Javier, you contributed a few songs to The Joy of Motion. The Joy of Motion is more representative of who we are as players. Javier Reyes: On the first album, Tosin and Misha were just putting these songs together, and there wasn’t necessarily an overall goal or an overall sound they were going for.
It’s also the first album to have fully acoustic drums with a fully human drum performance. Navene did all of the electronic production. We worked with Misha, Adam “Nolly” Getgood, and Diego Farias, so it was sort of a triple-produced, collaborative thing. Tosin Abasi: It’s probably the most inclusive of outside band members. The Joy of Motion features a large cast of characters. “The endgame is just lyrical playing.” -Tosin Abasi Yes, kiddos, prog-rock dreams do come true. Garstka, a Berklee student and longtime Animals’ fan, got the call from Abasi out of the blue after a recommendation from Berklee alum Ivan Chopick. On The Joy of Motion,Matt Garstka takes over drum duties from Koperweis. Co-guitarist Javier Reyes and drummer Navene Koperweis fleshed out the lineup for the next release, Weightless. He enlisted Periphery’s Misha Mansoor to produce some guitar demos and the result, Animals as Leaders (2009), made Abasi an overnight guitar hero. If a classical virtuoso can’t keep up, well, good luck, fellow pickers!Īnimals began as Abasi’s solo project. As proof, a classical cellist who performed a YouTube rendition of AAL’s “CAFO” admits to having sped up the fast parts digitally. But even in this schizophrenic sonic landscape, the group’s sound always returns to Abasi’s advanced harmonic language and superhuman guitar virtuosity, which can test anyone’s physical limits. The band’s new release, The Joy of Motion, pushes stylistic boundaries to the breaking point with distinct jazz and Latin flavors. “If you try to put Animals as Leaders into a certain box, there are some songs that don’t fit into that box.”Įlements of electronica, dance, and ambient music have always imbued Animals as Leaders’ sound, crossbreeding with metal and djent. “We’re not necessarily just a progressive metal band,” explains bandleader Tosin Abasi.
It can seem like there are more females at one Animals concert than Rush, the godfathers of prog, have managed to draw over their four-decade career. On the trio’s recent tour, the audience was far more diverse than the ubiquitous living-in-mom’s-basement, Dungeons & Dragons set. For a band that’s generally placed under the prog umbrella, Animals as Leaders has extraordinary popular appeal.
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