Hailing from Kansas City, The Republic Tigers were founded by Kenn Jankowski. He originally moved to Kansas City in 1999 and began playing guitar for The People, a band that later changed its name to The Golden Republic (Astralwerks Records). He also became friends with local musician Ryan Pinkston. When The Golden Republic disbanded seven years later, he opted to launch his own pop-based project with the other multi-instrumentalist. Taking their name from Jankowski's high school mascot, The Republic Tigers expanded their lineup and issued a self-titled EP in late 2007 before putting the finishing touches on
Keep Color, which arrived in 2008. The group released their first full album,
Keep Color, on May 6, 2008. It includes the singles "Buildings & Mountains" and "Fight Song"
. On the week of September 14, 2008, "Buildings & Mountains" was featured as the free single of the week on
iTunes. In late 2008, they embarked on their first overseas tour with the band
Travis. In 2009, they played at the annual "Buzz Beach Ball" event with
Weezer,
Blink 182,
Matt & Kim,
Taking Back Sunday, and others. Since signing with
Chop Shop Records, their music has been featured on several prime time network television shows including ''
Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, Chuck, Supernatural and Sunao ni Narenakute''. The Republic Tigers made their first nationally televised appearance on May 22, 2008 on the
Late Show with David Letterman.
No Land’s Man (EP) was released on April 16, 2011, exclusively at indie record stores nationwide in celebration of Record Store Day. The digital release followed on April 19, as well as a 7” color vinyl release featuring "Merrymake It With Me" and an exclusive b-side, "Whale Fight". The album was self-produced and recorded in Kansas City, MO and features a remix of "The Nerve" off of their 2008
Keep Color release. The band had previously announced their second full-length album for release in 2012, to be titled
Mind Over Matter, but due to "legal boundaries or hoops", the album was released for the first time on June 5, 2020 on the Record Machine label. Frontman Kenn Jankowski began a side project in 2012, Jaenki. A new single, "Risky Business" was released in 2020 on the Record Machine. ==Members==