From 1996 to 2015, the Brooklyn-based Giraffes have shredded, burned, and leveled every audience from their hometown of NYC to the Sunset Strip, and back again. Lead singer Aaron Lazar and guitar wizard Damien Paris form the focus of the band, with support from the locomotive rhythm section of maniac drummer Andrew Totolos and latest Giraffe, Josh Taggart on bass, on their new album Usury, was released digitally on October 2nd, 2015, with CD and vinyl available in January 2016 on Sliver Sleeve Records.
The Giraffes was formed in 1996 by Damien Paris, Andrew Totolos, and bassist Tim Kent in a small room in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In 1998, they released Franksquilt, however it was not until singer Aaron Lazar joined in 2000 that the band found it’s true shape. Helping You Help Yourself, released in 2002, is a raw testament to the explosive energy of the foursome, blending Paris’s ferocious riffage with the bellowing croons of Lazar’s sardonic lyrics.
The band got a reputation for wild performances. The Giraffes’ live shows, now notorious for fierce musicality and unbridled audience participation, generated an intense and extremely dedicated fan base. They toured alongside stalwarts such as Local-H, Eagles of Death Metal, The Vacation and Skeleton Key, sharing the stage with Interpol, Fishbone, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, the Strokes. Bookings at the Amsterjam, Voodofest, Monolith, SXSW, and Bonnaroo festivals expanded their audience. By 2010, the Giraffes were a nationally recognized independent act.
The band has just finished its sixth full-length record entitled Usury which will be released digitally October 2nd, 2015. The CD and Vinyl will hit the street in late January of 2016.
In this interview, we chat about influences, history, and the band’s newest project.
Full Q&A, links, and streams below.
Let’s dive a little deeper into You, the artist and your music. What attracted you to this genre(s) or style(s)?
It’s interesting because we never started out as a hard rock band. We were experimenting with several different sounds which culminated into a quasi-Surf/Prog-Rock sounding group with weird lyrics and that progressively got heavier- so it just developed naturally. In hindsight it was probably more a reaction to the college indie music coming out of the burgeoning Brooklyn scene which Damien to look back to music that was not very cool at the time, namely Hard Rock/Heavy Metal. If you listen to the bands earlier recordings you can hear the moments when the music went decisively harder. Check out The Ballad of Sissyfist from the Helping You Help Yourself Album (2002) and on the other hand we have a complete David Lynch film soundtrack (Check out the EP ‘A Gentleman Never Tells’ (2004).
How long have you been creating and sharing your music with the public?
We started playing live shows in the East Village around 1997 when we were an instrumental indie-surf-three piece but we started really pumping out the jams around 2001 once we got Aaron Lazar (vocals) on board.. We were definitely not the cool guys to put on a venue but for some reason, (mainly lots of telephone calls to various local venues) that we finally getting opening spots on Monday nights. I think we had a 3 or 4 song demo cassette that was duplicated using a double tape deck and put those up for sale, we probably sold 2- If anyone out there has a copy then you’re sitting on a goldmine!
Who or what influences your playing and/or writing? Also, what motivates you to keep going?
NYC city itself is probably the biggest inspiration for this band. We all lived a pretty extreme lifestyle for a while and the city seemed to provide ample fodder for our music like the time back on ’02 when our guitarist Damien got shot in the leg by the fire marshall of Brooklyn. More specifically though, NYC has a great, if not the greatest live music scene and The Giraffes are lucky that we are part of it. Brooklyn’s indie, rock and metal scene is constantly evolving with new bands coming up all the time. That means there are new sounds and new approaches and new performances, that above all has been the most influential on our approach to music both positively and negatively. In this respect, the Giraffes is like the Council of Elrond, while each member is always involved in side projects with other artists, learning and experimenting and gaining new experiences, it’s when when the Council reconvenes, the saga begins.
What was the last song you listened to?
Orchestra Baobob (west African music)
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
It seems like everybody is getting nerdy about cassettes at the moment and as mentioned above The Giraffes and probably every other band in the mid 90’s starting by sending in demo tapes to local venues to try to get gigs- there is definitely a soft spot in our hearts for tapes but vinyls are big and beautiful with great cover art you can almost hang on your wall- there is something special about vinyl- maybe we are just being sentimental…
How about this one. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Band camp is cool but for general accessibility The Giraffes prefer (product placement) Spotify and Apple Music.
Other than the digital era overwhelming us with access to an abundance of music, what are one or two of the biggest challenges you face when trying to attract listeners to your music?
We are not too overwhelmed by the now old digital-world-order, although it more and more feels like the digital platform for listening too and sharing music allows consumers to quickly gloss over a 20 second sound bite and immediately decide if they like something or not, this is problematic in that it doesn’t give musicians that are working on a small budget the same digital mastering and promotional power as a larger performer- hence a much smaller market share.
Do you gig, tour or perform? Do you ever live stream? Where can music lovers see you live?
The Giraffes cut their teeth by touring- from 2001-2011 we packed into a van and played across the United States countless times. We made our name on our live show which is a balls to the wall maximum rock and roll. Nowadays however, while we are getting more offers and bigger money we have to choose carefully for the shows we play because keeping all the members happy after nearly 15 years and performing at 100% is a serious operation. The Best way to keep up with the next shows is to follow our Facebook and Twitter accounts and note: When we play your town, cancel all your other plans and get ready to have your faces melted and earholes tickled.
Where is the best place to connect with you online? Discover more of your music?
Band Website: www.thegiraffes.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Giraffes-41469448477/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegiraffes
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegiraffesrule/
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/the-giraffes
Any last thoughts? Shout outs? Words of wisdom?
Yeah check out our friends: Crobot, Eartheater, Sir Jarlesberg, Big Bitch and Not Blood Paint!
and remember Practice makes perfect.
