Spirit Animal is Underappreciated
I said what I said, and I won’t take it back.
I originally found out about the quartet, which had its inception in Brooklyn, in September of 2018 when I was buying tickets to see The Struts. The name itself caught my eye when I saw that they were going to be opening at the concert, and naturally, my immediate response was a quick google search. Best decision ever.
The band is made up of lead singer Steve Cooper, bassist Paul Michel, guitarist Cal Stamp, and drummer Ronen Evron. The band has more than made an impact in the indie-rock scene, despite all four members coming from very different musical backgrounds. Michel was initially rooted in Washington D.C., where hardcore rock had set up shop, Evron studied at the Berklee College of Music, and Cooper is cited as “[growing] up on a strict diet of rap music”₁; somehow, their diverse backgrounds blended together to create dynamic genre-bending band, whose music cannot be defined by one, or even multiple, particular labels.
In each and every piece of music they release, they manage to flawlessly blend together the core values of rock, pop, and funk, with the occasional layer of something else that I can never quite put my finger on. Their first release was a single back in 2013 titled, “The Black Jack White.” Following this, they released their five track EP titled, World War IV. This EP encompasses a few of my favorite songs, such as “True Believer”, as well as tracks that would later carry over to their eleven track 2018 album release, Born Yesterday, such as “Big Bad Road Dog” and “Regular World.” Briefly, I’ll be candid in saying that it is often very difficult for me to enjoy an entire album. Rarely can I listen to an entire album all the way through and actually enjoy every single song, much less want to listen to said album completely through more than once. I purchased the entire Born Yesterday album after discovering Spirit Animal’s music, and I refuse to send a single song to the cloud.
Following the release of Born Yesterday, and the endless nagging of their fans to release new music, the band remastered their 2018 album to include two new singles, “Arm Candy” and “HYDR8”, as well as an acoustic version of their hit, “YEAH!”; the new album was appropriately titled Reborn Yesterday.
Between releasing new music, the band has been touring restlessly. They’ve toured with bands who don’t necessarily match the same eclectic uniqueness of their musical style, such as The Struts, Fitz and the Tantrums, Incubus, and Theory of a Deadman, and yet they’ve continued to gain fans from various musical backgrounds.
Speaking of shows, Spirit Animal puts on a damn good one.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I saw them perform live in September of 2018, and whew, did they put on a good show. I’m a firm believer in the idea that the audience will match the energy of the performer. As soon as they stepped foot on stage, you could just tell that they truly wanted to be there. Even though they were only the first of three performers that night, they played like they were the headliner, and people paid attention. Nobody knew the words, but the audience was paying attention and even reacting to the show, which is more than any other opening bands can say about their performances. They kept up their energy throughout the entire performance, and I actually found myself disappointed when they waved goodbye for the night. I spent the following fifteen minutes downloading all of their music onto my phone and following them on all social media (@spiritanimalus on Instagram and Twitter!).
I’ll even flex briefly and tell you about how my friend and I ran to their merch table at the end of the set to nab a picture with Steve, and here’s the photo evidence to prove it.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to catch Spirit Animal live since that concert in September of 2018, but I keep up with them religiously on social media, and plan to purchase tickets to their show as soon as they release tour dates for 2020, and I suggest you do the same! :)
₁: https://www.indegoot.com/spirit-animal
I originally found out about the quartet, which had its inception in Brooklyn, in September of 2018 when I was buying tickets to see The Struts. The name itself caught my eye when I saw that they were going to be opening at the concert, and naturally, my immediate response was a quick google search. Best decision ever.
L to R: Paul Michel, Ronen Evron, Steve Cooper, and Cal Stamp₂
The band is made up of lead singer Steve Cooper, bassist Paul Michel, guitarist Cal Stamp, and drummer Ronen Evron. The band has more than made an impact in the indie-rock scene, despite all four members coming from very different musical backgrounds. Michel was initially rooted in Washington D.C., where hardcore rock had set up shop, Evron studied at the Berklee College of Music, and Cooper is cited as “[growing] up on a strict diet of rap music”₁; somehow, their diverse backgrounds blended together to create dynamic genre-bending band, whose music cannot be defined by one, or even multiple, particular labels.
In each and every piece of music they release, they manage to flawlessly blend together the core values of rock, pop, and funk, with the occasional layer of something else that I can never quite put my finger on. Their first release was a single back in 2013 titled, “The Black Jack White.” Following this, they released their five track EP titled, World War IV. This EP encompasses a few of my favorite songs, such as “True Believer”, as well as tracks that would later carry over to their eleven track 2018 album release, Born Yesterday, such as “Big Bad Road Dog” and “Regular World.” Briefly, I’ll be candid in saying that it is often very difficult for me to enjoy an entire album. Rarely can I listen to an entire album all the way through and actually enjoy every single song, much less want to listen to said album completely through more than once. I purchased the entire Born Yesterday album after discovering Spirit Animal’s music, and I refuse to send a single song to the cloud.
Following the release of Born Yesterday, and the endless nagging of their fans to release new music, the band remastered their 2018 album to include two new singles, “Arm Candy” and “HYDR8”, as well as an acoustic version of their hit, “YEAH!”; the new album was appropriately titled Reborn Yesterday.
Between releasing new music, the band has been touring restlessly. They’ve toured with bands who don’t necessarily match the same eclectic uniqueness of their musical style, such as The Struts, Fitz and the Tantrums, Incubus, and Theory of a Deadman, and yet they’ve continued to gain fans from various musical backgrounds.
Spirit Animal performing in September 2018.
As I mentioned in the beginning, I saw them perform live in September of 2018, and whew, did they put on a good show. I’m a firm believer in the idea that the audience will match the energy of the performer. As soon as they stepped foot on stage, you could just tell that they truly wanted to be there. Even though they were only the first of three performers that night, they played like they were the headliner, and people paid attention. Nobody knew the words, but the audience was paying attention and even reacting to the show, which is more than any other opening bands can say about their performances. They kept up their energy throughout the entire performance, and I actually found myself disappointed when they waved goodbye for the night. I spent the following fifteen minutes downloading all of their music onto my phone and following them on all social media (@spiritanimalus on Instagram and Twitter!).
I’ll even flex briefly and tell you about how my friend and I ran to their merch table at the end of the set to nab a picture with Steve, and here’s the photo evidence to prove it.
Unfortunately, I haven’t had the chance to catch Spirit Animal live since that concert in September of 2018, but I keep up with them religiously on social media, and plan to purchase tickets to their show as soon as they release tour dates for 2020, and I suggest you do the same! :)
₁: https://www.indegoot.com/spirit-animal
₂: Photo courtesy of Prelude Press Interview
Comments
Post a Comment