Golden Animals

nik.mercer — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:31:37 -0700

Tommy Eisner, clad in a paisley V-neck top, black trousers, and penny loafers, leans back against a railing close to a DSW outside the Knitting Factory in Hollywood, California. His band mate Linda Beecroft, who complements his hippie ensemble with a billowing white peasant top, brown high-waters, and flip flops, is propped up against a potted plant. They both have matching sparkly gold paint on their cheeks, and are remarkably alert after playing a nine-song set less than an hour ago. We’ve been talking for a few minutes on the ground of outdoor shopping mall when four twenty-somethings from Ojai, California barge into our conversation.

A tall, gangly kid with long blond hair—who later introduces himself as Nathaniel—speaks to the band like he’s known them forever.

"I listened to the CD all over again and I was like, 'OH MY GOD, THIS IS GREAT!'" exclaims the kid. “I’d say that first two songs are just, 'Oh my god, so good.' And then that "My My My... " [the kid pauses mid-sentence to throw back his head and unleash a screeching, high-pitched "whoo" sound to sum up his thoughts on the song].

“Fabulous!” he adds.

“Yeah, that’s rad. That’s good to hear,” says Eisner, who remains totally relaxed in the midst of such high praise.

“Yeah,” adds Beecroft playfully, who also seems unfathomed by the comment.

Maybe they’re still recovering from their set, or too laid-back to care, but the band doesn’t mind interacting with the foursome for the next five minutes. When the kids finally wander off and the interview gets back into motion, it’s already apparent that Golden Animals are as down-to-earth as the music they make—a blend of blues rock and psychedelic pop—and it’s more than refreshing.

With the release of their debut LP, Free Your Mind and Win A Pony, via iTunes on July 1, Golden Animals—comprised of guitarist/lead vocalist Eisner and drummer/vocalist Beecroft—have unleashed eleven tracks filled with solid blues guitar work that resembles The Doors and Cream, as well as 60s-era pop melodies reminiscent of The Zombies and The Beatles. Heavy guitar-driven tracks like “The Steady Roller” and “Queen Mary (The Flop)” sound straight out of the golden age of rock and roll rather than their origin in today’s era of increasingly mixed, sampled and electronic music.

With influences such as the prewar blues artists (Skip James, Blind Wille McTell, Blind Willie Johnson) in addition to the 1960s' psychedelic movement, says Eisner, it’s no surprise that Gold Animals infuse old-style guitar work with a modern pop twist, and make it work.

Although Eisner and Beecroft currently live in Southern California, the pair met in while they were based out of Brooklyn. Beecroft, who had just moved to America from Northern Sweden, was walking down a street when Eisner just randomly approached her, she says. After becoming close friends and traveling around together—including a stay in Paris which led to the formation of the band—the two returned to Brooklyn to record their self-titled EP in Fall 2006 in only two days, says Eisner.

“That’s what we could afford,” he admits.

After realizing that they could no longer afford Brooklyn as well, Beecroft set off on an Internet-search binge to find somewhere they could live virtually for free. Soon they discovered a house-sitting opportunity at a home (or, as Eisner puts it, a trailer with a room attached to it) near the Salton Sea in California’s Colorado Desert, packed their bags at the end of April, 2007, and headed west, says Beecroft.

“It was the first time that either of us really like just totally left everything behind and went off somewhere and said ‘all right, we’re playing music, and like there’s nothing to get in our way,’” says Eisner. “There're no bars that exist, there're no parties. There aren’t even people.”

With temperatures at times exceeding 115 degrees, nothing around besides animals and untouched nature, and the realization that they were staying in the last home with any form of electricity in the area, Eisner and Beecroft did nothing but jam and write Free Your Mind And Win a Pony during their six-month sojourn, says Eisner.

“We never felt lonely or desperate or anything,” says Eisner. “It was like a real sense of kind of peace. That’s what made it,” says Eisner.

(Coincidentally, they were living in the home of Gordon Kennedy—author of Children of the Sun, an anthology about natural living and social reforms between 1883 and 1949—whose work about alternative lifestyles well preceded the 1960s' counterculture movement.)

Although Eisner and Beecroft worked with several different people on the album (including Chris Coady, who's worked with TV On The Radio, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Massive Attack, according to the band’s press release) they weren’t completely pleased with the final product. By collaborating with people who didn’t necessarily know how they sounded live, Eisner feels like the LP lacks of the quality of what he and Beecroft sound like when they play, just the two of them, in a room.

“When we made this record, we were anxious to make a second record that is more even natural and even more like us or something,” says Eisner. “That’s part of the reason right now that we’re just writing and playing together.”

While they’re in the midst of writing their next full-length, which could take a long time (“We have to wait ‘til we see a rainbow to... start anything at all,” jokes Eisner about their creative process), Golden Animals have been booking some shows in the California region, but have no tour plans set in stone.

“We’re like a wanted ad, like a singles ad; we’re looking for a band to take us under their wing and bring us out on the road,” says Eisner.

With their solid debut LP, apparent fan recognition, and incredibly humble attitude toward their work, it seems they won't have to wait much longer!

Golden Animals - Try On Me

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