What is the mission of the band?
Really just to have fun playing the songs we love in a live setting but at the same time getting our own music out there.
How did you choose the band’s name?
It was a drunken night at the Comedy Connection with a friend. The comics were improvising to stuff the audience yelled at them and I just blurted out, “Giraffe Attack!” Everyone laughed and so I thought it would be a great band name.
Who writes your lyrics and music? Is it a band effort?
Ryan writes his tunes and I write mine. The upcoming album is split right down the middle, five of my songs and five of his. We do record more as a band, working out and writing parts as well as recording vocals and instrumental stuff on each other’s tunes.
What inspires you?
I know this is not quite answering the question but we really couldn’t think of anything that inspired us but good music! We all have pretty common influences: The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, The Allman Brothers, the great stuff. Chris’ tastes veer pretty heavy into the funk, jazz and R&B, like Jaco Pastorius, Otis Redding and Miles Davis, while Ryan digs the more ‘50s era music like old Elvis and Ray Charles. I tend to listen to a lot more folky stuff like Bob Dylan, Ray Lamontagne and M. Ward.
What is a Giraffe Attack live show like?
Fun I hope. We just try to keep people interested without compromising on the songs we like playing. Also we’re always trying to add more songs to our set list so the people that watch us a lot don’t get bored.
Why don’t you subscribe to stage antics?
None of us are really into that type of thing. It’s not a conscious decision but I think we’d all rather focus our energies on the music and get people turned on that way.
What songs do you cover in your line-up?
Oh, we have a ton of new ones on our set list for the upcoming summer. But some of the oddities would be “I Want You” by The Beatles, “Don’t Do It” by The Band, “Black Horse and a Cherry Tree” by KT Tunstall, “Fearless” by Pink Floyd, “Motherless Children” by Eric Clapton and we’ve been working lately on “Dazed and Confused” by Led Zeppelin. Not that these songs are real rare but you don’t hear many live bands covering them.
The full-scale album, “The Sound of Naked Women,” is due out when?
It’s taking us so long it’s getting embarrassing. I refuse to set another date until the CD’s are in hand. Hopefully by the end of the summer or this fall.
What sounds do naked women make?
Ryan was just trying to describe a certain guitar sound he was looking for while recording and the best he could do was to say, “I want it to sound like naked women.” We just thought it was funny. As far as what they may actually sound like, I guess individual results may vary.