Monday, July 28, 2014

Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile: Public Animal

Before we get into this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile, I wanted to state that, while I am aware of the unfortunate ending to this month's band's local concert at The Rockstar Bar last month, we won't acknowledge the show in this month's profile, out of respect to both the band & venue. I don't want to take sides on the matter, especially as I wasn't in attendance to offer a real opinion on it.

Now, this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile continues our ongoing monthly feature series looking at a band that's based out of our area, but features a past or present Saultite in their lineup! Our last profile in this series before adding full punk bands into our selections, this month's band has achieved a solid following, and features a familiar face on drums, so read on below for this month's profile, and check out our Sault Michigan-heavy post from this afternoon in the post below this one! (Updated on November 27th)
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Public Animal (Toronto, Ontario)

Lineup: (Saultites in RED)

Ian Blurton (vocals/guitar)
Eric Larock (bass)
Ryan Gassi (drums)
Caitlin Dacey (keyboard/vocals)

Official Facebook page: http://facebook.com/thepublicanimal
Official Bandcamp page: http://publicanimal.bandcamp.com
Official Twitter page: http://www.twitter.com/thepublicanimal
Official YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/thepublicanimal1

Local Info: The Public Animal's only local member is drummer Ryan Gassi, who achieved a strong local notoriety in the late 1980s and early 1990s from his work with bands like blues rockers The Rhythm Rats and punk favourites The Kite Eating Maples. As featured in this SooToday article last month, Ryan later moved to the Toronto area, where he drummed for bands like Scissors For Erica, Memory Bank, and The Lying Cheats before joining Public Animal (his heaviest band yet) last year.

Band Bio: Named after an Alice Cooper song, Public Animal formed in 2012 before making their full public launch last year. Fronted by former C'Mon frontman Ian Blurton (who local fans may remember from a LopLops Lounge gig in 2011), Public Animal picked up where their predecessors left off, playing a number of notable concerts in Southern Ontario and beyond since mid-2013, including memorable Canadian tour dates in 2014, and sharing the stage with the likes of Cross Dog, Diemonds, and USA Out of Vietnam since their launch. Releasing their first full length CD "Habitat Animal" last month, Public Animal have also released assorted demo EPs and split albums since a pair of June 2013 releases, counting a Deep Purple tribute split with Peterborough rockers Mokomakai among them from this past April. Recently finishing another national headlining tour, the band are currently planning another CD, and further live concerts.

Memorable for their loud live concerts, Public Animal bring an engaging classic hard rock sound to the table, which mixes aggression with retro influences, and neat trade-off vocals from Ian and Caitlin that can often give the impression of a band that would have fit right in with the mid-1970s rock scene! With entertaining riffs, solid drumming, and gritty vocals from Ian, Public Animal's sound fits their name, and it will be interesting to see where they go in their future projects! Be sure to check out their albums at the above links, plus their array of live videos, and here are the guy playing their song "Automatic Ammunition" in Toronto last summer!


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I hope you guys liked this month's Saultites In Out Of Town Bands Profile! Next month's (hopefully not delayed) installment will likely be our first in a string of punk band profiles now that they're in our official coverage, so who's up first? The Fairmounts, the active Toronto punk band fronted by prolific local punk musician Mikey Hawdon! Watch out for that on or around August 26th, and for the curious, look for a "hardcore homecoming" in this series in September! That's all for today, but stay tuned for more news and this month's CD review this week! Thanks everyone!

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