It’s not exactly common knowledge that metal and pets go hand in hand, or better yet, hand in paw. But maybe it should be. Just last May Alexandra Crocket photographed the more extreme personalities of the headbanging scene, staging metal giants alongside their darling kitties to make for one hell of an adorable coffee table flip through. Aside from Metal Cats’ delightful portrayal of radicle cute factor, there are plenty of other instances in modern metal that paint the genre far from dark, disturbing or violent. Enter a local metal band who, when not splicing our eardrums with their fiery take on verse chorus verse, really enjoy hanging out with a pooch or two.
Last week I met up with Julian Mazzola and Ilya Podolskiy, respective bassist and guitarist of Boston/Providence-based AMINALS. The duo’s longstanding friendship spans nearly a decade, marked largely by their innumerable inside jokes, drunken runarounds and serious love of music. Just recently the pair released Dead Air alongside frontman Matthew Cugini and drummer Mike Allen. Though the album may find title as the band’s first full length in a whopping eight year run, we can’t mark AMINALS lazy by any means. Not when the band is constantly in the studio, performing an ever-growing list of mind-numbing jams or in the case of our interview, chasing pups around Oak Square’s Dog Park.
On a cold but sunny afternoon in Brighton I sat with Julian and Ilya as they spoke of life, (puppy) love and the newfound strangeness of being single on Halloween. Personal quips aside, the two also shared thoughts on Boston’s ever-changing music scene with stories of their painstaking time in the studio. All while managing a few laughs in between.
AP: So, AMINALS! How’d you get the name?
Ilya: Uh, we’re alcoholics.
Julian: I think Matt came up with it. We hated our previous name, which we’re not going to mentioned at this interview-
AP: Can we find it on the internet?
Julian: Yes (laughs), absolutely. Gotta go back to ’07 or earlier. But we were struggling with names for a long time. And everyone was throwing out ideas and we kinda thought “nahh.” Actually, we named a song “Aminals” and then we decided to just stick with it.
Ilya: Ohhh yeahhh. Like, we changed it and then got scared.
Julian: Yeah, we thought people would forget who we were but it actually was a very smooth and beneficial transition. Funny you should ask, other AMINALS are popping up.
AP: Really? Any metal?
Ilya: Uh, no. They’re actually good bands. They’re really good bands! There’s Aminal, there’s Nuclear Aminals… I guess there’s a new band called Animals? We were pushing it, I guess. But you can’t take that name.
AP: Yeah! Can’t steal a classic. So, you guys have basically been friends forever.
Julian: Yeah. ’05, and then we scooped up Matt a year later. Me and Ilya met through our previous band which will also remain nameless. A very long time ago. Just through friends of friends, pretty much.
AP: Did you start playing together pretty immediately?
Ilya: He (Julian) came and went from that first band and uh, joined back in a hysterical fashion (laughs).
Julian: That was when Ilya was 16. We found Matt on MySpace, pretty much.
Ilya: Well, actually, the stuff that started this band… I started writing riffs and would bring them to (previous AMINALS drummer), Ricky. Him and I then joined a hardcore band. A straightedge hardcore band! That band broke up and we kept the drummer, and the rest is now.
AP: Cool! So, Dead Air is finally out. And it’s been what, two years since your last release?
Ilya: I guess this is technically our first release. Yeah, we put out an EP that was kind of shit, that had five or six songs on it. That was in the days of MySpace, when you could release one song and it would gain more traction.
AP: So, first official full length! That’s pretty wild considering how long you’ve been together.
Ilya: Eight years! Well, we’ve always had drummer issues. The one we have now is our primary drummer. He’s had fill-ins over the years, but he’s always come back. His return was our reason for doing the record. It did feel long as hell while we were writing and recording.
AP: There was some weird stuff going on in the studio, right?
Ilya: Our recording studio was below an African Church.
Julian: It was a Ghanaian Methodist Church.
AP: Weren’t you being too loud?
Julian: Well, it was this dude Ian’s studio. He worked there full time, and there were set times where he was supposed to do his thing, and set times for the church to do their thing. The church were the ones that were being too loud, oddly enough! You’d think it’d be the other way around. The thing is- church can still happen if there’s recording going on downstairs. Recording can’t go on if there’s church happening upstairs, because all the recordings would have African church music in the background. So, Ian kept complaining to the landlord and it turned into an escalating battle, and one of the mechanisms employed by the church was to boil chicken bones and leave them on the downstairs front doorstep.
AP: Which actually brings up our next question. In your album and also in it’s artwork, there’s a focus on religion. Like with Dead Air, and the nun’s habit on the front. And songs like “Something Secular.” The music and artwork are two totally different themes, but kind of tending on religion, right?
Ilya: That’s where Matt would come into play. I personally am not a huge fan of conceptualizing religion with music. We never really thought about it, it just kind of happened. Like, “hey, what’s a cool idea?”
Julian: I think originally we wanted to make a video where nuns were being badass all over town. It’s definitely not a deliberate imagery.
Ilya: Lyrically, we also don’t push the anti-Christ thing. I feel like it’s all pretty sarcastic too. It’s all pretty tongue and cheek. There wasn’t a whole lot of thought process as far as visual concepts.
AP: What’s “Bitchcraft”?
Julian: Uh, the only lyrics I know from that song are “I’ll keep writing that stupid shit if you come back for more.”
AP: That kind of says it all.
Ilya: See that? That’s my wife.
Ilya motions to a beautiful dog walker who’s so kindly taken it upon herself to keep an eye on his exuberant boston terrier, Rupert.
Julian: Craigslist missed connections.
AP: Hey, congratulations on the Metal Injection piece! The blog called you “handsomely clean cut dudes.” There were days when you were wearing ties to shows. Is that a look you guys go for, or is that just something you gravitate towards?
Julian: Sometimes Matt will have a theme. I don’t know how to dress myself ever, so usually I just ask him.
AP: That’s a real friendship. Since you guys have been around for so long and in the area, what changes have you seen in the Massachusetts hardcore scene? Have you seen many?
Ilya: I feel like I’ve fallen out of it. Everyone’s doing the shoegaze thing, the post-hardcore grunge revival, or doom metal. South shore has always been, if not hardcore, pop punk. I feel like if anything, maybe pop punk is a little bit bigger. I don’t know. I have no idea what’s happening anymore. I like Enrique Iglesias. I love radio pop. I’m not kidding.
AP: What are you listening to now?
Julian: I’ve always been a proponent of ridiculously heavy metal. As a band we have a very illogical and varied set of tastes. Like, Mike is an old school Blink 182 fan. He still listens to death metal, or thrash or whatever. Matt’s the complete opposite, big on The Arctic Monkey’s, Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Ilya: Before he met us he didn’t listen to anything heavy.
Julian: We had to train him.
Julian: I think the one thing that none of us ever got into though was just plain old hardcore.
Ilya: I did. I still like Strife. And Guns Up. I listen to everything.
AP: What are you doing for Halloween?
Julian: That’s a good question. We wore kitty ears last night. Matching. Well, I guess mine were red, so maybe not matching…
Ilya: I’m single…
AP: What does that mean?!
Julian: Is Halloween a romantic holiday?
Ilya: Last time I went all out, we were 19 and running up and down Linden Street. I’ll probably do that.
If you can’t catch this pair on Linden, check AMINALS’ album release show this Sunday at Great Scott alongside Black Elm, ActorIObserver and Shroud. And get this: The band also releases a video for “Dirty Habits”, the first single from Dead Air tomorrow. So grab your nearest furry friend, turn up your speakers and get ready to band your head.