Australian indie-rockers Animal House have worked hard on their upcoming EP 'SORRY', filling it full of lyrical storytelling, intense and infectious riffs and catchy choruses.
Animal House
We got the chance to catch up with the group to find out more about their music, making it in the music business and their biggest influences. Read on to find out what they had to say…
What challenges have you faced in the music industry so far?
It's an odd one, but we've recently come to the UK from Australia on artist visas - not without a fight though! We had to convince the Arts Council of England that we were 'Artists of Exceptional Talent', or, more precisely, artists who showed 'Exceptional Promise'. Yeah, it's an actual visa. It took two applications, one rejection, an appeal and four months to finally get a little book stamped so we could haul our Aussie arses back here and get on with making rubbish guitar music to a bunch of grumpy Poms.
How difficult would you say this career path is in terms of making a name for yourself?
There is a slim chance of making a name for yourself in any industry. Making a living in this industry is all we can hope to strive for and in that respect, music might be one of the most difficult and competitive of any, bar maybe comedy. The work you do and the people you meet in this industry are brilliant though and we wouldn't trade it - as corny as it sounds.
How important is it for you to have creative control over the work you produce?
We're independent still so we still have complete control. That being said, we generally write together, as a band, which means creative clashes and petty arguments often reign supreme. We find it really helpful to have an outsider such as a producer to just tell us, 'It's fine', so we can lay it down and get on with creating new stuff, which is where the excitement lies.
Where do you draw influence and inspiration from for your work?
All over the place. Aside from listening to tonnes of music, Will's lyrics are often observational, so we find it pretty important to get out and about rather than confine ourselves to the studio and write musical masterpieces. Most of the time our best songs come out of thin air in the middle of a jam, but are clearly inspired, consciously or subconsciously by some random event or general observation.
If you could collaborate with anybody going forward, who would you choose and why?
There are so many awesome bands in Brighton, so many. I'd love to collaborate with Blue Spectre, who are a garage surf band that play music you'd expect to hear on a Quentin Tarantino movie.
Tell us a random, funny fact about you that not many people know.
Jean-Marc went to med-school prior to moving to England and failed gynaecology for lack of attendance. Also, we tried to get sponsored by Fosters in the UK, but they said that we weren't the Aussie image they were looking for.
Do you have definitive aims or goals for your career?
We just want to earn enough from making music so we don't have to work in cafes any more. Once we've gotten there we can think about what comes next.
Where do you hope to be by this time next year?
This time next year we want to be playing festivals and touring relentlessly in support of our first full-length album.
What should we expect from you in the coming weeks and months?
Our debut EP, 'SORRY', comes out in November alongside a European tour, and we are enormously excited.
New EP 'SORRY' is officially released on November 18.