Artist Feature - The Tilt: Florida Weirdness, Outliers, and Constantly Evolving
Sarasota’s genre-blending pop-rock band, The Tilt, weave swampy riffs, spacey keys, and catchy choruses into a sound that’s always evolving. More than a band, they’re lifelong friends on a journey built for the long game.
On an evening outside the Kava Social Club in Bradenton, we are joined by The Tilt members Z and William. The sun is starting to set as Kayla and I enjoy our drinks, huddled in the back of the Tiki Bar area. A few tables away, a group is gathered around a table, someone strumming a guitar while everyone sings along. The vibe here is one of strong community, the perfect backdrop for our interview with The Tilt, a band that has made a name for themselves in the Bradenton/Sarasota scene and beyond.
The Tilt has a name that immediately sparks curiosity. When asked about its origin, Z explained, “We wanted one of those ‘THE’ band names. Something succinct, something that just lands.” Smiling as they reflected, Z continued, “I had this ridiculously long list of names, just reading them out loud one night, and Sawyer stopped me like, ‘Wait, wait, what was that one? The Tilt?”. William joined in, “At that point, it was like, we’ve played a show. We just need a name and to stick with it. The Tilt felt right.” Z nodded in agreement, “The meaning came later. We had to figure out what the hell we were going for first.”
“By not saying we’re one thing, we don’t always fit neatly into any of it. We fit in as an outlier everywhere.” - Z
Photo taken by Kayla Erny
Genre blending isn’t something The Tilt shies away from; in fact, mixing styles, even within one song, has come to define their sound. William leans back and shares, “We all listen to a lot of different stuff, so when someone starts playing something while we’re writing, we each add our own flavor. Different flavors of the same thing.” Z smiles, “We never really set out to mix genres on purpose, it just kind of happened. It’s become part of what defines us.” Some of their favorite artists are the ones that are hard to define, the two of them explain. “Their existence defines them. That’s always how we wanted to be.” Z adds with a laugh, “It’s funny, because these days you have to market yourself. But how do you market yourself when you’re intentionally trying not to?” Not fitting neatly in a label or market doesn’t seem to bother the band. What drives them, Z said, is the excitement. They added, “Doing something new or something we haven’t done in a while, that keeps it fresh.”
For The Tilt, to no surprise, creating music doesn’t always follow a typical structure. The band treats their songs like “living, growing, changing things,” allowing them to evolve over time. “A song is never really finished the first time we play it live,” William says. “Sometimes it’s not even finished when we record it,” Z laughs. “We keep things in a constant state of flux. Even songs that have been out for a while change over time. ‘Hoppy’ sounds totally different now than when we first wrote or recorded it,” Z adds and William agrees.
When asked how they know a song is finished and ready to record, William admits, “Sometimes you just have to know when to let it go.” Z follows by saying, “When we record, that’s the forever version. The live version is never forever…it’s an ephemeral experience for the people there, and it’s different every night.”
“If somebody asks what kind of music we play, it’s like… I don’t know, don’t ask us.” - William
Photo taken by Kayla Erny
A band that has been together for seven years, in the public eye for roughly three years, have made a significant name for themselves with the release of three albums and nine singles. “Each album’s been different.” William shares the process. “The first one was just, like, here you go, we didn’t really know and no one really knew us. The second had more interludes, more space. And by the next one, we had so much more material that putting out more singles just made sense.” Z opens up about the band's backstory, “Half of our existence as a band was spent in the garage, behind closed doors. People don’t see that side of us.” They continue, “When we first started playing shows, people’s reactions were wild.” Z recalls how people would respond to them after a show and say, “ ‘This is so weird or just so different’ and would compare us to CBGB bands or Zappa or This Heat… names of other artists we literally had to look up,” they laugh. “We didn’t think we were weird at all. We were listening to pop music!
Z also explains that releasing the singles before their first album was a strategic move. “We didn’t want to just drop an album out of nowhere and have nobody care, so we released a few songs first to build something. Maybe five people cared.” The two of them share a laugh. “But that was nice.”
Since then, the band has made a tradition of album release shows featuring local bands on the bill. Their growing fan base fills up venues like Oscura, The Bends and The Nest, showing their hard work, connection to their authentic message and roots, is paying off. Z reflects, “We’re definitely still evolving. I don’t think any of us ever feels 100% comfortable with the latest thing we’ve made, maybe three years later we’ll feel that way,” they laugh. “The Long Game already feels distant to me, personally.” William finishes by adding, “It’s very much a move-on, album-by-album kind of thing.”
“We don’t really think of it as one person writing. It’s all collective. Almost everything happens together in the garage.” - Z
Photo taken by Kayla Erny
The Tilt’s most recent work is the 2024 release of the 14-track album, The Long Game, featuring popular singles “Between Two Fires” and “Tropicana Fields Forever”. For Z, the album’s title represents “an acknowledgment” of what the band is building together. “We’re not just going to burn out. We give a shit about each other and what we can do for our music. We’re lifelong friends, we’re going to be doing this in 20 years.” Z shares with warmth. “Whatever stage we’re at in our lives or careers right now, it’s irrelevant. It’s about the journey with your friends.” William nods in agreement. “Persistence was a big thing. Put the time in. It gets better a little bit.” He adds with a small smile, “That’s what I got from it, especially the title track. My thoughts on it: just get through it, and you’ll be okay.”
The single, “Tropicana Fields Forever” is named after a local stadium that many in the area drive past, including Z. “I was driving by ‘The Trop’ and I just thought that would be a funny song title.”, they share with a chuckle. “We used to have tons of songs with titles like that. We used to have tons of funny inside joke song titles but this one stuck.”
But the song is much more than just an inside joke the band agreed on. “The song is kind of about Florida.” Z continues, “I do actually remember being a little bit reluctant on the title. We've never really thought of ourselves as a Florida band.” William agrees adding, “At our shows, when you say this song’s called ‘Tropicana Fields Forever', people are like, ‘Oh yeah, I know what this is! But even if they’ve never heard us before, they kind of get it.” Reflecting over the sound of The Long Game, Z explains that it came from playing in new environments, which inspired songs like “Tropicana Fields Forever”. “We were playing more open-air, daytime shows, practicing on weekends. A shift happened from our night practices. Everyone would come over after work in a bad mood. On the weekend days, we were happier.” A shift that they say is evident in the sound of the album.
“A big driving inspiration for me has always been this feeling of being misunderstood.” - Z
Photo Taken by Kayla Erny
The Tilt has been on several tours to Georgia, the Carolinas making Asheville a popular hub for the band, and even ventured as far north as Philadelphia. William smiles fondly, “The first tour was a breath of fresh air for me.” He rests his hand on his chin as he continues, “I had just come off a tough job, and getting away with my best friends felt really good. We’ve never had a hotel room fight or thrown TVs at each other or anything.” William looks over at Z with a nod, “Just good vibes.” Z jokes that being on tour “is the modern-day being a pirate.” They laugh, adding, “It’s like an anime adventure. There’s nothing like it. I would be on the road 24/7 if I could.”
With their next album wrapping up in the studio, The Tilt continues to embrace their ever evolving nature. And teasing fans by revealing its eleven tracks. “This one doesn’t feel like a reaction to anything we’ve done in the past.” They share opening up more about the project, “It felt like us taking a breath, taking stock of where we’re at in life, and putting something out that felt like, who are we right now?” William adds, “A lot of it we’ve been playing out already.” “It reflects where we were six months ago,” Z adds with a smile. “Constantly evolving.”
“Your cat will like us!” - Z
Photo taken by Kayla Erny
As the back patio of Kava Social Bar begins to fill up for the Trivia Night, we start to wrap up our evening together. For those new to the scene or who haven’t yet caught a Tilt show, Z hopes that a takeaway from Tilt show “is the same as looking at a piece of art that moves you. It helps you connect to yourself as the person experiencing it.” William adds that he hopes their shows can help ease that feeling of not being understood or not belonging, “Just to give people something that makes them feel like they’re in the right place. Be you. Don’t be afraid to be you.” He says with a warm smile.
A beautiful reminder from a band that thrives on being authentically themselves during every show, every recording and even off stage. The Tilt continues to invoke surprise with edgy-funky songs, punk-like screams over psychedelic riffs, and shaking up what it means to be a weird Floridian.
