This post initially appeared on the old EarToTheGround Music, but in anticipation of the new album “Creature Collector” (November 2) we’re reposting the interview and preparing to share more from And The Giraffe. This interview was done with Nick Roberts and Josh Morris.
From their website: “And the Giraffe was started by best friends Nick Roberts and Josh Morris in Gainesville, FL. During an orientation meeting at the University of Florida, they started talking about music and hit it off. A few weeks later they had started writing songs in Josh’s bedroom and the songs soon made their way to the stage at a few local venues…They holed up in Nick’s small apartment bedroom and recorded what would become their debut EP, Something for Someone. Something for Someone gained the band a few thousand fans on both Facebook and Twitter and received praise from a number of different blogs. Since their debut, And the Giraffe has added two new members; Malcolm Martin and Robert Edmondson.
Why “And The Giraffe”?
We came up with the band name when Nick suggested that we could call ourselves The Giraffe. Josh then suggested naming the band The Pelican and the Giraffe after the Roald Dahl book, The Pelly and the Giraffe and Me. That was a little too long so we shortened it to just And the Giraffe.
You called your music “dream-folk”, why is that the moniker you chose?
That’s what the first blog that ever reviewed us called our music. Whether we’re actually folk is debatable, but we just needed to tell people what we’re about and that worked. People seem to be pretty accepting of how you categorize your music.
When you record, what does the songwriting process look like?
J: Going into recording, Nick or I will usually have the bare bones of the song and the other will help develop it. Nick’s songs tend to be a little more fully formed than mine because he writes through recording his songs. I tend to write without my computer. Both methods work for us though.
N: As Josh said, we both have pretty different methods of recording. I’m always trying to find new ways of doing things, so it isn’t always the same way every time. Recently, I’ve been finding whole songs in my head and I have to rush to put them down, or what I can remember of them, so we can come back later and tidy them up or organize them. Also, Josh and I tend to spend a lot of time on the “production” side of songwriting. Although the finished product is what we end up calling the “song,” the barebones structure can exist for weeks, if not months at a time, while we continually build upon what we have.
What can we expect from you in the future?
J: We’re kicking around some new songs. No idea when they’ll be released yet. We’re going to try to push our writing and production in more directions, so the new release will hopefully be different in a good way. We’re also hoping to play some shows this winter and tour for a few weeks in the summer.
N: Yeah, we’re definitely aiming to get a few dates in within the year. We know so many awesome bands that are friends of ours that we’d love to hit the road with. I think either a split EP with some of them or a tour is definitely in order.
I always wanna give bands the opportunity to tell us anything you think we, and our readers, should know about you. It can really be anything that you want it to be. Make up your own questions, write a little poem, whatever you want.
A Haiku by Josh
Thanks for the listen
we’re really very grateful
No joke, we mean it!
N: I can’t beat that, so I won’t even bother trying. Thanks for the interview and taking the time to talk with us. And thank you to anyone and everyone who takes the time to check us out.
