The Sound of Animals Fighting is an American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

founded by

Rich Balling Rich Balling (also known as R. Loren or Rich Loren) is an American musician, producer, and curator. He is best known for being a former member of Rx Bandits. He is also known for his work in Pyramids, The Sound of Animals Fighting, and being t ...

Rx Bandits Rx Bandits are an American four-piece band based in Seal Beach, California, United States. The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California. They have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valle ...

. In the band's initial run, they released a trilogy of records between 2004 and 2008, and performed only four live shows, following their second release in 2006. The band's live lineup consisted of 12 different musicians. The band often employed the use of animal masks to conceal their identity. The group was inactive after 2009, with brief spurts of touring in 2014 and 2019, before announcing a new extended play and nationwide US tour in 2022.

History

Formation and first two albums (2004-2006)

The group performed only one small run of shows in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

and

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

from August 24 to August 27, 2006.

Matt Embree Matthew Embree is an American singer and guitarist best known as the front-man of Rx Bandits. He also has played lead guitar and sung vocals for The Sound of Animals Fighting, in which he was known as "The Walrus". He produced their last album ' ...

(

), Anthony Green (

Circa Survive Circa Survive is an American rock music, rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 2004. The band, led and founded by Anthony Green (musician), Anthony Green, consisted of former members from This Day Forward and Taken. Circa ...

Craig Owens Craigery "Craig" Owens (born August 26, 1984) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of Chiodos. He has also had an involvement in various projects such as Cinematic Sunrise, The Sound of Animals Fighting, Isles & Glaciers, and ...

(

Chiodos Chiodos (, ) was an American post-hardcore band from Davison, Michigan. Formed in 2001, the group was originally known as “The Light-hearted Carpet Knights” before changing their name to "The Chiodos Bros," the band's name was a tribute to fi ...

), and Technology (Rx Bandits'

Chris Tsagakis Christopher Tsagakis (born July 27, 1979) is one of the founding members and current drummer for the band Rx Bandits. He is also a member of The Sound of Animals Fighting, with former bandmate Rich Balling, and has an electronic side project ent ...

' side project) were the opening acts. Prior to the shows, it was difficult to envision which members would be performing at the live shows; Rx Bandits members

, Steve Choi,

, and bassist Joe Troy were a few of the confirmed musicians. The band released a DVD documenting the shows entitled "We Must Become The Change We Want To See."

Aaron Nagel Aaron Nagel is an American painter and the original trumpet player for punk rock/ska core act Link 80, born and raised in Berkeley, California. He later played guitar in the band DESA with other former Link 80 members Ryan Noble, Adam Davis, ...

and

Norton Wisdom Norton may refer to: Places Norton, meaning 'north settlement' in Old English, is a common place name. Places named Norton include: Canada *Rural Municipality of Norton No. 69, Saskatchewan *Norton Parish, New Brunswick **Norton, New Brunswick, a ...

(see

Banyan A banyan, also spelled "banian", is a fig that develops accessory trunks from adventitious prop roots, allowing the tree to spread outwards indefinitely. This distinguishes banyans from other trees with a strangler habit that begin life as a ...

) did live paintings on stage during the band's set..

''The Ocean and the Sun'' (2007-2010)

On October 15, 2007, Balling stated in a bulletin and blog post on the group's Myspace page that there would be a new album released on

Epitaph Records Epitaph Records is an American independent record label owned by Bad Religion guitarist Brett Gurewitz. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, most acts signed to the label were punk and pop punk acts, while there are many post-hardcore and emo bands ...

in the future. Vocal credits include Embree making his first vocal appearance on "Blessings..." and Green returning for the title track,"I, the Swan," "Another Leather Lung," and "The Heraldic Beak of the Manufacturer's Medallion," and Balling returning on "I, the Swan," "Cellophane," and "On the Occasion.."

Matthew Kelly Matthew Kelly (born David Allan Kelly, 9 May 1950) is an English actor and presenter. Having been trained as a theatre actor, he first came to public prominence as a television presenter of ITV light entertainment shows such as ''Game for a L ...

appears on "On the Occasion." Other vocalists include Jessica Mcwhirter (The Lings) on "On the Occasion," and Lauren Coleman on "Uzbekistan" and spoken word on the title track. Charlene Rogers appears performing spoken word on "Ahab" and Mark Bush appears playing trumpet during "Cellophane." The band issued a series of 400 masks, 100 of each of four designs, paired with a 7" for a limited preorder of the album. On July 8, 2009, the band posted a MySpace blog entry with links to official music videos for "I, the Swan" and "Another Leather Lung." On December 29, 2009, at an Anthony Green show at the Roxy,

joined Green on stage and performed combined versions of "Skullflower" and "Stockhausen, Es Ist Ihr Gehirn, Das Ich Suche." Guitarist

and drummer

played abridged versions of several songs by the group under the name "Biceratops" at Alex's Bar in Long Beach, CA on January 15, 2010.

Inactive years, live reunions and ''Apeshit'' (2011-present)

It was announced on November 12, 2013, that the band would be playing seven shows in March 2014. In December 2018, the band announced they would be playing 8 shows in February–March 2019. The Sound of Animals Fighting had been "almost silent" since their tour in 2014. In October 2022, it was announced that the band would be playing 13 shows in January 2023. On December 8, 2022, TSOAF released a four-track EP ''Apeshit'' via Born Losers Records, marking their first studio material released in 14 years.Supergroup The Sound Of Animals Fighting Release First New Music In 14 Years
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Live lineup

The band's live lineup consisted of 12 musicians in 2006, most of whom contributed to at least one studio album. At the time, every member of Rich Balling's former band, the

RX Bandits Rx Bandits are an American four-piece band based in Seal Beach, California, United States. The band formed in 1995 in Orange County, California. They have appeared on the Vans Warped Tour, at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, Coachella Valle ...

, were members of the live lineup . 2006 Live Lineup * Anthony Green - vocals *

- vocals *

- vocals * Keith Goodwin - vocals, guitar *

- vocals, guitar *

- guitar, vocals * Steve Choi - guitar, keyboard * Joe Troy - bass *

- drums * Chris Sheets - percussion * Nathan Hand - percussion, sampling *

Bradley Bell Bradley Phillip Bell (born June 29, 1964) is an American television writer and producer. Bell is an eight-time Daytime Emmy Award winner and is executive producer and head writer for ''The Bold and the Beautiful'', an American soap opera. Ea ...

- keyboard The samples that Ryan Baker supplied via laptop were female vocals and additional instruments such as turntables and horns that Rich Balling provided on record but chose not to physically play live. In 2014, the live lineup consisted of only seven musicians, "the core four and guests" as Rich Balling said in a 2014 interview. 2014 Live Lineup * Anthony Green - vocals *

- vocals *

- vocals, guitar *

- guitar, vocals * Steve Choi - guitar, keyboard *

- drums * Jonathan Hischke - Bass 2019 Live Linueup * Anthony Green - vocals *

- vocals, keyboard *

- vocals, guitar *

- guitar, vocals * Steve Choi - guitar, keyboard *

- drums * Jonathan Hischke - Bass * Keith Goodwin - Vocals

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

Tiger and the Duke ''Tiger and the Duke'' is the debut studio album by the experimental rock band The Sound of Animals Fighting. Four songs from this album were released in demo form on a 2004 EP of the same title. It is a concept album revolving around the title ...

'' (2005) * '' Lover, the Lord Has Left Us...'' (2006) * ''

The Ocean and the Sun ''The Ocean and the Sun'' is the third album by experimental rock band The Sound of Animals Fighting. The album features only the four core members that had appeared on both the first and second albums: the Nightingale, the Walrus, the Lynx and Th ...

'' (2008)

EPs

* ''Apeshit'' (2022)

DVD

* ''

We Must Become the Change We Want to See ''We Must Become the Change We Want to See'' is the first live DVD from The Sound of Animals Fighting, released on May 1, 2007. The DVD includes footage from one of the only four shows the band has played . The show was filmed live at the House o ...

'' (2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sound of Animals Fighting, The Musical groups from Los Angeles Rock music supergroups Musical groups established in 2004 Musical groups disestablished in 2009 Musical groups reestablished in 2013 Progressive rock musical groups from California Epitaph Records artists Equal Vision Records artists American post-hardcore musical groups Alternative rock groups from California Masked musicians