By Andrew Bansal
Rapidly rising into becoming one of the biggest names in American metal, Animals As Leaders have caught the attention of guitar nerds and heavy music fans alike with their two studio albums released so far, the self-titled debut in 2009 and the follow-up ‘Weightless’ in 2011. Their live shows have been fantastic on previous tours, and currently they are back on another extensive North American run for Summer Slaughter 2013 with the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Periphery, The Ocean, Revocation and others. A couple of days ago on Saturday July 20th, this tour made a visit at the House of Blues Sunset Strip, and before the show I got a chance to catch up with Javier Reyes. The focus is always on lead guitarist and band leader Tosin Abasi, so this is quite a rare interview with Javier in which he discusses the band’s recent travels that included a show in India of all places. Enjoy the conversation below and check them out on Summer Slaughter.
So, I believe last night (July 19) was the first show of this Summer Slaughter run. I saw some of the photos posted by your label and it looked like a packed venue. How was it?
It was cool, man! It was awesome for a start of the tour. The show was amazing, the crowd was cool. SF is always nice.
Since this is the start of the tour, I want to ask you for the sake of your fans reading this. What exactly are you doing here in terms of the set? Is it just a mix of the two albums or is there any unreleased stuff as well?
No, it’s still a mix of the first two albums. We haven’t done anything new because we haven’t completed anything just yet.
So we’ll have to wait till the album releases before we hear that stuff.
Yeah, I think it’s better that the people hear the recorded version first as opposed to the live version.
What’s the status on the next album? Is it going to be out any time this year?
It’s going to be finished this year and probably next year it’s going to be out. We don’t have a date yet, but sometime early next year.
In recent times, Animals As Leaders has kind of blown up and become a lot bigger than before. How are you dealing with that transition, playing the bigger shows, not just here in the States but around the world as well?
It’s been pretty cool. It’s a weird transition because it’s hard to feel the band getting bigger as ourselves. We go to shows and I guess it’s a bigger crowd this time. It continues to happen that way, it’s awesome and we feel blessed to be able to do it. It’s cool to see that so many people all over the world are actually paying attention to us. So yeah, it’s very rewarding.
Talking of ‘around the world’, you did a show in India just a couple of weeks ago. I’m sure it was a very special thing because very few bands from here get to go there. What was that like?
We played Bangalore Open Air, a festival in Bangalore, India. It was awesome, it was incredible! The show was amazing and I didn’t know there were that many metalheads in India. Apparently there are, and there’s a huge scene. I think more bands should probably go there, and I think it’s worth going. I actually got to stay there for about a week after, and that was the highlight for me, going and checking out some of the old ruins and stuff like that. It was very surreal, a very ‘culture shock’ experience.
Right, and even with the lineup, it had Iced Earth, Dark Tranquillity, Ihsahn and Leprous, a weird combination to say the least. That must have been pretty unique for you because we don’t really get those kinds of lineups here.
Yeah! In Europe and places like India there’s a different appreciation than what we’re used to here in the US. So it’s more common to see quite a diverse type of lineup over there. Some of those bands haven’t even been to the US, or rarely come. I think Leprous have only been here once or twice, and I can’t remember the last time Dark Tranquillity came here.
You said that you stayed there for a week. Were you pretty much going around Bangalore or did you visit other places too?
I went to check out these ruins called Somnath, and then I went to Mysore. That was cool. I got to see some elephants, so that was kind of a thing that I guess Americans want to see when they go to India (laughs). I had the best butter chicken I’ve ever had in my life, the best mutton korma I’ve ever had. The wine I disliked in India though. There’s a particular taste that Indian wine has, and I don’t know if I’m down with it (laughs). But yeah, Bangalore was cool. We drove around and got to see some temples there, the palace and whatnot.
Good stuff, man! So, talking about the band, people know it as Tosin Abasi’s band. I’m glad I’m actually getting to interview you because I can get a different perspective. Where do you come in the whole process? Is it after he’s finished up on the basic song ideas or do you work with him on the ideas?
Most of the songs definitely start with ideas that he has. I’ll either go in there with a lot of melodies and stuff like that, arranging parts, the production side of it and the synth stuff. For the new album, there’s more involved. There are some tracks that he did with Misha Mansoor that I will go in and add parts to or change up. We want to do some acoustic stuff as well, so that’s likely going to be a collaboration. But overall, most of the stuff stems off ideas that Tosin has. Originally it started out as a Tosin project and it’s pretty much kind of that still, but the general idea is obviously to have a band. With Navene it was a different experience with him doing production and drums. Now we have Matt as well which is a whole new experience. So it’s still growing but I think the aesthetic of the band definitely comes from Tosin’s style.
He also does a lot of the guitar lessons on tour and otherwise. Do you also take part in that stuff on your own or with him?
Yeah, I teach privately and have online students and stuff like that. I just did a few clinics for MI and the Ibanez Guitar Festival.
Related: [Gig Review] Summer Slaughter Rolls Through West Hollywood’s House Of Blues
Links:
facebook.com/AnimalsAsLeaders
twitter.com/AnimalAsLeader
instagram.com/AnimalsAsLeaders
Remaining Tour Dates:
7/24/2013 Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
7/26/2013 House of Blues – Dallas, TX
7/27/2013 House of Blues – Houston, TX
7/29/2013 House of Blues – Lake Buena Vista, FL
7/30/2013 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
7/31/2013 Old City Courtyard – Knoxville, TN
8/01/2013 House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC
8/02/2013 The Filmore Silver Springs – Silver Springs, MD
8/03/2013 The Palladium – Worcester, MA
8/04/2013 The Trocadero – Philadelphia, PA
8/07/2013 Best Buy Theater – New York, NY
8/08/2013 Sound Academy – Toronto, ON
8/09/2013 Metropolis – Montreal, QC
8/10/2013 Upstate Concert Hall – Clifton Park, NY
8/11/2013 The Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI
8/12/2013 House of Blues – Chicago, IL
8/13/2013 The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
8/14/2013 Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
8/16/2013 Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
8/16/2013 Ogden Theatre – Denver, CO
8/17/2013 The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
8/19/2013 Snowbox Sodo – Seattle, WA
8/20/2013 Roseland Ballroom – Portland, OR