The Basement Tapes Vol.1

The Basement Tapes Vol.1
              ...takes old favourites that have changed and changed throughout the years as they've been adapted to  work within our ever-evolving live show, and has them recorded properly in our makeshift basement-level studio.
Fellow musician and close friend Jeff Waters (far right) has joined us this time around to sing and guitar around as well.
We'll be taking the album on tour and playing it all live. It's going to be fun, and you're going to have fun, and we'll all smile until our mouths feel like hurt. (or else...)

Listen to the track "The Corner of Broadway" from The Basement Tapes Vol.1.



And then see how we do it down below in the "live in studio" version of Wooden Roller Coaster.



See you soon.
-Animal Nation

New Music Video - Somebody I Used To Know

Hello friends.

This is the first music video for our recently released album "Tall Man 2: Every Day In The Life".

I spent the better part of my summer creating this video.
I shot, directed, starred in, and edited it all myself. It took 7 months, which included 3 months of pre-prep that I spent gaining 30 LBS, to get up to my initial goal weight of 200 LBS.

Watch it here.


After reaching 200 LBS I shot once a week over a 4 month period, losing roughly 5 LBS each week, until I reached my final goal weight of 140 LBS.
I wanted to see if I could make each scene transition into the next without any notice of physical change, but to have a huge change in appearance from the start of the video to the end.

This video was absolute hell to make. Gaining the weight was almost the worst part. Sitting at my dinner table having just eaten a foot-long Sub, getting ready to start in on my steak dinner, knowing that I had another full meal to eat afterwards. Face ghost-white and sweating, shoving never-ending amounts of food down my throat, and not enjoying a single bite of it.

That was ALMOST the worst part.


If you haven't already - make sure to download this song, and the album it's a part of for FREE at http://EveryDayInTheLife.com

Thank you,
-Garnet "Tall Man" Clare

EveryDayInTheLife.com

MIDNIGHT RELEASE!
Stream and Download the new Animal Nation record on your smartphone or comp for FREE now at http://EveryDayInTheLife.com/ !

I've Never worked harder on anything in my entire life. This album took me 2 and a half years to create from front to back - from producing the tracks, finding the samples, playing and recording the guitars, banjos, pianos, harmonicas, keyboards, and everything else, to writing and recording the lyrics, to mixing everything, and everything in between. The album took me from my hometown of Whistler, BC where I created the music for this project, across this hugely vast country to Halifax, where I spent 6 months living with Mr. and Mrs. Smith on Compton Street. Riley and Meaghan Smith were/are amazing friends, and I had such an amazing time living with them, getting to know them and all their close friends really well. They were the best hosts I could have asked for. Halifax was where I wrote all the lyrics for the album. Almost entirely at the west end of South Street on a small hidden beach, basing the story for the album on my life back in Whistler. It's amazing there. I'll always have a seat in my heart saved for Halifax. I then drove out to a small town in Ontario called Woodville where I shacked up in a little restored barn to record all the lyrics I'd just finished writing. I've never worked harder on anything, or been more passionate about anything in my entire life. Check this album out.

The album is FREE, and not because it's an EP, or because it's a mix-tape, but because it's SO FUCKING GOOD, and I just want you to hear it.

Please listen to and download Animal Nation's "Every Day In The Life" for free at EveryDayInTheLife.com

-Tall Man
Animal Nation
EveryDayInTheLife.com

9.10.11

Soon soon soon, so soon.

-Tall Man

New Album - Every Day In The Life - coming this fall on UrbNet.

Hello friends!

We're going to be releasing a new album in the fall. It's going to be one of two solo albums by Animal Nation.

It is going to be so freaking AWESOME.

I did all the production on it, and I learned a bunch of instruments making it, and recorded all the vocals in this creepy old barn in a run down town called Woodville in Ontario, and I moved to Halifax to write all the lyrics, and I wrote nearly every day at a hidden little beach at the end of South Street, and it's a concept album! A real concept album! Not a concept album in the sense that Sgt. Peppers is a concept album, but more so in the vein of Prince Paul's "A Prince Among Theives". An album that tells a story from start to finish, and nearly every song connects to the next song, and I spent way too long in my house being really antisocial making it, and I had this really cool girlfriend at the time who I left for some reason because I couldn't do anything but think about making this album and now I kind of regret it a little maybe, but it's cool, because it is so freaking AWESOME.


Change it to 720p for better sound quality.

I'm in the middle of making a music video for my favorite song on the album right now. It should be done around September. I'm filming it myself. I have no idea what I'm doing.
Until then, above is the other half of Animal Nation - Mike's favorite song on the new record. The track is called "Brush Your Teeth (Ch-ch-ch-ch)", and pays a serious homage to the man that steals kids hearts (not literally), Raffi.

Make sure to check out the CBC radio3 Animal Nation site to hear new music by us as well. We might just happen to have an EP coming out together in the fall that I'm not really supposed to mention...

Soon!

-Tall Man!!!

Nas - I Know I Can remix on MPC1000 and SP-303

Here's a quick Nas - I Know I Can remix I did a couple weeks ago with my MPC1000 and SP-303.



Word!

Every Day In The Life. Coming soon.

Mad Child of Swollen Members interviewed by Mike of Animal Nation

We opened a show for Swollen Members a couple weeks ago, and had a chance to interview Mad Child afterwards. Mike asks Mad Child why he's so mad, and how to make it in America, and tells them that they're not big dicks, so what's with the name 'Swollen Members'?

C.R. Avery interviewed by Tall Man of Animal Nation

We interviewed C.R. Avery the other week before a show we did together in Whistler.
C.R. talks about TOFU, Mighty Mike, how he would eat neapolitan without a spoon, and about how the sky isn't always blue.

Sweatshop Union interview by Tall Man

Here's an interview we did with Colin and Mo of Sweatshop Union at Moe Joe's after sound check for our show we did together a couple weeks ago.
We asked them about their new album, The Bill Murray EP, what their favourite Murray movie is, and what their favourite food is.
Check it out.



Peace,
-Tall Man

Slakah the Beatchild interview by Animal Nation

Here's a quick interview we did with Slakah the Beatchild of Art of Fresh, at the Live Vision offices in Vancouver.

Enjoy Yourself!

Animal Nation + CBC Radio 3 = (heart based emoticon)

Animal Nation spent the day, the other day, in Vancouver, within Canada, at the CBC Radio headquarters with Radio 3 host Lisa Christiansen talking about how awesomely cute she thinks we both are. (It's a mutual feeling.)

Check out Animal Nation's BIG DAY OUT with CBC Radio 3 host Lisa Christiansen!
What joy!
What fun!
http://r3.ca/0DRK

Summer Tour Wrap Up (See You In Febuary!)

Bless your heart.


Thank you so very much to everyone that got stoked on our tour with us.
We had so so so so so much fun nearly everywhere that we went. We did shots until we couldn't move, and then we did shots until we were sober, and then we did more shots just because it gives you a reason to shout things incoherently. We managed to talk our way out of 3 arrestings, 6 parking tickets, 1 slow speed chase, and multiple other po-po run-ins. We fell down stair cases, and fell off of stages, and fell for girls that we knew we'd never see again, and we still managed to make it home in (mostly) one piece.

Thank you so much if you partook in any of our shennanigans. They were way too much fun, and we can't wait to come back in 4 months and do it all over again.


If you didn't get a chance to listen to our music live or fling your bra/panties at us (I'm looking at you, gentlemen), make sure to head out to your local record store TODAY and pick up our latest LP "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible" on vinyl. The vinyl edition is only a couple bucks more than the CD edition, and comes with an amazing 12"x12" Taka Sudo wall piece, a 12 page Animal Nation comic-book-style album insert by Sponge-Bob -Square-Pants write Kent Osborne, and a free mp3 download of the album, so that you can LEARN ALL THE WORDS, and come join us on our next tour in Febuary/March!

We made sure to get records in the following shops.. If your favourite record shop isn't on the list, let them know that they NEED TO STOCK ANIMAL NATION, and then let us know, and we'll send them a couple albums! Rock!


Toronto: Sonic Boom on Bathhurst & Bloor

Montreal: Encore Records on Sherbrook & Oxford

Saskatoon: Vinyl Exchange on 2nd Ave & 22nd
Vinyl Diner on Broadway & 12th
Momentum Skate Shop on 8th & McCool

Edmonton: Sound Connection on 124th St. & 109 Ave.
FreeCloud on 101 St. & 108th Ave.

Calgary: The Heritage Record & Comic Shop on 11th Ave. SW & 14th St. SW

Nelson: Urban Legends on Baker & Ward St.

Vancouver: Red Cat Records on Main St. & 27th Ave.
Zulu Records on 4th Ave. & Maple
Beat Street on Hastings & Richards

Whistler: Foto Source in Whistler Village Square

And, of course, there's always iTunes - http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/animal-nation/id192463240


We're planning a small scale tour in Febuary / March for Western Canada. If you live in or around BC / Alberta / Washington, get yourself stoked, get your friends stoked, get your dog stoked, and get to partying right now!
You're gonna need to build up that tolerance if you're wanting to party in Animal Nation.


-Tall Man
Animal Nation.




Links:

Myspace: myspace.com/animalnation
YouTube: youtube.com/animalnation9000
Twitter: twitter.com/animalnation
Bandcamp: animalnation.bandcamp.com
Basti iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/album/basti-made-me-do-it-ep/id367497037
Animal Nation Doesn’t Know Anything Blog: http://animalnationdoesntknowanything.blogspot.com/

Summer Update #3 / Animal Nation on Wax

My bandmate's back, and you're gonna be in trouble.

Mike, along with our longtime friend and new-found road manager Jeff Waters, landed in Montreal last night.

It's time to party.


Our first show is set for next Thursday in Ottawa on September 30, and we've already put all sorts of fun new things together for you and yours.
These shows are going to be amazing, and full of way too much awesome, and assuredly absolutely horrible for our health, so make sure to check out the dates to see when we're playing in your city, and then COME ON DOWN as if we were Rod Roddy, and Drew Carey never existed.

Along with new music, new instruments, and new friends we've also got a couple new items to display proudly on the merch table.

For the first time Animal Nation will have their critically acclaimed album "Understanding More About Nothing Than Anybody Ever Thought Impossible or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Music" available on vinyl.

-The 12" vinyl albums come with a full colour 12-page Animal Nation comic-book-insert drawn by Sponge-Bob Square-Pants writer Kent Osborne.
-The vinyl album also comes with free mp3 download of the album so you can easily rock it on your iPod or cassette player and send it to all your friends internetically.
-And, of course, the album features the 12"x12" cover art drawn by Whistler/Japan artist Taka Sudo. The album is worth buying for the album art alone. They make for great wall art, 12"x12" stain coverer-upper, huge-ass rolling tray, fly-swatter, Slap-Chop replacement, etc, so there's really no reason to not have 3 or 4 or 5 of these in your collection.

We'll be selling these almost exclusively at our shows, so make sure to come by and get yours soon! We're ridiculously excited about having our music on wax, and absolutely can't wait to find one in the $0.50 bin at Value Village one day.


Basti Made Me Do It! has also finally been pressed into CD format, which will be available at shows as well.

We're really excited about this, and about this entire album, and I didn't mean to overshadow it with the news about our other album, but shit, we've got our music on wax!

Make sure to download both of these albums on iTunes before the shows, so you can help us out when we stumble on a lyric, or stream either of these albums at CBC Radio3 today! Now!


See you soon.

-Tall Man!!
Animal Nation

Summer Update pt.2 / Tour Dates!!

Hi!!

How's your summer going? I hope it's good! Mine's going really well.. I think Mike's summer is stressed the eff out, but hey, mine's going really well!

We've confirmed most of the dates for our upcoming tour, and will should have the rest confirmed in a few weeks!

They're all posted on our myspace page, our facebook group thing, as well as our CBC page (where you can stream our entire new album!).

The shows are posted at the bottom of this post as well! Hope to see you out at some or, perhaps (!!>??!?!), all of the shows!

Here's a few pics of the barn I've been recording in... It's absolutely amazing here, and also incredibly lonely, but besides facebook and cheap celebrity slam websites I don't have too much to distract me, and am getting lots done..






















And I promise ONE more amazing ultra-rad summer update by the end of the month! It's going to be the best update yet, and it's totally awesome, and it makes me all sorts of happy thinking about it!

See ya soon, bud!

30 Sep 2010 22:00	The Mercury Lounge, downstairs	Ottawa, ON, CANADA
1 Oct 2010 22:00	The Therapy Lounge	Brantford, Ontario, CANADA
5 Oct 2010 22:00	The Bread & Circus Theatre	Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
15 Oct 2010 22:00	The Fez	Saskatoon, SK, CANADA
19 Oct 2010 22:00	TBD	CALGARY, ALBERTA, CANADA
20 Oct 2010 22:00	New City Compound	Edmonton, Alberta, CANADA
22 Oct 2010 22:00	Fernie Hotel	Fernie, BC, CANADA
23 Oct 2010 22:00	Spirit Bar	Nelson, BC, CANADA
26 Oct 2010 22:00	The Flying Steamshovel	Rossland, BC, CANADA
29 Oct 2010 22:00	The Rockwater Bar & Grill	Golden, BC, CANADA
30 Oct 2010 22:00	TBD	Banff, AB, CANADA
4 Nov 2010 22:00	Upstairs Cabaret	Victoria, Alberta, CANADA
9 Nov 2010 22:00	The Media Club	Vancouver, BC, CANADA
11 Nov 2010 22:00	Garfinkles	Whistler, BC, CANADA

-Tall Man!!!
Animal Nation.

Very exciting summer update pt. 1

Oh my! It's a super exciting Animal Nation "I wonder what the heck those guys are up to" update!!


Mike recently moved down the street to Vancouver and has been DJing the city red, MCing random parties and clubs, and writing all sorts of new material.

I've been living in Halifax for the last 3 months, looking for the Wizard, meeting all sorts of amazing people, having tons of awesome adventures and huge jam sessions, and working on new music for a concept album tentatively titled "Every Day In The Life".
At the end of the month I'll be driving out to Ontario to set up a studio in a refinished barn to start recording vocals for said album.

Near the end of September Mike and I will be meeting up in Montreal to record more vocals, and prepare for our upcoming tour.

Tour you say?!? Tour indeed!!

Starting October 1st Animal Nation will be touring from Montreal back out West to Whistler over the course of the month.
We'll post dates soon! But if you're living in or near or around any sort of Canadian city get stoked now, because we're gonna be partying and drinking and musicing our faces off all over your town real soon.


Hey America!! Don't feel left out! We're planning on heading down your lovely little West coast soon too!
We've also got a couple other super secret updates that we'll be revealing in the next little bit. Stay tuned! We've got fun things a'comin'!

-Tall Man!
Animal Nation

Albums of Influence - Animal Nation's "Basti Made Me Do It"

Our latest recording "Basti Made Me Do It!" is probably my favourite Animal Nation album to listen to. It doesn't necessarily contain our best material, (although the songs did turn out very nice,) but it was more so the process of creating the songs that makes them seem so special to me.

Last summer our good German friend, Sebastian Hochstein, traveled out to Canada and spent nearly three weeks with us in our home, just a couple hours North of Vancouver.

Sebastian brought with him a CD that had over 30 completed beats that he wanted us to turn in to an EP by the time he left. We ended up making 3 brand new songs, and re-working 3 songs that Mike and I had previously tried to record during our 'Understanding...' sessions.

It was so much fun working with Basti. We clicked. We'd hung out before (Mike and I traveled to Germany a few years ago to do a couple shows out there, and to meet up with people we'd worked on our TimeZone album with), but this was the first time Basti and I got to work together behind the boards.

Back in Canada Sebastian was more than willing to spend countless hours behind mixing boards, tweaking tracks, playing with fx, recording and re-recording vocals in really unorthodox ways, and trying out all sorts of new things that occasionally worked in our favour.
We must have spent a solid 9 hours over 2 days just working on the bridge for 'Reason'. It didn't work out the first 8 times we tried recording it, but what I loved about working with Sebastian was that we would try it over and over until it did work. Not until it was 'good enough', because for the most part 'good enough' is the same thing as giving up. We'd try it again and again until our house had mics in the bathroom and the kitchen, wires covering all our windows and exits, and I was screaming through a cardboard tube. All in an effort to get something that we loved, rather than something we deemed 'good enough'.

I learned more about production in those 3 weeks than I had in the previous 3 years.

Thank you Sebastian.
I can't wait to head over to Germany to start work on our next project with you.

Check out one of the tracks "Pillow Talk" below.
It's a song about what it's like to be a pillow.
Or, steam the whole album at CBC Radio 3 here.

Then head over to iTunes, or CamoBear Records to purchase this little ditty. It's the only album we haven't given away for free. It's just that good.

Oh! ps - The incredibly talented and beautiful Paige Harley did the art work for the album. Read her interview with us here, then email her at floating.down [at] hotmail.com to hire her for your next project.
She's amazing.

Albums of Influence - Feist's "The Reminder"

With such lush, dense, yet incredible simple production, it's impossible hear this album and not think it's an instant classic.

Leslie Feist was quoted as saying that on her 2nd album "Let It Die" her and her producer tried to use different instruments on each song, "just because."

On "The Reminder" Feist takes a similar approach, but this time doesn't let her music wander off mid-song as occasionally happened on "Let It Die". The result is that "The Reminder" comes off a much tighter, more 'album-like' album, rather than a collection of individual songs.

Even if you're not a fan of Leslie Feist's dressed up down-tempo folk music, you'd be hard pressed to deny the greatness in the production alone. That and her voice. By golly, can that girl ever sing.

Download the entire album for free here, then go out and buy Let It Die to show your support.



Other great Feist albums include: Let It Die, as well as any of the work she's done with the Broken Social Scene guys, as well as probably a billion other songs she's lent her talents to.

Albums of Influence - Gorillaz' "Gorillaz"

The first album the Gorillaz put out is still my favourite release of theirs.

I love the down-tempo vibe that was created in part by Deltron 3030's very own Dan The Automator.
Alongside Dan The Automator is 'Blur' frontman Damon Albarn, who's voice sounds infinitely better here than it did screaming "Waaahoooo!" on 'Song2'.
Two of the tracks also feature Deltron himself, including the hit single "Clint Eastwood".

For the most part the Gorillaz' band members change from album to album, so it's easy to accept that each record is essentially a one-off, and won't resemble any of their other output. The same idea makes each record seem more special in the sense that the band doesn't just try to recreate their hit songs with any sort of formula like a lot of mainstream bands tend to do.

Download this album for free here, then head down to your favourite local record shop, and buy Demon Days. It's pretty groovy too.

Albums of Influence - Beck's "Odelay"

This album sounds like the thought process of a maniacle-genius-university-professor-turn-hobo-folk-singer.

There is so much going on in these songs, all at once, with so many random and insane "what the shit is that???" noises that it's hard to imagine it could actually sound good. That being said, it does. It very very does.

One of the funniest things about this record is that nearly all of my friends were turned on to it either by their own, or someone else's, wacky-tobacky smokin' parents.

From the second you press play the honky tonkin' Devil's Haircut has you questioning everything you've ever known about pop music (how are they combining an acoustic guitar with multiple samples, and rapping, while not coming off cheesy or contrived?), philosophy (whoa dude, it's a Devil's Haircut in his mind, but I think it looks totally awesome!!), whether or not you've got a devil's haircut (you do), and why does your friend's single Dad have this crazy album with a hay-bale jumping over an oxer on the cover? WTF? (The weed.)
Side note - This album is still blowing my mind 14 years later, as Wiki tells me that the mop/hay-bale jumping over the hurdle is actually a real photograph of a Komondor, a Hungarian breed of dog with thick matted fur.

Make sure to download this album for free here, then go out and buy more Beck. Almost everything he's ever put out is great in some way or another.



Other great Beck albums include: Midnight Vultures, Sea Change, The Information, and Modern Guilt.

Albums of Influence - Classified's "Trial and Error"

Classified has always been a huge influence on our music.

In fact, I think earlier this year when Classified released his new music video for 'Oh Canada' it was probably the first time in my life I'd ever felt patriotic. And I don't dislike where I'm from- I really like it here... I'd just never given it much thought until Class went and glamourized the H-E-double-hockey-sticks right out of it!

The first time I heard Classified was when I was going to school out in Halifax. He wasn't a huge name, but he was developing a following, and he put on one of the best hip-hop shows I'd ever seen.
Fast forward 8 years later, and he's Canada's biggest rap star, pulling more Canadian tour stops than nearly every other Canadian hip-hopper combined. He's got international distribution deals inked with Sony, and his live act has progressed from great hip-hop to one of the best shows I've ever seen.

All of Classified's albums are good. In fact, he's one of few artists I've heard who's albums keep getting better with every release. He's put out more than 12 albums, and he still hasn't peaked. It's amazing.

This one, Trial and Error, just happened to be the Classified CD that I stumbled upon first. Classified influenced my style so much when I was first starting out that on my first rap recordings you can clearly hear me trying to say 'krr' instead of 'car', and 'doot' instead of 'doubt', and I was definitely guitly of throwing my 'aboots' all over the place.

Download this album for free here, then go buy a couple more, and bask in the awesome that is Classified.

This one was my personal headphone anthem for a solid year and a half.


Other great Classified albums are... all over the place. They literally get better every year, and they've been consistently awesome for the last ten years. Classified.