The Sound of Animals Fighting was an unconventional collaborative musical group formed in 2004 by someone under the pseudonym the Nightingale. Core founding members of this experimental rock band consisted of both well-known and amateur artists from all over the country. Like the founder, all identities were protected by animal pseudonyms and corresponding masks.
The Nightingale (soon identified as Rich Balling) was the mastermind behind the group’s creation – the innovator of the group and the creative process. In an interview with Gary Hampton from thepunksite.com, Balling explains his decision to protect individual identities:
“1. Too much legal hassle. Five members are under contract with other record labels, and when you are under contract, unfortunately, you can’t just run off and record whenever you want and release it on another label. We did get permission from the labels to put the album out, however, it was on the basis that we would not use the names or band names of the members to make money…2. We don’t want our other bands helping us “cash in” with this project. This project is completely about the music, and we want as many people to appreciate it without having preconceived notions of what it might sound like.” (Hampton)
The Creative Process:
Each member recorded their section independently from one another, with no communication between artists. Balling “got the best drummer [he] knew, had him play sick beats for two hours straight at the studio…[then] two of us split those beats up into songs” and distributed the songs to guitar players. The guitarists added parts, the process repeated, and the remixed song passed to vocalists. For the first two albums, participating artists were only given one full day to add layers to previous tracks that they had never heard before. Artists “just came in, played the song three times, went in the [studio] room and busted out. No lyrics, no nothing.” The whole process was a form of collaborative improvisation, but amazingly, a few of the participating artists “have to this day, never met” (Hampton).
Identified Members of Original Lineup:
Nightingale – Rich Balling – Producer, vocals
Walrus – Matt Embree – Lead guitar, vocals
Lynx – Tsagakis Chris – Drums
Tiger – Randy “R2K” Strohmeyer – Guitar
Skunk – Anthony Green – Vocals
Bear- Chris Fudurich - Mixing, programming
Tortoise – Derek Doherty – Bass
Allister Raven – Marc McKnight – Art
Swan – Vanessa Chibba – PR
Dog – Chris Haynie – Author of Story/Music
Ferret – Kyle Homme – Engineer
Octopus – Charlie Adams – Cartridges
Armadillo – Rich Zahniser – Engineer songs
Llamma – Mattew Kelly – Vocals
Other Identified Members:
Hyena - Ryan Baker - Recording, mixing
Giraffe - Stephen O'Malley - Album artwork
Ram - Craig Owens - Vocals
Penguin - Keith Goodwin - Vocals
Wolf - Matthew Kelly - Vocals
Sources:
Hampton - http://thepunksite.com/interviews.php?page=tsoaf
