Sisters n Bredren,
SwitchFlip proudly introduces Elegant Animals to your eardrums. The Philadelphia born and based duo released their 7-song EP Spectrum Nocturnal in late February 2012. After being in SwitchFlip Media’s office rotation heavily through March, our head honcho D-How caught up with the group. After interviewing Jules & Brandon (whom share love for same types of music and upbringing in the Philadelphia area) we are dedicated to supporting their “come up”. These cats have a bright future ahead of them as they continue to craft their unique blend of sounds. Check out the full interview & download their debut EP Spectrum Nocturnal at the link below…your ears will thank you.
(Click above to hear and download Elegant Animals’ EP Spectrum Nocturnal…it’s Free)
SFM: Who is the Band or “Outfit” and what is up w/ the name?
EA: The band is composed of myself (Jules Kazys) on lead vocals/production and Brandon Shockley on guitar. The name came from a Pablo Naruda poem that was written in Spanish. The word “Animales Elegantes” jumped out and just decided to go with Elegant Animals. We like it for now….
SFM: Where are you from? Please give us your nicknames (at least). In addition to the place you represent, age range, etc.
EA: We are both from philly born and raised. The two of us have gone to school together since grade school and started playing music together in high school. We’re now in our mid 20s and still reside in the Illadel.
SFM: Who does the production and engineering? What entails a live show?
EA: Joe Reinhart from The Headroom Studios in Philly was the engineer on the album. We did a lot of arrangements on our own with our equipment and all that. I’d say we were about 70% done with the album and then took into into the studio with Joe to flush things out, record vocals and guitar, and add some little touches. He was a huge help in the recording process. He has an ear and musical knowledge that neither of us have and he was a major factor in creating the quality of the sound.
SFM: So you’re Reppin’ Philly…how is it for you and how do you rep the City of Brotherly Love?
EA: Philly is the shit. We both love it here and it really has a great music scene in its own right. When we first started sending out the EP to blogs and stuff like that we would always mention we were from Philly, which we thought might have caught people’s eye or something, not really thinking about it too consciously. We also wanted to give ourselves a bit of an identity since there really aren’t any pictures of us online or anything. But we both love it here and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
SFM: What about Tours & Deals?
EA: We would love to tour, its most bands’ dream to travel around and play, but want to hone in the live sound a bit more before we get ahead of ourselves…this is a growing process. Can’t say much on any deals right now, but I think we are pretty comfortable where we are at the moment in that we have total 100% creative control of everything we do.
SFM: You sound gorgeous on wax, but I don’t want to be scurred to book you some Hollywood LA shows. Do you love studio versus live? how do you want to come across at a live show?
EA: I think playing live and putting things together in the studio are two very different things. Being in the studio is great and being able to flush out creative ideas and experiment is what I love about the studio. We definitely love making music that people can listen to closely and get intimate with. There are definitely things that you can do in the studio that you can’t quite do (or as easily do) live as well. But the same things go with playing live, in that you have to really think about the energy of the songs. I think there are some really great performers who can stand in front of a computer and make the live show an amazing experience in terms of energy. To this day I think that Flying Lotus was one of the best live shows I have ever seen and it was just him, his computer and his equipment. I walked out and remember feeling like I had just seen Jimi Hendrix or something it was dope. But I think the only way we can really get that together is with more human elements, so I think the live show will be somewhat different than the record. It wont just be the two of us with a computer and guitar, lets put it that way.
