Melbourne’s favourite party starting seven-piece, Animaux, just dropped a brand new single, and to celebrate – they’re taking their high energy live show on the open road. Set to melt away your winter blues, the troupe will be taking to various east coast venues this August, delivering a set list of both old and new tunes.
‘Come On Over’ showcases the band’s evolving versatility, with the infectious instrumental hooks and the vocal range journey it takes you on. When asked about the lyrics, songwriter and saxophone player Ollie explains “I guess it’s about the fine line between giving too much, and losing sight of what you love about yourself, and recognising your weaknesses, and compromising.”
To celebrate the band’s recent single and upcoming tour we caught up with band members Sammo Jeffreys and Alex Lahey to get to know the band a little better and to see what’s in store for the next 12 months. For more info on Animaux, visit their Facebook page.
The Birth Of Animaux
Alex: “All seven of us met at high school in Melbourne. We all played in the school big band together, belting out Buddy Rich charts and every criminal big band standard you can think of.
By the time high school was coming to an end for most of us, Ollie and I had been playing saxophone together for six years and didn’t want to stop playing music together. So we decided to recruit some of our big band buddies to form a band with rehearsals starting after everyone was home from Schoolies.
We picked our ‘dream team’ and then I let Ollie do the recruiting because I didn’t think I was cool enough to entice people to be in a bands haha. Ollie ended up having a 100% success rate with all the people we wanted in the band. I never asked if he employed scare tactics. Some things are best left a mystery.”
The Animaux Sound
Sammo: “It changes, it morphs. For a while now we’ve been calling it ‘pop funk music’. There is a strong focus on songwriting in terms of melody and structure, and then getting a solid groove together to give the song momentum. At the end of the day, we want it to be accessible, we want it to be fun.”
The Band’s Spiritual Home
Sammo: “The Evelyn was our first ever gig as a band and it’s just such a good venue and stage for young local acts trying to hone their sound and set.
I guess, playing 50 shows there happened for the simple reason that we love playing there. Live shows have always been a big focus for the band and our first few residencies went really well and had a great vibe, so we really thrived on it and have enjoyed continuing what has become a staple in our calendar – a February or March residency.
We are so fortunate that so many friends regularly come down and create such a good energy, it really feels like a little Animaux community when we do a res, it’s great!
Alex: “Some of my favourite stories are when the crowd ripped through eight kegs in one night. I think that was an Ev record! Also, when we had a stage invader brandishing a massive watermelon at the end of one of our sets. There are so many more great memories, but many are a bit too blurry to recall…”
The New Single
Sammo: “Overall, I think ‘Come On Over’ has a tad more maturity to it. It’s got a nice groove and Al laid down a ripper vocal and we really didn’t want it to get too cluttered.
[include_post id=”415636”]With seven people’s creative input we’re are fortunate to never be short of ideas but i think this time, and possibly unlike a few of our past recordings, we made some good decisions on which ideas were the right ideas to include. I think the performance comes across a bit stronger here than in previous releases, which I enjoy and which our co-producer Tristan Ludowyk encouraged, you know, not trying to make it sound too dissimilar from how it does live.
“We recorded it over two days at The Aviary in Abbotsford. We didn’t want to be rushed at all in the studio so we took the luxury of a slightly slower paced approached.
Mixing happened over the next two months or so with a few variations being tossed around and I think it has landed in a pretty good place. I think the chorus line “(why don’t you just) love me as I am” nicely captures the sound of this mix. It’s pretty clean. No hiding behind extensive production. I think that approach has served the song well.”
Collaborations
Alex: “I always love collaborating with Dylan Joel. He’s one of the nicest guys in the hip hop scene, not to mention one of the most talented. He has a great message and he spreads it really tastefully.
He doesn’t get sucked in to that aggressive vibe that a lot of hip hop artists sometimes employ. Last year we did our first recording collab with the dudes in the Cactus Channel. They remixed our song ‘Alaska’ and it sounds sooooooo cool. They went all spooky on it.
Plans For The Rest Of 2015
Alex: “We’ve got our first ever east coast headline tour happening this August to celebrate the launch of ‘Come On Over’, we also have another single poised and ready to be released before the year’s out – that’ll mean more touring!
Also we literally just got a call yesterday saying we’ve been added to our biggest festival spot to date! We can’t wait to dig our teeth into the second half of the year.”
‘Come On Over’ Tour Dates
Friday 14 August – Moonshine Rum & Cider Bar | Manly
Friday 21 August – Beach Hotel | Byron Bay
Saturday 22 August – The Motor Room | Brisbane
Saturday 29 August – The Gasometer Hotel | Melbourne
For tickets and info visit the band’s Facebook page
