Song Souvenirs and Shooting Straight: Sink into Javier Reyes' New Solo Album, "Shark"

If you’re even remotely interested in the Chicago music scene, or just a fan of modern day rock music— chances are you’ve listened to or seen a live performance of Javier Reyes in one form of another, even if you didn’t realize it. When the Chicago-based musician isn’t making music and playing shows with his band Post Animal, or touring with Djo and Slow Pulp, he pours his creative energy into writing and recording music as a solo artist.

Reyes’ labor of love has most recently come to fruition in the form of his third full-length record, entitled Shark, and available to listen to today. The 10 tracks on the album came together from 2022 to 2025 during the in-between moments and rare free time that Reyes had while pursuing his other musical projects with his friends and bandmates.

Ahead of Shark’s release date, I met up with Reyes at Dot’s Cafe to get the scoop on his solo creative process, his professional aspirations and drive, his Spotify Wrapped playlists, his signature scent and much more.

Shark album cover. Photo by Julia Carpenter

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Javier Reyes describes the moments of piecing his third album together almost like collecting souvenirs and trinkets to bring home during his travels while he was on tour during the last few years—mostly with Slow Pulp in 2023 and 2024, then with Djo and Post Animal in 2025. “Having that kind of touring schedule, a lot of the writing is like those random moments when you pick up a guitar in a green room, or during a soundcheck, or maybe on an off day at a music store. You just pull out the voice memos and you record that little idea.” Once the ideas started flowing, Reyes would work on fully fleshing out the songs when he returned back to Chicago, or sometimes still during the midst of traveling. “Whenever I get some downtime, like say on an airplane when there's no service, I listen to those voice memos, pull up the notes I have, write down the lyrics. I try to discern the gibberish that I was saying in the voice memos,” he adds.

On Shark, Reyes kept the creative process pretty stripped back, but he got by with some help with his friends when it came time to recording the music. The Shark skeleton crew included his girlfriend Julia Carpenter, former Dolores bandmate and producer Adam Thein, and Post Animal bandmate Wes Toledo. However, Reyes laid the foundation for most of the recording by himself at home in his hybrid guest room/studio that he simply calls his “music room” because his recording gear is so minimal. Overall, the process for his solo material is much different than when he and his bandmates in Post Animal work together. “For Post Animal, we’ll set aside specific, intentional big chunks of time. But for me, it's just an amalgamation of all those little slivers of time,” he says.

Outside of the recording done at Reyes’ apartment, Wes Toledo’s drum parts were recorded at Slow Pulp’s practice studio and then Adam Thein assisted with the mixing and mastering of it all. “Working with Adam has been a highlight because the hard part for me is over—I've recorded all of it and written it all. It’s like he shines my super amateur thing. I’ve heard Julia [Carpenter] describe it as ‘shining a turd.’ It’s like I’m giving him a dusty fossil and he’s excavating it and dusting it off, making it presentable and making it ready for a museum,” Reyes reminisces.

I asked Reyes if he had a favorite “happy accident” during the entire process of crafting these songs, and as it turns out he considers the entire solo project to essentially be one big happy accident that turned out great (in my humble opinion). These songs formed from the self-proclaimed gibberish and “lightening in a bottle” moments where inspiration strikes suddenly and sometimes unexpectedly. “I think being an artist— it's all about capturing those moments, those lightning in a bottle of creative moments,” he says. As a listener, I can’t help but agree that the best music is the kind that is created by an artist who is so naturally inspired that they can’t help but metaphorically put pen to paper (or record a voice memo) as the song just flows out of them.

Reyes further describes the experience of collaborating with his partner Julia Carpenter (no relation to Sabrina, Karen or John) on the songs “Bud or Amor” and “Might Just Take The Oor.” (By the way, I asked, and no it wasn’t intentional that the couple primarily worked together on the two songs with the rhyming titles). “I have always known her as one of these many-talented musicians who is really understated about it and doesn’t really pursue it as a recording artist. She sings, plays guitar and will write little songs and cover songs,” he starts. Naturally I asked if she also crushes it at karaoke, which was a resounding yes. “She does it not in the way where it’s too much vibrato and it’s like ‘ok, chill out. ok, diva, you didn’t have to make us all feel bad!’ She does it and just has a swagger about it where it’s on and sounds really good,” he adds.

Reyes recalls hearing a cover of “Weird Fishes” by Radiohead that Carpenter did with another musician friend of theirs. “I just remember hearing her voice, thinking yeah, there's something that’s really special to it. And so I'd always been a fan of her voice. Once we started dating and started sharing more space, started getting closer to living together and then living together, she started popping her head in and being curious, and wants to hear everything. And she has an opinion, in a great way,” he says with admiration. Case in point, Reyes had been working at their dining room table on the foundation for the album’s opening track “Bud or Amor” when Carpenter came home from work in the middle of it. “It was one of the ones where I didn’t think much of it, but I recorded it just for fun. Then she heard it, and had a positive reaction to it. It was one of those where you don’t know what you have.” Reyes asked if she wanted to record on it then, and they ended up working together to write the second verse that night. “We went and got a six pack of Guinness, had a bunch of that, wrote the second verse together and recorded it in the living room. She records really fast, she’s a pro. We have a good combo where I have the ideas but I don’t always execute as fast, but when she knows what she wants to do or needs to do, she can execute fast,” he recalls.

Reyes also shared the origin story of “Might Just Take The Oor,” which is the second song on the album’s tracklist and also features Carpenter on vocals. He says it was in Cardiff, Wales in June of 2024 when he was on tour with Slow Pulp, and he started playing around on the guitar with what eventually became the aforementioned single while the other members of the band chimed in. “We get a little slaphappy, all the sleep deprivation and kind of spending all this time with one group of friends,” he told me as he played a clip of the original voicenote from his phone. After the initial rough outline, Reyes says he continued the brainstorming and building on the song later on during a run with Slow Pulp in the US. “We were in Boston. I remember loading out during the rain and I remember singing the second part, like the chorus part. I remember just holding a kick drum, I'm walking out of this venue and just singing the melody. It’s just random. Sometimes things just pop into your head, and voice memos are the best to record all of it and remember all of it. It's just indulging in your bullshit, indulging those little tangential thoughts. It's chasing those and making them real,” he adds.

“King Galore” is another track on the album that we chatted about more in depth. The eighth track on the album, its lush and warm guitar mixed with Reyes’ reverberated vocals reminded me of 1970’s ballads a la REO Speedwagon or Fleetwood Mac. Reyes says the guitar part on that song felt very Joni Mitchell or ‘70s Laurel Canyon, and he credited his mom listening to a lot of singer-songwriters and Indigo Girls when he was growing up. “Thematically, it's like slow down—because a lot of what I do with the touring life, making this record, making music and just kind of grinding. Then when I’m not doing that I’m like oh, I have to be healthy and exercise, or hang out with friends and be a good boyfriend,” he says. The song lyrics “Slow/Keep on rocking/Dead man walking/Keep it on low. See what love can do for your eyes, your smile/You have been broken” allude to the hustle culture mentality that so many of us are accustomed to and the mindset that we have to keep going and keep working all of the time. Reyes says his message with this song is to remember to slow down and to prioritize love, and loving people who you’re enjoying their company. Focus on the simple things in life and the things that matter.

On the subject of appreciating what matters in life, I asked Reyes about a scary moment in his medical history, and how it may have shaped how he takes care of himself and his routine while touring. In November 2017, Post Animal was on the road with White Reaper when Reyes suffered a stroke during their show at Le Poisson Rouge. Reyes recounts the events, explaining that it ultimately stemmed from too-intense head banging that was inspired by his friend Cadien Lake James in Twin Peaks. “We cut our teeth opening for Twin Peaks. They've always just been absolute idols to me,” he says. Over and over, he’d admire the way James would seamlessly swivel his head around while playing guitar, so naturally he wanted to try it himself. “I just loved that and I did it myself as a kid. I think we all did. When you take a picture— There's the cover of a Sum 41 album,” he adds, referring to head-shaking snapshots on the band’s All Killer No Filler record.

“I was doing it that whole tour,” Reyes says about the head swiveling. “But something about New York, I just did it way too hard. I got a vertebral artery dissection where I basically kind of popped an artery in my neck, which created a blood clot and led to a stroke.” The stroke landed him in the hospital, bedridden for about six days before he had to do physical rehab to continue to gain his motor functionality back in his left hand and left side of his body.

From Post Animal’s hometown show at Metro on November 14, 2017—Reyes was still recovering, but he was at the show in spirt and via cardboard cutout- Photo by Rachel Zyzda

Reyes played an old voice memo he had from shortly after that time, where he was practicing the guitar for the song “Post Animal” from their album Forward Motion Godyssey but his dexterity was very limited (still better than I could do!) “For the years following, it was rehab, and sort of just trying to slow down. There were a lot of things I couldn’t do. No chiropractic work, no amusement parks, no skiing, no trampolines, like basically anything too intense on your body,” he says. While the experience was a traumatic and trying one to say the least, Reyes also credits it with changing his life with a newfound perspective. “It made me actually aware that life is very precious and that it could go away at any ordinary moment. When I was younger, I grew up in the Jackass age and I was this little mischievous kid. I was a skateboarder too, and I just thought I was elastic and everything would be ok. Then I learned that you could fly too close to the sun, and I got really close. It was an accident, but it was a wake up call to take care,” he adds. Now when friends are cliff-diving into water or partaking in other adrenaline-inducing activities, Reyes says he takes a backseat and he’ll watch, rather than participating.

For the most part, Reyes has recovered from the incident, but he does still deal with chronic pain or recurring symptoms while out on the road. He shared that sometimes his hand will get tingly, or his vision will get a little funny, and the doctors say things like that are the after effect. “There’s so many moments when we’d be in the van late at night and somebody would say something really funny. We'd all be laughing really hard and I’d laugh so hard that I would make the pain come back. I'd get really serious and all of a sudden I realized we're in rural Nebraska driving at midnight, and I’m Googling the nearest hospital. It’s hard, it’s a lot of talking yourself down,” he shares. Reyes showed a lot of vulnerability talking about this pivotal and traumatic moment in his life, but he’s really been able to reframe it and use it as motivation to keep chasing his dreams with his friends. “It made me very much thankful for the opportunity that I have to be able to do this. To be able to live life at all, but to be able to do this life and to do it with people who are so sweet and generous, caring and talented,” he says. He also says he does a lot of breathing exercises and counting to keep his anxiety down and to try to prevent symptoms from popping back up. Maybe an idea for his next album: Guided Meditation by Javier Reyes?

Various photos of Reyes playing with Post Animal, Djo or Slow Pulp. All photos by Rachel Zyzda

“It made me actually aware that life is very precious and that it could go away at any ordinary moment.”

— Javier Reyes

“King Galore” contains the reminder to slow down and appreciate the little moments in life, but there’s another song on the album that features a big tonal shift, starting with a sense of melancholic yearning that reaches a euphoric pivot in the outro. The sixth song on Shark, called “Never Follow You,” almost sounds like a sonic manifestation of the journey that Reyes has been on with his recovery after the stroke; At first we hear a slow and somber melody that builds into this stronger and bolder perspective. Lyrically, however, the song tells the story of being at a crossroads in a relationship. The track kicks off with Reyes singing “I’ll never follow you” in the first chorus and leads into him adding the line “Unless of course I have to” during the second chorus just as the electronic crescendo creeps in. Reyes says the first part of the song was just him singing along to acoustic guitar, and then he introduces an electronic sub bass note and the sound of airplane, which signals the literal departure from the beginning of the song. “It’s definitely a song about the stubbornness of being in a relationship that’s not working. Sometimes if something isn’t working, it’s almost like there’s a Y in the road. On one side, there’s growth, learning, and fighting for the relationship. I'm going to keep digging. Maybe there's something more I can do myself. Then the other route is accepting the fact that it’s not working is a sign that we shouldn’t be together. It’s kind of defeatist, but it can be real and it can be the right route,” he says.

Moving on to a more lighthearted tone, I asked Reyes a few more questions inspired by the title or lyrics of other songs on Shark. I’ve already mentioned a few different aural influences that I picked up on the aforementioned songs, but we’ve also got “Take It” which is reminiscent of the early 2000’s NYC rock scene, featuring jovial guitars and an effortlessly cool vocal delivery. One of the singles “I Could Disappear With You” features more warm guitars and fuzzy vocals, conjuring up images of a Rom-Com movie montage where the couple falls in love. Naturally, I was curious what Reyes was listening to during the years he wrote and recorded these songs and what may have provided inspiration via osmosis. If someone asks me what I’ve been listening to, my mind automatically goes blank, but luckily he was able to pull up his Spotify Wrapped playlists starting with 2023 to take the trip down musical memory lane. “I’ve got the world of music in the palm of my hand and I’m constantly digging back,” he says, crediting The Beatles as one of his consistent inspirations throughout the years. Other bands that were in his rotation in recent years include The Lemon Twigs, Mac DeMarco, The Replacements, Toro y Moi,  and Arthur Russell— and his playlist also included some of his fellow Chicagoans and friends like Slow Pulp, Hazel City (Clay Frankel of Twin Peaks), Liam Kazar, Cadien Lake James (also of Twin Peaks), and Squirrel Flower. “It's a lot of old random music, a lot of ‘70s, classical, some bluegrass…some jazzy, funky stuff. And then peppered in there are Chicago artists,” Reyes says.

The album’s closing track “No Ifs” has this peppy melody paired with ‘80s-esque synths that make it sound like it’s the protagonist’s theme song in a John Hughes-adjacent movie. In the song, Reyes sings “I’ve got no ifs or doubts about it,” so I asked him what else is on his “no list” for 2026. His official list includes the following—“No no-self doubt, no overcooking, no tweaking. No being mean. No scoffing or scrunching your eyebrows too much. Not too much sarcasm or roasting. Roasting people can be fun, but not in a mean way. No more bullshit. No lying. No more Caesar haircuts…I think they’re out. And not too baggy of the jeans. Just jeans that fit. Not too boxy of a t-shirt. No hive mind.” Here’s to a starting a “shark mind” movement that is all about being direct, making a decision and moving forward with it. Oh, and clothes that fit properly!

Jumping way back to the song “Might Just Take The Oor,” I also asked Reyes what was a hill he was willing to die on; Inspired by the line “might just take the L,” I wanted to know something that he wasn’t willing to take a loss on. He paused for a long time to soul search for his answer, before ultimately “phoning a girlfriend” and calling Julia to see what her take would be on it. In shark-minded fashion, she quickly answered that a hill he will die on is that “it’s always better to shoot from the hip.” An answer that felt like a full circle moment with the album’s creative process and title (more on that in a moment), Reyes did make the caveat that he tends to really only shoot from the hip creatively, rather than in everyday life. “Sometimes ideas should be refined, but a lot of times we get too into trying to rationalize things, and we get really far down these rabbit holes,” he adds.

Back to the topic of “shark mind,” I also asked Reyes where the title of his third album comes from. He says it was one of those light bulb moments as he was trying to think of a succinct, monosyllabic title that was in line with the quick pointedness of the songs and the even-10-song tracklist. “The in-between time and not laboring the recording process, just doing it, having limited time—it kind of just called for a quick sharpness. When ‘Shark’ came to me, I thought that’s good.” He felt compelled to go with it despite having some initial doubt if the first title to come to mind was the right one (this is before he adopted the “no self-doubt” rule). His first instinct was further solidified when he and Julia went to Chris's Billiards in the Jefferson Park neighborhood, and she ended up snapping the photo that would later become the album cover. In it, Reyes’ glasses reflect the pool balls on the table in front of him, which brought the phrase “pool shark” to mind. Personally, I also think the July release date makes you think of swimming with sharks and the classic summer blockbuster about a shark: Jaws.

Reyes said he’s currently brainstorming some new merch to come along after the album’s release, and my vote goes to a shirt that mimics the original Jaws movie poster that just says “Shark.” Some of the songs on the album even have a cinematic quality about them, and Post Animal recently had their song “Setting Sun” from Iron included in the Devil Wears Prada 2 soundtrack. I asked Reyes if he were to have his solo music in a movie or tv show, which genre he’d like to sync up with. He’d love to work on any sort of movie, as long as it’s not against his beliefs— although he thinks Post Animal’s music would have been better suited for something subversive or indie, along the lines of tv shows Easy or High Maintenance, rather than the sequel of Devil Wears Prada. As for his future aspirations for his songwriting? “It'd be cool to soundtrack a documentary. Julia and I have been watching these Ken Burns documentaries. We were watching this Vietnam one, and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross do the score,” he says.

Another one of my favorite tunes on Shark is the third track; “Whiff”— a jaunty and punchy number that makes you want to tap your feet and shimmy your hips. I couldn’t help but correlate the song title to Reyes’ infamous Instagram handle “StinkyJavi”. So naturally, I had to know what he considers to be his signature scent as well as the signature scent of Shark, as a project. For the latter, “Gingersnaps. Nag Champa. Baby powder,” he says. For Reyes himself, he considers himself to be of the Autumnal variety— “Definitely something cinnamon-y, something ginger-y. I’m just thinking about what is delicious to me.” Candlemakers of the world, this is your opportunity to do a collab with Javier Reyes and put out the “Stinky Javi” and “Shark” scent collection just in time for the fall! Or maybe Shark Girl Summer precedes Stinky Javi Autumn— but we can workshop it.

As for what’s actually in store for Javier Reyes next, he’s currently on tour with Djo and will be out on the road with Slow Pulp later this year. He says he’d love to eventually play a show with these new songs, so keep an eye on his Instagram (the aforementioned StinkyJavi) for updates. You can listen to Shark below in full.

Spanish Translation of this interview can be viewed here, courtesy of Post Animal LATAM Club.

A Chat With: Post Animal

Post Animal is on the brink of releasing their third album, Love Gibberish. The record marks both an unchartered era for Post Animal and a return to their roots all at the same time— they’re releasing the album independently after putting out their first two records on the Polyvinyl record label. In a similar fashion, the new songs blend nostalgic nods to influences of past decades while simultaneously conjuring up a futuristic vision. Equal parts whimsical and intense, Love Gibberish layers playful, hazy melodies with massive guitar riffs and an intricate production style. The album has such a cinematic quality about it that listening to it feels like a multi-sensorial spectacle, rather than just an auditory experience.

Photo by Courtney Sofiah Yates

Another factor that adds depth to the world of Love Gibberish is that the five members of the band— Dalton Allison, Jake Hirshland, Javi Reyes, Wesley Toledo, and Matt Williams—all contributed to the songwriting and production, while also rotating between instruments and vocal duties. Similar to the way you can scramble a Rubik’s cube in countless combinations, the members of Post Animal have so much fluidity in their collaboration style that it completely elevates their sound.

Ahead of the album’s release this Friday, May 13th, ANCHR caught up over Zoom with Jake Hirshland, Matt Williams and Javi Reyes of the group to talk about their experience writing and recording the album, their band bucket list, green screen acting, social media and more. Tune into the conversation below, and see where you can catch Post Animal out on the road this spring here.

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Kicking things off, can you guys believe it’s been five years since we first met and interviewed? It was in January 2017, so it’s been a long time.

Jake Hirshland: Where was that first interview?

The Hideout! 

Matt Williams: That’s right, I was gonna say it was definitely at a venue.

JH: Oh yeah we were in the green room at The Hideout! Wow what a trip.

MW: Was that… I don’t want to call it Psych Fest—

It was literally called Psych Fest! I just looked it up.

MW: I don’t want to say Psych Fest but it was!

Yeah, good memory! So not to put you on the spot, but looking back at these past five years, is there a highlight or bucket list item that you guys have accomplished as a band that you would call out?

JH: I mean for me, we got to play in Europe right before the pandemic. Thank goodness that was the time it happened, but we got to play in Europe opening for Cage the Elephant and we got to play some big venues that were kind of like beyond what I had imagined we’d play. Even in the dream portion of my mind, the venues weren’t that big. That was incredible and exceeded my goals. Some of those spaces… especially doing it in Europe. At least for our live shows, that’s a big highlight for me.

MW: That’s pretty much the same for me. Opening for Cage the Elephant was– it doesn’t even sound real to say now. Like I don’t believe that we did that.

Yeah, it’s beyond the bucket list!

JH: This new record coming out, I feel like it’s highlight status because I didn’t ever really expect us to be in a position to independently release a record and have the ability to do everything that we want with it. So that’s cool to finally have put in the time with it and made the plans and had the experience to have a full record release with every piece of the puzzle completed on our time.

I had some questions about the new album, so perfect transition! It’s coming out in two weeks, and from what I understand, you guys all got together and wrote it at Jake’s family farm. Can you talk more about that experience on the farm and any highlights of that time you spent together?

MW: The farm is just a really special, magical place. In the modern age, it’s nice to have a place to go to where you feel like you can decompress and so to speak “live off the grid.” I think that might have been the first time we spent, we had gotten together for the Levitation sessions, but that might have been the first time we spent 8 or 10 days together purely just to focus on a new project. So it had a very relaxed feeling and it was good for the family to get together and spend that much time together. To really just have to– not worry about anything—I was going to say just to worry about writing new songs, but it wasn’t a feeling of worry. It was a feeling of inspiration and a lot of ideas flowing. It felt really magical, especially because at that point it was a year and a half or something of pandemic life. So just to get away and only think about that music.

Yeah, sounds like a low pressure chance to hangout and focus on music. So I remember with the first album when you were recording at the lake house, wasn’t there some paranormal activity?

MW/JH: Yeah!

Did anything like that happen this time?

JH: No, the farm is not a haunted space! That’s a place where I’ve really put it through the wringer. I’ve been out there alone, and spent a week out there sleeping alone and nothing spooky seems to happen out there. That would be fine if there was a little friendly ghost out there but I don’t think there is.

MW: There’s visitors but they’re just human! Oh and there’s some animals. I think we spotted a badger—

JH: It might have been like a big what do you call it? A muskrat?

MW: Yeah one of those wildlife.

JH: I don’t think it was a badger.

You kind of touched on it already, but this album is being independently released, and the band has been very hands on with self-producing it. I believe Dalton did the mixing and engineering and then did you do the mastering, Jake?

JH: Oh, my brother did it.

Ah, I think I read that too quickly!

JH: Yeah, my brother Jared did it, on paper that could look like me. I wish I had the skills! He did the mastering and then Dalton mixed and engineered. We also had a new friend Jack Henry come in and do some engineering for us at Palisade. We did about half of the recording at Palisade Studios in Chicago so Jack Henry was really helpful for those days. Dalton kind of manned the helm and that was the audio team. 

[At this point, band member Javi Reyes joined the interview ]

What would you say were some of the challenges of recording and releasing it independently and on the flip side what were some of the rewards of being so hands on?

JH: I feel like there are challenges continuing forward, there’s a lot of decisions to be made and there’s not anyone necessarily telling us what to do. We do have a good team who’s all hands on deck and thinking about what we need to do, but I guess things could slip through the cracks if we aren’t on the ball. So that’s definitely a challenge.

MW: Yeah, it’s logistical stuff. I feel like a label helps with a lot of the support. Even merchandise, it takes care of that. The website and assets for social media, too.  

JH: It’s all stuff we used to do on our own, so it’s not like we’re completely new to it, but we sort of passed off the reigns to the label for a couple years. Logistically we would just ask if we could do stuff and their staff would usually take care of it. Like ordering a new t-shirt and all that, they would help with. So now if we don’t look closely and comb through everything, we just have to be a little more careful. I think we have been, though! My answer to the second part would be pretty much the same. I think us returning to laser focusing on every element, has made the quality really good. I’m really happy with it. Our merch coming out is my favorite merch we’ve ever had. I’ve always loved the designs but this one is no different, I love the album cover. 

Yeah it’s a little more personal touch from the band right? Any other feedback on that from Matt or Javi?

JR: Yeah totally, everything now has our stamp on it. It’s cool, and we’re even doing more than maybe has been done in the past. Yesterday we went and put up posters with wheat paste around the city. That was fun. It’s fun to be hands on and scrappy with it.

MW: Yeah it’s like we’re our own marketing team in a way at a certain point. I guess another thing that changes is we have to directly hire a publicist, instead of having a label be the in between. Those promotional kind of teams. But doing things like putting up those posters with wheat paste, and just being scrappy and having to do a little bit more work, but at least knowing everything that’s going on. It gives you more insight into what you need to do to take care of all aspects of the band, you know? It’s informative and good to get that experience! Otherwise we’d probably be lacking in that department.

JR: Yeah I can see from the other guys that everybody else is way more dialed in and focused on getting things done. There’s always something to get done and we’re really moving and grooving like a little business.

Nice, coming full circle with all hands on deck! Talking more about the record, there’s been a few singles released. I really like the video for “No More Sports.” It’s set in the future, 2038 to be exact. Can you talk about that creative concept, like who came up with that and how it all came together?

JR: Yeah that was all New Trash, the film company. They came up with this idea to have this big show and the dinosaur and the dragon. The whole thing was their idea! They came up with the year 2038—everything! They’re great to work with. We did it in about 6 or 7 hours and this green screen studio that they had arranged for us to go to up in Jefferson Park. We just cranked it out. They have a 3 person team, and one guy was the main director and he was giving us tons of great direction. Everything just moved really smoothly. They have an editor and CGI guy, so as a team they’re great! 

MW: Do you know that filmmaker? The New Trash crew? 

I hadn’t heard of them before but the video turned out amazing!

MW: They’re super super cool. They’re big on animation mixed with real people, so like Javi said, the green screen work. Then their animator, Nat, is just unbelievable. It’s kind of crazy what he can do. They work with a lot of musicians and music videos. I’m not sure if they do things unrelated to music.

JH: We did a full day of a lot of fun little bits but they just carved something amazing out of it. It’s hard to believe they were able to make something like that out of what we did together. They have the special touch. I feel like they’re a hidden gem and I’m so stoked we got to work with them.

Yeah it turned out really well! Was it challenging to act with the green screen? 

JR: Kind of! But that main director was like “Come on! Scream at us! You’re playing in front of 100,000 people! This is the biggest rock show of all time!” So he kept yelling that at us and directing us to jump and kick and so that definitely pushed all of us to our ceiling of energy. That helped. If he had just been like “do you thing” it would have been harder to know what’s the appropriate maximum of energy, but there was no maximum in this case. It was just go as hard as you can. 

That’s awesome! Well the music video is also a little bit of a throwback to 80’s hair bands, so if you could tour with any 80’s band, who would you pick?

MW: Oh, like every one of them. 

JR: Toto! And I think they actually do still tour.

JH: Toto if you’re listening…

MW: We’re manifesting Toto!

Putting it out into the universe. Well speaking of tour, yours kicks off next week. How has it been turning all of these new songs into a live show, and what else can you tease about the upcoming tour? 

JR: Jake has a new MIDI controller.

JH: Oh yeah. We have a little more samples and stuff like that, so that should be some fun atmospheric elements being added to the show that weren’t there before. That’ll be fun.

JR: Dalton has a new vocal pedal that sounded pretty great!

JH: Yes! We’ve been practicing these new ones, we’re trying to put a bunch of new songs in the set. The record comes out while we’re on tour, so people that go to the shows should expect to hear some brand new, never-before-heard music. Which should hopefully be enjoyable for them.

MW: It’s super exciting to practice the new stuff. I think we’re all amped to play them, which is always good cause it sets a nice tone for excitement.

JH: I think we have one of our most exciting and craziest songs ever, that we’ve ever written on this record, that we’re going to begin playing this weekend in Mexico. That one is going to be a hoot live.

Which song is it?

JR: It’s called “Infinite Zone.”

JH: Yeah we’ll be playing that one for sure, it’s going to be fun live. 

Has it been challenging to transfer some of these to a live sense?

JR: Some of them, but not that one because we worked so hard on it when we were recording that it got cooked into our brains. I think when things are more groove-based, it can be a little harder to lock in. Just like in a game of Horse, when you’re right in front of the basket, it’s harder than you think, but the trick shots come easy. 

MW: That’s a really nice metaphor! I like that a lot. So spot on. Simple is difficult. 

That’s so poetic! Well in general, what other music have you been listening to, particularly during the years of the pandemic? Anything that inspired you?

All: Turnstile! 

JH: A bunch of us got down a big rabbit hole just with everything about that band. It seems like a very popular opinion these days cause they’re blowing up, but that was a big one for sure!

MW: Yeah they really affected me, in a good way. I also really like Charlie XCX’s new album.

JR: So good!

MW: It’s incredible! I’m blanking on the name of it right now.

JR: Crash!

MW: Yes. Those two have probably been the most listened to albums for me in the past 6 months to a year. 

Nice. Then I wanted to ask you guys about your Tik Tok. I know most people got into Tik Tok over the lockdown and pandemic, so last week I went down the rabbit hole of your Tik Tok and I love the video of Wes being like “What does your band sound like?” and the “Nightmare Tour Scenarios.” Are these based on real life experiences?

JH: Definitely, they are.

MW: You could say they were influenced by true events.

JH: They’re loose retelling based on a few characters we’ve met over the years. The mustache one is absolutely true-blue–

MW: Facts! 

JH: But we’re just playing around, hopefully it’s all in good fun.

Oh yeah, I got a good laugh out of it. Anything else on the creative Tik Tok docket for you guys?

MW: Content, content, content!

JR: I was just told that we should remake some “Honey I Shrunk The Kids” scenes with myself as Rick Moranis.

I can definitely see that!

JR: I was told it would go viral, so maybe that’s the next thing.

JH: That would be amazing. We have a running list of these kind of inspirational fellows on Tik Tok that tell you to know your worth.

MW: The know your worth, seize the day kind of thing.

JH: We want to try that, almost like Gary V kind of spoofs. We just have a bunch of stuff like that. I’d love to have some more fantasy content on there. Or scenes from Middle Earth to pad the Tik Tok. 

Yeah we’ll have to see what goes viral! It’ll be interesting. I saw some “Cancer Moon” posts yesterday and some viral jokes.

JH: We’re tongue and cheek with the viral stuff. It’s funny how important that is for music nowadays. None of us have really any idea how to craft a viral post so we’re just messing around. 

MW: That’s the goal, let’s just state it.

Yeah it’s hard to crack that Tik Tok algorithm. 

JH: Yeah it’s a struggle to feel like we’ve got to get a Tik Tok post, and everyone’s telling us to post like 10,000 times a day, but we’re just definitely still focusing on doing music first and foremost. It’s an interesting moment for the music industry for sure. 

Yeah your Tik Tok content is great, though. I love the humor behind it.

JH: Thanks for always engaging. We appreciate it.

So speaking of “Cancer Moon” I think that’s one of my top 3 favorites from the new record. Can you share a little bit of background on that single or any fun tidbits about making it?

JH: For sure! That one was, we got together, same as the other songs, and demoed it out at the farm, but the original idea for that was made up at the farm. I was there at the farm during covid, quarantining for a little while before I returned to the city. I had my stuff out there, so the chorus is kind of about the farm. It’s farm forward. That was really fun because it was very digital in its original form, and then we all came together and we were doing our writing session and translated a lot of these digital sounding things into guitar parts, or like making them have that real instrument feel from my synthy, demo feel. It really gave it like this 80’s shape to the sound. 

Yeah it’s very anthemic! And cinematic. I could see it being used in a big scene at the end of the movie.

JH: Yeah there’s a build! It was very fun to hear how it changed once the band came in. Some of them are written and made to sound like a band when they start and other times it’s fun to hear how the band really changes the tone. 

MW: It’s a very fun song to play, it’s one of my favorites on guitar. I feel like I’m playing the video game Guitar Hero. I also love the lyrics and atmosphere of it. It’s positive and feels good, and I hope that feeling spreads to everyone that listens to it. I’m really excited to play that one live.

JR: Yeah I’m very proud of it. I’m proud of Jake. I’m proud of Matt.

MW: I’m proud of Javi! I love having our guitars linked up in ways. That sounds so stupid to say outloud but that’s one of my favorite parts. The dueling dragons of guitar. 

Wrapping up, is there anything else you guys are looking forward to with the tour and new album? 

JR: I’m really looking forward to the album coming out. I just listened to the first couple songs walking over here and I hadn’t in a while. Now I’m on the side where I can hear it as a listener, and I love it. I’m excited for it to come out!

Yeah it’s nice to revisit it once you’ve finalized it.

MW: I’m excited to have that come out into the world and play the songs to people.

Yeah and it’s nice to be able to tour it. Stay safe out on the road and congrats on the album! 

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Pre-order Love Gibberish here and keep up with Post Animal on Instagram and Twitter. Lastly, if you’re in Chicago, they’ll be playing a hometown show in Chicago at The Metro on June 10th that you won’t want to miss.

Get To Know: Post Animal

This past Friday night, I caught up with the boys in Post Animal before they headlined night one of Chicago’s Psych Fest at The Hideout. Although the band was down one member, with this weekend being one of the first times they’ve played without guitarist Joe Keery, the remaining five members still had plenty to talk about. Throughout the conversation, I found out all you need to know about this up and coming Chicago band, including news on their upcoming album and tour, stories about their haunted recording space, their influences, and their feelings on a certain Netflix show (which, if you didn’t already know, one of them happens to star in). There’s no doubt about it, 2017 will be an incredible year for Post Animal, so get familiar with them now. 

Post Animal is: Dalton Allison, Jake Hirshland, Joe Keery, Javi Reyes, Wes Toledo
and Matt Williams. Photo by Kristina Pedersen. 

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Their Influences Include Bands like Black Sabbath and The Police, Their Parents... and Mel Gibson

One of the first things I always want to know about musicians is how they got into playing music.  Matt Williams, Javi Reyes, and Wes Toledo all credit their parents for getting them into music at a young age.  “I started playing music when I was like four,” Wes says. “My dad was a musician too, so he just kind of started me at an early age. I started listening to the Police and bands like that, like the Beatles and...my liking of music came from that," he continued on. Matt adds, “My mom was a musician so she kinda forced me to take guitar lessons. She’s a bass player, but she was like ‘you need to learn how to play guitar,’ and then I kinda got forced to…” Javi says his mom also had guitars laying around, and he first started playing the guitar that his brother was given for Christmas one year. “I  learned how to play the James Bond theme,” he recalls.

Dalton Allison says that other bands, like Black Sabbath, inspired him to start making music, while Jake Hirshland admits that his inspiration stems from just wanting to be in a band, saying, “I just wanted to be in a band so bad dude, that I like picked up a guitar and tried to get good enough.” All of the guys also agree that films scores played a big part in influencing them, with Dalton deeming the Jurassic Park score as his favorite.

Oh, and the part about Mel Gibson? That came up while Matt chatted about the early days of guitar lessons, revealing, “The very first lesson I took was so awkward. There’s like these guitar books, I think they’re called Mel Gibson, wait! Not Mel Gibson...those learning books...”  It turns out he was actually talking about Mel Bay guitar books, which we quickly figured out, thanks to a member of another band playing that night.

All Of The Band Members Are Multi-Instrumentalists

If you’ve ever seen Post Animal live, you know they’ve got a lot of guitars on one stage (they also have a lot of hair on one stage, but that’s besides the point). The reason for so many bandmates stems from a few of them originally being substitutes who just never left. Dalton and Matt grew up together as self-proclaimed “bad boys of Danville,” first starting a band in sixth grade. As for the rest of the guys, Matt says,“We just kinda met people through friends and through work, and then someone was like ‘Hey I know this guy who’s a really good drummer, Wes. You should play with him.’ Then we did, and someone was out of town and Javi had just moved into town. So we were like ‘Javi wanna play these couple shows with us?’ And he just never stopped playing with us.”  

“We’ve pretty much just been tacking people on. I moved to Chicago and started playing with these dudes. It was a lot of people going out of town for a while, so we were just subbing people,” Jake chimes in.  The rest of band agreed that they just can’t let anyone go.

Dalton also gives credit to the adaptability of his bandmates, saying “We’re really lucky to have a mutli-talented group. Like Javi can pretty much play anything, Matt can pretty much play anything, Jake can play anything. Wes is one of the best drummers that I’ve ever played with.”  

The Lakehouse They Recorded in Is Haunted

It’s been a minute since Post Animal released their 6 track EP called The Garden Series, but lucky for us, the next album is just about ready. How is this new full-length different than the band’s previous releases? Other than the location where they recorded it, Dalton says,“It’s the first one with all 6 of us on it, so this is the most exciting for sure,” adding on that it should be between 10 and 13 songs. He also says that this new record is more collaborative than their past work, crediting each band member with writing their own parts.  

“Yeah we’re all pumped. Recordings are done and Dalton’s in the cave doing [post] production on it. We’re hoping the spring time,” Jake adds about the progress and planned release of the record.  Continuing on about their recording process, he adds, “I feel like the way we recorded is also...we did a lot of stuff at the same time and we never really used the rooms we were in. Rather than recording it in Dalton’s bedroom like we’ve been doing for the last couple, we actually went to this lakehouse of our good friend and just squatted in the living room and played everything loud...getting all the sound of the space. I think you can tell [it was recorded live].”

While we’re on the subject of the lakehouse, Wes drops the bomb that the place was haunted. Javi and Dalton both attest to strange glitches appearing on their recordings from the lakehouse, while Jake, Wes, and Matt admit to having to sleep in the same room eventually after several scares. Jake recalls one night in which a nightstand flipped over in the room they were sharing, after already being woken up by a ghost. “These old, wrinkly leather hands just tugged me awake. It was bizarre,” Jake says. The rest of the band add that they’re not big on embellishment or really into paranormal activity, with Jake continuing, “Yeah we’re rational at heart, but it was bizarre, I had no explanations for some of the stuff I was feeling and seeing. The table flying over…”

In addition to the ghost scares, coffee got spilled on their computer halfway through recording, causing the band to worry they’d lost all of their work. Despite all of these scares, the band say they still had the time of their lives recording in the house adjoining Paw Paw Lake.

“Rather than recording it in Dalton’s bedroom like we’ve been doing for the last couple, we actually went to this lakehouse of our good friend and just squatted in the living room and played everything loud...getting all the sound of the space”

— Jake on the band's recording process

They’re Really Excited to Play Daytrotter Downs Festival In March

At the moment, the Post Animal boys have only got a string of live dates announced for this year, including some shows in Michigan with Twin Peaks and a slot at Daytrotter Downs Festival in Davenport, IA. However, they let on that they’ve just locked in the first two weeks of an upcoming tour, with Wes adding on that they’ll be out on the road all summer.

Talking more about Daytrotter, Dalton says,“I think that’s the first time that any of us were kinda shocked that someone asked us to play. We really respect what they’ve got going on.” They’re also all excited to check out some of the other bands on the line up, with Jake shouting out NE-HI and Wes and Matt giving nods to Joan of Arc and Gaelynn Lea.  

Daydrotter Downs Lineup Poster

They’re Also Really Excited To See The Country

Before the interview, I noticed that a fan had commented “come to Brazil!” on one of Post Animal’s recent Facebook posts. To me, the summoning to Brazil is a sign you’ve made it. Bringing up this comment, I asked the band where in the world they’d like to tour.  

“South America would be a dream. It’s gonna be dream to even…. like I’ve never even been to New York City in my life. Every single place we go is gonna be a new place that I’ve never been, so that’s pretty crazy,” Dalton admits.  

Javi agrees with South America, saying “I’ve got family down there, so... Just so you know my name is Javier.” Jake agrees with Dalton’s point that it’ll be crazy to see the country, while Matt says he’s particularly excited to play in the states he hasn’t been to, like the Southeast. “Speaking of the south,” Jake adds,“We might be playing SXSW, but nothing is locked in.”  

They’d also love to eventually play some European dates, so keep your eyes out for that.

They’ve Got a Lot of Love for Fellow Chicago Musicians, Especially Jude Shuma

Post Animal recently headlined The Empty Bottle, with support coming from fellow Chicagoans Lucille Furs and Jude Shuma. Not only was the show entirely epic, but it turns out the Post Animal members all love the other two bands. Wes started the love fest for Jude and also gave props to Lucille Furs by saying,“[Twin] Peaks rocks, Joe Bordernaro. Lucille Furs obviously. Jude Shuma!” Jake recommended also interviewing Jude, with Javi attesting to his great interview skills, calling him a charismatic guy.  (So Jude, if you're reading this, let's set up an interview?) 

The guys have also got a lot of love for Chicago venues, including The Empty Bottle, The Hideout and Thalia Hall. “It was a bit of a dream playing Thalia with Twin Peaks. That was scary,” Jake says about the latter. “I’ve just never even been on a stage like that[with a barrier], but in the crowd it doesn’t look like there’s that much space. But when you’re up there, it’s like a good eight feet of space. It’s just like intimidating being that far away from people,”  he continued.

Dalton agrees that it’s more intimidating being separated, saying “You have to like really try to see how the audience feels when they’re not crammed against the stage.”  

They’re Big Fans of King Gizzard, Ty Segall, The Nude Party...and Dire Straits

Not only are the Post Animal members really into fellow Chicago bands, they’re big music fans in general. When asked what they’re listening to at the moment, Javi says, “This new Ty Segall album that just came out, or it comes out today. It’s been streaming the past week.” Jake says, “Mild High Club has such a special place in my heart,” while also mentioning that the entire band loves King Gizzard [& The Lizard Wizard].  

“I’ve been listening to this fucking sick rapper named Denzel Curry, who is so good,” Wes adds, while Dalton shouts out Vince Staples. Javi calls the band’s music taste eclectic, while Jake admits that they listen to a lot of older material as well. Similarly to the love expressed to Jude Shuma, the band also gushed for a few minutes about their admiration of The Nude Party, a band they recently played with in Milwaukee.  They also went to see NYC band The Lemon Twigs the night before at The Empty Bottle. 

Lastly, Wes chimes in, “Dire Straits is a good band,” joking,“They fucking rock. That better be in the interview by the way. Dire Straits fucking rocks.”  

They’re Happy For Joe’s Success As an Actor, But Please Get Their Name Right

If you weren’t aware, the sixth band member, Joe Keery, was MIA for this interview because he stars in a little known Netflix show called Stranger Things.  Naturally, the insane amount of success that the show has had has brought some new attention to the band over the past several months.  So, are Joe and his bandmates sick of the Stranger Things-driven attention? Not at all, but it does make things a bit more challenging at times.

“It’s hilarious that he’s not here right now,” Dalton says when I asked the question.  “It’s just weird cause there’s like this hesitation...like last year, Matt would be gone so Javi would fill in for Matt. Or like Wes would be gone so Joe would play drums. So originally Wes came into replace Joe. So now it’s like weird cause we wouldn’t really hesitate to play without anyone, but we kind of like have to hesitate to play without Joe. That’s been like the weirdest part... kinda feeling detached from our own project because of all the fame that got brought to it, not necessarily for the wrong reason, but for a different reason.”  

Jake chimes in, “We sort of just decided, actually it was a pretty recent decision, but we decided the only way to do this properly from here on out is to play without...like doing exactly what we would have done before. Like tonight is a great example of a show that Joe couldn’t be at, and we’re just playing a damn show.”  

Dalton does admit that it breaks their heart to play without him, but he credits Joe with doing a great job of handling it all, and coming back when he can. “His life has gone from kinda 0 to 60, so it’s a little hectic. So here and there it’s gonna be without him. [Joe] just flies...he’s so committed to flying back day of," Jake says.  

The band also take all of the attention in a positive light, with Jake saying, “Even the people who come mostly to just meet or be in the presence of Joe, they end up being pretty cool audience members. I think a year ago we would have done almost anything to play these types of shows.”  

With so many band members, the guys also comment that they’re still able to deliver their best performance, but Matt contributes, “People can learn each other’s parts. The big difference is like the presence of a body. The nuances of how they play.” “No one can replace Joe’s stage banter,” Dalton adds in. Luckily, Joe is willing to do all he can to be there for shows, so the crowd won’t miss out on too much banter.  For their recent show at The Empty Bottle, Joe told the crowd he took two planes to get there.

All the guys really ask, is that you get their band name right, and don’t call Joe “Steve.” Javi recalls a time when someone said “give it up for Stranger Things” right after Post Animal performed. While something like that is clearly disrespectful to the entire band, no one was more upset about it than Joe himself.  “It’s kinda like exploitative of him personally. Like when people call him Steve...it’s just like, you don’t even take the time to...They don’t think about the fact that he’s a real person and not the character. We’ve all had these crazy experiences of how people interact with him when we go to a bar or something like that. That’s been like the most hilarious and most disgusting part of it,” Dalton says in defense of his friend.

It’s clear that the guys in Post Animal are all great friends and they’re all supportive of Joe, but they’ve also got a great sense of humor. Wes joked, “Fuck that guy. Off the record, he’s one of my best friends, but on the record, fuck that guy," about Joe.  

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Later on Friday evening, the guys did exactly as they'd promised and delivered a killer performance. Seriously, I picked a terrible night to leave my earplugs at home because they don't hold anything back during their shows.  Throughout the set, they also seemed to be genuinely enjoying themselves, which always makes a show more enjoyable from the audience.  Keep up with all of the Post Animal news by checking out their Facebook page.  You can also listen to The Garden Series below: