Without love, there would be no Kiss The Tiger — The Local Show’s September Artist of the Month. Co-founders Meghan Kreilder and Michael Tyler Anderson became coupled around the time they started the band in 2015. Now the two are married and have a rich catalogue of love songs and fiery rock ‘n’ roll tracks — many of which have become audience favorites on The Current over the last several years.

This Friday, Kiss The Tiger will release Infinite Love, their third LP and first in four years. Over 10 years of working together as both romantic and artistic partners, the couple continues to blossom as leaders of one of Minnesota’s busiest original live bands. Featuring irresistible melodies, emotionally riveting instrumentals, and universally understood lyrics, Infinite Love shares distinct similarities with Kiss The Tiger’s previous records. The difference can be heard song-by-song, where every composition has a new story to tell, a searing bassline to absorb, or a soaring melody to sing along to.

The Current caught up with Kiss The Tiger to learn more about their growth as a band, new members, and their ever-developing sound.

Catch their album release show at Icehouse this Thursday, Sept. 11.

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This is Diane, host of The Local Show here with Kiss the Tiger in the studio at MPR. What's up, Kiss the Tiger? 

Everyone: Hi!

Minnesota rock 'n' roll favorites who are set to release their third studio album, Infinite Love, this Friday, September 12. How y'all feeling?

Meghan Kreidler: So excited.

Michael Anderson: Very excited. 

And it's your first record back in four years. Doesn't seem like it's been that long. Four years since Vicious Kid came out?

MK: Yeah, I know. It's kind of wild. It feels like a long time for us. But at the same time, we've had a lot of fun playing the songs off of Vicious Kid and being busy. 

MA: The songs have had a long life, I guess.

Yeah, I agree.

MK: But it feels like the right time to be releasing a new project. And we've been playing a lot of the new stuff in our sets, and so people have heard the new stuff. But we're excited to unleash it all and just keep building our set and adding it to the collection. 

[Clip of “Big Booty Scooty” plays]

Meghan and Michael, I'm staring directly at you two. You just got married. And you two are romantic partners and also creative collaborators. Tell me a little bit about how that influences your music writing, especially this new album, where the subject comes up a lot.

MK: Our relationship started pretty much at the same time as our artistic relationship started, so it's pretty intertwined. And I would say that we've grown a lot as artistic collaborators over the course of the life of our band. And I think this record is an example of that growth, and just how we've been able to fuse our ideas together and make them still representative of our own personal ideas and artistic impulses, but also there's a lot of give and take that has occurred, and I'm proud of how it's turned out and how it's exemplified on this album.

[Clip of “Every Little Piece of Me” plays]

MA: It's nice being in a relationship with your bandmate, because you have to make your relationship work. And you have your relationship at home, and you find ways to make that work because you love that person. And that gets so much influenced in the art that you do together, because you want that to work too. You love that a lot too, and that becomes such a huge motivation to keep it going. And that's what we've done. 

I mean, full disclosure, I have been a friend and collaborator of yours for almost as long as y'all have been around. And I remember first learning about you, Michael … You're such an appreciator of music, of rock 'n' roll, and performing in different bands. And you meet Meghan, and all of the sudden, wow, your life as a musician changes. Take me back a little bit to that. 

MA: I think, at first, I was the singer in all my bands. And I loved singing and performing and everything like that, but it just wasn't working out, you know? And so I met Meghan. She was a performer on stage and screen, and she was really good at it. She was a natural. And I asked her if she would ever be interested in playing music, and she's like, “I'll give it a shot.” And she's giving it a shot still. She's doing great. She's a natural. So it's been really cool.

[Clip of “We Don’t Fight Anymore” plays]

To find such a magic pair between the two of you who write this creatively … And also I would call you both students of rock 'n' roll, because you are big fans of vintage rock 'n' roll, including Iggy Pop, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones. These are bands that have raised you guys and are heavily influential over the music that you write. The draw to it here in Minneapolis and Twin Cities has been massive — a band that's really harnessing rock 'n' roll. I'm curious about your relationship, again, with this really magical style of music that you guys are creating here in the Twin Cities with such a demand.

MK: Well, for me, I didn't really grow up listening to a lot of classic rock. I never really listened to the Rolling Stones until I met Michael. And then you talk about being a student. I was 24-25 years old, and kind of listening to the Rolling Stones for the first time with intention, not just the songs that I had heard and maybe knew from the background. But I feel like I grew up in the '90s. I was into pop music and grunge music and Nirvana and the Red Hot Chili Peppers and all of that. And I feel like all of that has an influence on our writing as well.

But I've really embraced just the excitement of being able to listen to this older music as if it's new to me, which I think is so cool about any art. I think especially nowadays, there's this feeling that everything has to be really immediate. You release something, and if people don't appreciate it right away, then it's not worth it. And just being able to have an appreciation for things that were made years ago just makes me realize that there's no expiration date on when art can be appreciated. And sometimes it just comes down to where you are at in your life and how something is meeting you at that time in your life, which is super magical. 

And with songwriting, in terms of being a student, like you said, I had started to write a little bit before meeting Michael. But then just meeting you, and then doing this band, I have exercised that muscle a lot more and actually feel confident to say I am a songwriter now. I think even a couple of years ago in Kiss The Tiger, I could say I've written some songs, but I maybe wouldn't feel confident to claim being a songwriter. But I write songs. I give Michael a lot of credit, because I've watched him write, and we all have in our practice space. Because you're just a very improvisational type of writer, and you just kind of start jamming on something, and you make everybody join in, and you kind of just figure stuff out in the moment. And I'm a little different. I don't like to be that public about my process and what I'm making. But I've learned a lot about how one can go about writing, which is in so many different ways.

MA: I think a big influence on our band, musically, is probably my dad. I think the majority of the people in our band have either played with my dad or currently playing with my dad in the band.

Amazing. Marty! Shout out. 

MA: But he really shaped my musical being and who I am. And he exposed me to all these weird artists as a young kid, like Iggy Pop and Kraftwerk and all these different bands that I didn't think I would be listening to today. And it makes me appreciate weirdos, and I think our band is full of weirdos. And I really love that. And also my dad, being a songwriter, growing up with him just really wanting to become a famous rock star, and him never getting that chance. And it's kind of fun to kind of share that story with him and have him on this journey with us, which has been really fun.

MK: There's always a little bit of uncertainty. You just can't know all the answers when it comes to music. And apparently, even when you're on stage playing a song that you maybe had on a set list, but maybe not everybody really knows. And you just kind of go with the flow and trust that it's going to work out. And it might not be perfect. And it's not about it being perfect. It's just about having the spirit of fun and embracing the unknown. And that's kind of what I've learned from your dad, for sure, watching him play music.

I think that [songwriting] is one of the biggest, strongest elements of Kiss The Tiger. And of course, The Current's audience grew up with your songwriting over the last how many years. Between "Hold On To Love," "There You Are, Beautiful," "I Miss You," "Motel Room," all of those songs are such a part of our station over the last four years. So now bring me to this album in particular. Every song you've released so far is a beautifully written song. 

MK: I'm glad that you like the songs, because we really like everything. 

Oh, they're so good. 

MK: And we kind of were like, "God, what should be the lead single?" Because we kind of feel like every song on the album is a single.

Agreed.

MK: And I really do believe that. And one of the cool things about it is that, in the past, we've gone into the studio and we've known exactly what we are going to record, just because of time and money and whatever. And this time, we trusted our ability to sort of figure things out in the moment a little bit more. So there were a handful of songs that we kind of had a basic idea of what it was, but then, as a band, together in the studio, we figured out the structure of it. And that was really fun, because I think some of the songs became what they were because of being in that space and sort of having a little bit more of that pressure to craft it. And just embracing, again, this thing that I've been talking about of the unknown. A lot of cool things can come out of being in a space of uncertainty and just trusting that, especially with the brain power of all the people in this room, this band. 

Michael and I do most of the songwriting, but everybody writes their own parts and contributes in their own ways and helps shape the songs and make them what they are. Paul [Delong] is the most diabolical bass player. And anybody who listens to our recordings will comment on – that bass line is wild. And yes, every instrument kind of carries its own personality and its own heartbeat. And I think Michael and I both write with the intention in mind of wanting to envelop the listener in something big, emotionally. And then I think everybody, individually, just brings so much to the table with their contributions with their instruments. 

[Clip of “See More” plays]

MK: Isabella [Dawis], who's in the room with us now, is one of our newer members. And she had only played with us a couple of times before she sort of officially became a part of the band. But she recorded on the whole album with us before I was like, "Will you be in our band?" And when she practiced a couple of times with us, especially on the newer songs, like on "See More," for example, she wrote this amazing piano part. To me, the song was cool, but when you added the piano part, I was like, "Oh, my God. Yes, that's what the song wants to do." It has this really amazing emotional drive to it that the piano just lifted even more with the songwriting. We're always thinking about what the experience of the listener is going to be, and then there's just something magical that happens when everybody contributes their parts.

You've been through a few lineup changes, and a big one is the addition of Alyse [Emanuel] and Isabella. Isabella, you're also a theater background, similar to Meghan. But you fit amazingly in this band, harmonically and as an instrumentalist. And tell me about joining this band and what that's been like?

Isabella Dawis: Oh, thanks. Yeah, I do come from a theater background. I actually met Meghan when she was performing in a presentation of a musical that I had written. So I had trusted Meghan with my writing, and now she's trusting me with hers, which is really cool. My musical background is pretty varied, but this is the first time I've ever been in a band, so it's a learning experience for me. And I feel really lucky to be in a group that already has a lot of chemistry and is so experienced already, because it feels like I don't have to do a lot of groundwork. The foundation has already been laid for me. I already have this awesome collection of songs to play on. So I feel like they've kind of built the spaceship, and I just get to board the spaceship and fly around on it.

You guys are such a true Minneapolis band. You really were raised on the scene here and are one of the most sought-after bands in general here. Tell me about your relationship with the community of Twin Cities, Minnesota.

MK: Yeah, I really try not to take it for granted, even though sometimes I kind of get a little tunnel vision in terms of — I wanna grow, expand outside of these walls. But honestly, if we had to just stay in the Twin Cities and never play outside of this town again, we would be so lucky ... We've played a handful of shows lately where there are just a lot of familiar faces, people that come back every time. And I've left those shows recently and just been like, gosh, we have such nice fans and people that come out and support us and are enthusiastic every time. 

We're just lucky that we've been able to have the support of The Current. I mean, The Current in particular has been, and I always knew that this station was influential. But I think going out of town and hearing people in Denver say, "Oh yeah, we've heard you on The Current." That blew my mind. I'm like, oh, people listen to this station. Which I know that there's a reach outside of Minnesota, but there's so many venues here, so many great bands, so many great supporters of local music. Which I really think is the key ingredient in all of this, is that the audience is why we do this. And we have people who have really supported us along the way. And it's really cool to live in a city, in a state that is such a huge supporter of local music, because we're busy all the time with stuff. Yeah, we could just be in Minnesota the rest of our lives and be playing awesome shows. 

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What else can you tell us about this new record?

MA: Just a couple of things. I think with this record, we felt some pressure with it, too. The person who we recorded with at Terrarium, Jason Orris, he had expectations for it. And it made us nervous, but it also pushed us to write better, to be better, to have great musicians come in and play on it, to make sure that this album was the best that we could put out. It was really cool. 

Paul Delong: To be fair, Jason Orris is one of our biggest cheerleaders probably in the Twin Cities. And every time we go in there, it's like, you might be a little nervous just to record in general. But he always sets the mood to be very fun and light. And he definitely is a very bubbly personality, so it kind of helps us feel good about ourselves when we go in there and record.

MA: Yeah, that's true. He is a big cheerleader, which made the pressure less anxious on us. But also it's nice to have these new bandmates too. You get these people like Isabella and Alyse —and also Alex [Sandberg], to have him come back to play with us, which it's been a little while. But it's such a dream to play with these people who you think are really great musicians and also really great people. And to have them believe in what you're doing, which being in a band and being musicians is such not a realistic dream [laughs]. But to have them, you'd be like, "I'm doing this with you. Let's go for it." It's a really awesome feeling. And it made recording this new album easier. 

MK: Jason was such an integral part of this album, and at the same time, gave us so much space to kind of seek out and get into some places where we didn't know. And we were trying things out, and not trying to force us in one direction or the other, but just letting us have our process. And sometimes those moments, when you're making something, they're not all kumbaya harmonious ... I can speak for myself here. I get really stuck on an idea that I think is the right idea. And then I'm defensive. I'm like, "You guys don't hear it? Don't you hear the part that I'm hearing in my head? Don't you think that'd be great?" And Jason's really good at just being there with us as a band, and I'm sure he's this way with other groups — letting us have our dynamics and figure it out. And at the end of the day, all of the right decisions, or the decisions that were right for the time when we made the thing, they all fall into place. Or I feel like they did on this record.

PD: What was also crazy, as the bass player, I hadn't even met Alyse until we recorded. And it was an adjustment, because as a member of the rhythm section ... these are new songs, but at the same time, you're trying to figure out someone's playing style. And I think by the end of the session, I was like, "Okay, I think I've locked in pretty well with this new member." So that just kind of speaks on her ability to kind of jump in and figure things out on the fly.

MA: Also with Paul. You locked in with her right away, but also you're an easy guy to lock in with, too.

And a rhythm section is so important, a really tight one, in a really good band.

MK: There's two drummers on this record. Alyse plays on most of the songs, but Richard Medek plays on a few. And I remember Jason talking about this too. He's like, you can't really tell that it's two different drummers on the record, which I think is good. I mean, they're both very different as drummers, and both have a lot of strengths in different ways ... Richard laid down stuff with us first, and I think that really speaks to Alyse as a drummer, because she has this way of being able to fit in and hold it down and do what needs to be done, and then add a little flair, if you need the flair, but not too much. Like, so tasteful and just present with what is needed. And that's the best thing that you can ask. 

Can you give me a bit of the thinking behind Infinite Love as the title of the album?

MK: There's a song on the album called “Infinite Love,” which Michael and I wrote.  And then when it came down to naming the album, it felt appropriate, because we recorded this album all over the course of last year. And right in the middle of that, Michael and I got married. And the album feels so much like a synthesis of our two voices really coming together in a way that it hasn't before. And then Paul getting married right before we're going to release this album, and just all of the possibilities that feel at our fingertips with just having this band. 

Like Michael said, it feels sort of insane and unrealistic to try to be a band. But at the same time, we've always told ourselves, we can define that however we want. We might not be Charli XCX, or we might not be the biggest band in the world. But we can still make things together, and that will last forever if we want it to. And so I think Infinite Love just encompasses that. And I think these songs are a reflection of that feeling, because all of these songs were so fun to write and create. And the timeline of when things were written — we didn't sit down and say we're gonna write an album and just started writing songs. I feel like all of our songwriting is very organic, and it's just kind of happening as we've been moving along as a band. And so I just feel like as long as we continue on this journey, we'll have more stories and more experiences and more things to write about. And it's just kind of never-ending if we want it to be. And yeah, to me, that's what Infinite Love is about.

Kiss the Tiger’s Infinite Love album release show. With Pavielle. 8 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 11, at Icehouse in Minneapolis. Tickets.