the sound of animals fighting

The Sound of Animals Fighting is a progressive rock side project of several members of Finch, Rx Bandits frontman Matt Embree and ex-Saosin vocalist Anthony Green, now with Circa Survive, along with several other unknown artists, all organized by former vocalist and trombone player for the Rx Bandits, Rich Balling.

Band Information

Prior to the the Valentine's Day, 2005 independent release of their album, Tiger & the Duke, a lot of buzz was generated about the group due to the identites of the musicians being kept a secret for legal reasons, such as 5 of the artists being signed to different record labels. Even after permission to record and release the album was granted, the musicians didn't want the success of their other groups to influence the perceptions and success of Tiger & the Duke, so the identities were still largely kept as secret as possible. Instead, each artist has an animal alias: the Walrus, the Lynx, the Armadillo, the Tiger, the Tortoise, the Nightingale, the Skunk, the Llama, the Dog, the Swan, the Raven, the Octopus, the Hyena, the Bear, and the Ferret. Largely the result of a desire on the part of Balling to work with Anthony Green(vocals), who he views as one of the greatest talents in indie rock, Tiger & the Duke was actually recorded by different artists at different times, with the entirety of the recording being done with the musicians themselves never meeting. In that sense, the album is entirely improvised, even the vocals. Dabbling in electronica,hardcore and progressive rock, the group is often compared to the Mars Volta in its sound. 15 artists worked on the album, with 8 actually being recorded, the others involved in production. With no budget to speak of, the album was largely home-produced, with some work done at a studio in La Verne, CA called A to Z. The album is distributed by Lumberjack Records, Revelation Records, and Sounds of California Distribution.