Family Animals
Scranton, PA | Established. Jan 01, 2008 | INDIE
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Family Animals is an experimental lofi jam band out of Pennsylvania.
If bizarre music, but more importantly—a timeless work of art is your thing, then look no further. You've found a place of refuge in Family Animals. They're your friends, your family, your psychedelic spirit animal. They're your everything.
Family Animals latest album—Cactupus N' Friends—is a transcendental throwback to all that is groovy. It is perfect in just about every way.
And now, here it is. The whole damn thing. And, it's fucking magnificent.
Now, listen and dig all you dirty animals. "remember me"
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Buy their music on Bandcamp.
"We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever." —Carl Sagan -Jesse Gilmore/ Santa Rosa Records - Santa Rosa Records
"..Family Animals continues to blaze new trailes (as opposed to just soaking up grooves for the past 45 years). The boys refuse to be pigeonholed. "Climax" is a trippy experiment that rarely falters." - Mike Evans / the570- Electric City Magazine
-"IMHMI is one big beautiful MESS. In other words, the entire work is impossible to pigeonhole, and that's precisely what makes it exciting." -Mike Evans / the570- Electric City Magazine - Electric City/ The570
Family Animals is a trippy-folk trio from the USA. Blending in to their music lays many influences along with disparate instrumentation delivering an overall sound in which the audience can allow their mind to expand into valleys new.
Their latest release, the eleven track, approximately twenty nine minutes, album Cactupus N’ Friends (available on bandcamp) evidencing the hallucinogenic nature of their material.
An album best enjoyed in its entirety to allow the brain to fully space-put to the eclectic mix of songs, though it is necessary to set aside far more than the playing time as it does take a while for the senses to reset and reconfigure.
The fifth track is The Speed Of Sight. -Tim Whale /Indie Bands Blog-Emerging Indie Bands - Emerging Indie Bands
Last year, the band put out their second album called “I Must Have Missed It.” It is intelligent prog with an itching sense of melody.
The sound of “I Must Have Missed It” (let’s call it IMHMI from now on) is unique and draws inspiration and influences from various sources such Rush, early Pink Floyd and Genesis, with a scent of The Beatles.
On IMHMI, Family Animals draw from a myriad of influences from across the musical spectrum and manage to make accessible yet intricate progressive rock -Darryl Johnson/ ProgSphere - ProgArchy
Progressive/psychedelic rockers from Scranton in Pennsylvania, Family Animals, set their musical direction towards more progressive rock-oriented sound with their sophomore studio album I Must Have Missed It. The influence of rock stalwarts
such as Beatles and Pink Floyd are there — Family Animals take the best from these classic artists and adds up own structures, making a perfect mixture of familiar and unknown. I Must Have Missed It brings nine songs in total, and it runs the
gamut of elements from the rock’s rich history. That variety, the band’s influences and experience help I Must Have Missed It to come up as a powerful release. -Rocking Charts - Rocking Charts
That closeness makes for a tight musical unit, one that continues to evolve in the wake of the release of the band’s second full-length album, “I Must Have Missed It.” In 2008, they formed Family Animals. Their music has taken inspiration from a
hodgepodge of acts, from the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Frank Zappa to Gogol Bordello, Primus and Dead Kennedys. Local bands like Heavy Blonde and And the Moneynotes also made a big impact. -Josh Mcauliffe / Scranton Times Tribune - Times Tribune
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
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Bio
“They’re your friends, your family, your psychedelic spirit animal. They’re your everything.” Eclectic, energetic, and indescribably euphoric, Family Animals are an alternative rock band from Northeast Pennsylvania. Comprised of long-time friends and brothers, drummer Anthony Viola and vocalist-guitarist Jesse Viola grew up with best friend bassist Frank DeSando in Mt. Cobb, and began playing music together as adolescents. The band officially formed under the name Family Animals in 2008 after a variety of iterations. With influences ranging from Funkadelic and Primus to Frank Zappa and Dead Kennedys, Family Animals acquired inspiration from a fusion of different genres such as psychedelia, punk, funk, and progressive rock, ultimately bridging gaps in musical eras and time periods, and thereby, emitting a sense of pure immersion in their work.
Built on a foundation of creative freedom, members of Family Animals studied music recording independently in order to properly produce themselves. Anthony added, “Producing ourselves allows us the freedom to really experiment with the arrangements and the song.” This self-sufficiency presented the opportunity to capture their precise sound in finer detail. From their first self-titled album to the most recent release, the end result emulates the same unmatched intensity as their live performances through the ability to control their personal process. Subsequently, the band created an Indie label called Winkhole Records, to release their music autonomously. Electric City Magazine music reviewer, Mike Evans, described Family Animals as trailblazers in this area, stating, “the boys refuse to be pigeonholed.” This is best exemplified by the “blending in their music […] along with disparate instrumentation, delivering an overall sound in which the audience can allow their mind to expand into valleys new.” It is this mind expansion that comes through and through with each album produced.
With hundreds of shows, and a decade of music and mischief under their belts, the band has seven albums to date, most recently releasing The End is Mere in 2019. Family Animals have also played shows with a number of notable acts including Green Jello, The Menzingers, Motionless in White, and Tigers Jaw, just to name a few. Additionally, the band has been a staple of the local radio airwaves and played major events such as The Pennsylvania Cannabis Festival and Pennsylvania Bacon Festival. Voted Best Original Band by Electric City Magazine in 2015, Family Animals continue to transform their sound, constantly experimenting and writing new material, much to the joy of their devoted fans. Their close-knit bond, ingenuity, and seemingly faultless ebb and flow demonstrate an spellbinding rhythm and story to their music. Without a doubt, Family Animals are a beast of a band, delivering an unparalleled experience for your my mind, body, and soul.
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