Story by: Sarah Spohn
The Social Animals have already spent most of summer mingling and rubbing elbows with some familiar rock bands while on their current supporting act tour.
The Minnesota four piece toured with Twin Forks (one of Chris Carrabba’s many bands outside of Dashboard Confessional) and Dan Layus (Augustana) this past winter and apparently made quite the impression. The band was invited to join The Maine, the always-entertaining All American Rejects, and the beginning of the emo era’s band, Dashboard Confessional on their summer tour.
If The Social Animals ever felt like they were waiting around for their next big break, appearing night after night at sold-out theater shows opening up for enthusiastic pop punk, and pop rock bands might be just the ticket.
With the current lineup, you might glaze over the first opening act, in comparison to the familiarity of hits like “Dirty Little Secret,” and “Stolen” from the headliners, but you would be mistaken if you skip over The Social Animals.
They’re being labeled as indie rock, but that really doesn’t begin to describe the Social Animals, with the occasional banjo making an appearance. There is an honest grit to their sound, a witty delivery of snarky lyrics, tinged with a bit of Midwest pride, working-class-hero vibe. They released their debut EP Formative Years last summer, and will soon release their full-length record, which was recorded at Ice Cream Party Studios (Modest Mouse) and The Deep Deep South (Dashboard Confessional). Produced by Paul Kolderie (Radiohead, Pixies) and Steve Berlin (Los Lobos, Deer Tick), the album is sure to put these guys on the map. Gone are the days of opening slots, and hello headliner spot.
The Social Animals is a band who is not in it for Internet stardom, they’re not ashamed to hop in a dusty Chevy, if that means they get to play music every night. What you hear is not auto-tuned beyond recognition; it’s real, raw and gritty, and revealing of who the band is. What you hear is The Social Animals in their native habitat.
They echo their longing for something more out of a monotonous life, and the best way to break that routine – hop in a van and travel the country, playing every bar, sidewalk, and opening slot of a concert possible.
In “Let Me Go,” the band contemplates the repetition of life: Cause this is all you’re gonna get/ The same old bars and the same old shit/So just Let me go/Come on and baby let me go/Break my heart/ Come on and baby break my heart/ Let me go
My advice to you: Do not let this band go. Be there. Show up early to the show, and you won’t be sorry. Next time you see The Social Animals on a lineup, they will not be at the bottom.
Filed under: feature friday Tagged: feature friday, music creates us, new music, the social animals