The Actual Tigers, originally known as Willis, were an American rock band formed in 1994 in Seattle. They released two full studio albums on CD: a self-titled debut and Gravelled and Green, produced with Dennis Herring. The band opened for Counting Crows after their second studio CD was released and, in 2005 after the Actual Tigers had disbanded, Gravelled and Green was ranked by MSNBC as one of the top 20 albums of the past 20 years. The band played together for seven years, having a sound often compared to Paul Simon and early Wilco. Beginning Early days and self-releases Willis formed after Tim Seely (vocals, guitar), Max Perry, (bass, background vocals), John Low (keyboard) and Diarmuid Cullen (drums) met one New Year's Eve. Each had been in other, less-successful high school bands and named their group in part after the older brother character on the long-running TV show Diff'rent Strokes. "We started out parodying music ... from there, we came up with our own sound," Low said in 1996. "Diarmuid is the only trained musician in the group. The rest of us taught ourselves how to play. That leads to our original sound." The band's first song was Freakynuts, about a man whose hair was growing the opposite way. In March 1994, Willis debuted that song, dedicated to the Chuba Chuba Posse, at an assembly following the conclusion of Tradition Week, an annual event at Bishop Blanchet High School. "The crowd was really responsive," Seely said in Dec. 1997. "They were gettin' a little too rowdy and they had to pull the plug on us two or three times because everyone was gettin' a little excited. It was a good welcome from the crowd." The band later got a break at Seattle's Owl and Thistle Irish Pub despite being younger than the Washington State drinking age, and in Sept. 1996 released a 12-song self-released CD, which was mostly recorded in Tacoma. During shows in 1996, including a May 13, 1996 show at the Colorbox in Seattle, members of Willis wore suits to stand out from other bands. It was also that year when their sound began being described in news articles as "rootsy pop.” Willis shows included: Nov. 24, 1996 at the Owl and Thistle; Nov. 29, 1996 at the Sit and Spin; April 4, 1997 at The Backstage in Ballard; July 26, 1997 at Club Nights at the