instagram posts about it to get people excited. What makes this show shine to us is that it was the first event we ever put on. We knew that it needed to be special, and we put our heart and soul into every aspect of it. Also, many people were involved, and it couldn’t have happened without them. Jarfly, the local venue/brewery where the show took place, was where our band was formed, so it was important to us that the show took place there. It was one of a kind, and the unique space created a buzzing creative atmosphere, not to mention the nearly destructive amount of people who showed up. Even those who couldn’t come found a way to support. Santa Claus (our friend Tommy) was in between Santa Claus shifts and came in costume to come buy a CD. The CDs were special too, each of them burnt by us, hand painted and cut. We actually skipped every class in school the day of to work on them in the art room (thanks Mr. Watkins). Another really important part of the show was the bands we put on the line-up. One band that played was a group of friends who did some improvisational jams to get the night going. Dylan Forester, Daniel Stroud, and Bradley Gilmore represented the kind of music that we were heavily influenced and encouraged by as our band developed at Jarfly’s open mics. The next band was a duo called Mustard Boy. We were very intrigued by them after being on a bill with them in Harlan KY, and felt as if they matched our levels of unseriousness, so we had to have them play. (They refused to be paid but required that we bought them a bottle of mustard). And along with these, we had the band R.O.D. They are an eclectic, experimental, electronic duo from Lexington KY. We played up there with them the summer before the show and fell in love with their music, never having heard music quite like theirs. Overall, this show was magical and extremely special, and we have never experienced that kind of energy in an event, and it influenced us greatly. Many of the decorations remained hung up from the show, and are probably still there now even though Jarfly is closed.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Ciggy Tuna is an everything bagel. We all have a side of cream cheese with different flavors. Sometimes we got that Asiago bagel and sometimes it’s plain. Ciggy Tuna is also a potluck, potluck days are fun. Ciggy Tuna is 3 dogs in a trench coat driving a car trying to see a movie. We got into the industry by sneaking through the vents, turning off the lasers, and disabling the alarms. What makes us special? Our mommies say we are.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal of Ciggy Tuna has always just been to have fun. We embrace the ever changing and evolving nature of our band and remain open minded to any kind of music we want to begin making. We also really want to get cancelled on Twitter one day.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

A part of our creative journey, expecially in the beginning, was to purposely do embarrassing things to in order to better accept our failures. During our Jarfly open mic days, we would always try to play new developing songs and covers so that we had the experience of doing badly on stage. This has helped us to improvise our way out of mistakes as well as know how to improve said songs. This mindset has given us confidence and perseverance. We wore full size fish costumes to an award ceremony that we didn’t even get the award at. One time Mahayla threw up everywhere during a set and continued playing. Or that one time we showed up to an open mic and asked to be moved up on the set list so we could play one song who’s only lyrics were “feel that bass in yo face” (we only realized this was embarrassing afterwards). Also one time we played a show that had a picture of Kirby on the poster, so we bought pink morph suits and painted our faces pink to be Kirby. Mahayla even painted her feet red with acrylic paint 24 hours before the show to be like Kirby. After changing in the bathroom we realized we didn’t look like Kirby so we had to plant someone in the audience to scream “Kirby” when we got on stage. All things said, embarrassment is a choice and be silly.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciggytuna/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ciggytuna
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKEsAjP3Mnm_SQ8O24uaTPA

Image Credits

Grant Robinette took the cool photos with the flash.