MySpace a place for friends

Yes this is your own Domestication of Animals here, friends.

The Domestication of Animals started without instruments. To say we were an a capella group is, well, technically correct. But instead of singing, imagine a skronky passel of seven adults chomping and whinnying into microphones like donkeys at the trough.

Fortunately or not, that version of the band did not last very long, though traces of the approach never really disappeared. You know how when people "speak in tongues" - when they channel the voices of spirits - they're said to use mostly phonetic sounds that come from their native language? Well then glossolalia is to normal speech as this first Domestication album is to rock and roll. Listen to the opening track "What Can I Say" and ask yourself - seriously, now - is that the sound of the 21st century finally breaking its leash?

Joe Tepperman and Mike Rings soon began playing as a duo with Mike on drums and Joe on bass, translating the natter and stutter of our unaccompanied voices into high-energy fractured glitch rock. The result effervesced with a spontaneous joy that surprised even us. Though we were not looking for a guitar player, Joe called Grant Lovelace after seeing his flyer asking for bandmates who liked the Raincoats, Moondog, the Residents, and Half Japanese. Grant proved to possess both a subtle sense for harmony and roots in Midwestern noise, a winning combination.

We recorded most of The Domestication of Animals Plays the Screams of Drowning Ants, Bites of the Box-Packed Dogs in one day in 2005 before Mike moved to Indiana (and before having a long album title ceased to seem like a good idea). Joe and Grant spent another year or so adding overdubs and collaging together many various takes. The result has an internal logic of excessive, almost proggy proportions, but we tried to stay clear of the cold intellect that usually comes with that - we may be mad, but we're not scientists. To make pop music is sort of the point of the Domestication, and no matter how skewed our idea of what "pop" is, our snobless enthusiasm always wins out (we hope!) over our tendency to be intentionally primitive or arty.

Joe still plays these songs live with his voice- and verb-heavy solo project, Mooey Moobau. Citizen L.A. wrote, alliteratively, that his stuff sets "a new standard for stuttering stamina," which was probably meant as a compliment. He also plays trombone with Killsonic. Grant and Joe both play in Cat Hair Ensemble now. And Mike has been recording in Indiana as Laughter Has Long Legs.

Axiomatic for us is: instantiation in a PARTICULAR body as the 1st and most basic definition of our collective predicament

and The Domestication of Animals is not only our band name but our fave HISTORICAL EVENT (or one of us's, anyway)