(Below is the first of a two-part conversation we had with Animal Hospital concerning what he [Kevin Micka] has been doing, what he will do, what he sounds like, metal, and other topics of interest. Please do not be alarmed at the shocking content of this interview. Trained professionals were at the ready, as will you be, for this is Animal Hospital as you have never seen him before.)
GABRIEL BOYER: So there was was was was. What made you decide to start start Animal Hospital?
ANIMAL HOSPITAL: Um. The girl’s dating at the time. We wanted. We were planning a trip. Um. To go to a comic convention and go visit her family.
GB: Mhm.
AH: So we were planning on going to San Diego and Santa Fe.
GB: Mhm.
AH: Um. So. [Clears throat.] Thought I would try to come up with something to do on the tour. On the trip. To play some shows and help pay for some gas.
GB: Mhm.
AH: See some friends and stuff on the way.
GB: Mhm.
AH: So I um. Started booking some shows.
GB: Mhm.
AH: Before I had like a real plan of what I was going to do.
GB: [Enthusiastically] Mhm.
AH: Um.
GB: And has it always been sort of uh looping th(is) and. Ju(st). Layering. Beats an(d). Guitar an(d).
AH: I don(t) know. It’s (w)as like. I was. Maybe just thinking like. Worst case. Like. [With mouth full of food.] Bring a computer and play along with it and something like that, or. I wasn’t really sure what to do. Yeah. Either a computer or have some looping petal, but I did always want to try to do some stuff with drums so I just kind of tried work on that.
GB: It’s interesting. When I first used to see you play. It was like. It was like. It seemed like pretty traditional. You’re just using guitar and drums and just looping things from those two things. The second time I saw you, it seemed like way more electronic where you had like mostly contact mics. It seemed like a less. And. And. This time when I last night the Eugene show it seemed like you were more like in between you know what I mean. You have like some contact mic stuff but you’re also doing some drumming and and so I was wondering if that’s sort of kind of been the way it’s been going or if. Ho(w). What’s your opinion on the the sort of development of the Animal Hospital sound?
AH: Um. Yeah. It definitely was more conventional. Like. A band. In the beginning. And then um. Some of the stuff. Contact mics was more out of again just wanting to. Well, not again, but coming up with a set that I could play without drums. I didn’t have to bring as much stuff.
GB: Mhm.
AH: I could like agree to do a a smaller show and not have to. Worry about. Carrying around.
GB: Mhm.
AH: A full band’s worth of stuff by myself.
GB: Mhm.
AH: So. So. And I was writing more stuff at home too, where I couldn’t really play drums anyway.
GB: Mhm.
AH: So that. Kind of stemmed from that. I mean, I would think. I always wanted to try and do some stuff with contact mics but it became more. The driving force was just coming um. More because I just didn’t want to carry as much stuff I guess.
GB: Right. Right, right.
AH: And then um. So I’d say like maybe a year or two ago I started making up more songs like that.
GB: Mhm. And when it comes to like writing music like how much of it’s like something that you really compose and how much is something that’s like improv improv improvised?
AH: It’s mostly. Um. Composed.
GB: Uh. Do you. Believe in magic?
AH: Hm. Um. What kind of magic?
GB: I don’t know. That’s an open end question.
AH: Hm. Yeah. I’d say so.
GB: Mhm. What does that mean for you?
AH: Well as far as like some things with electricity are pretty ridic(ulous). Uh. Unex(plainable). At least like I don’t I don’t know. It seems like magic to me.
GB: Yeah. That’s right. Because you. You do. You do work a lot with electricity. In your. I mean, you’re doing a lot of fixing of. You’re you’re a fix-it man in your spare time. And uh.
AH: Probably some of that magic stuff’s just I just don’t know enough about it yet. It’s probably written down.
GB: It’s just. It’s just something. It’s just something that’s just like so. So. It’s just. You just mean like something out there that’s like. Some. Ethereal. Nonsense.
AH: Well. No. Well. Hm. Let me think. As far as in a l(ike). In a. With electricity goes there’s some stuff that. Um.
GB: You mean like elec(tricity).
AH: Like if I took a physics class it probably would make sense.
GB: Oh.
AH: It’s stuff that like like that with certain things.
GB: You mean like you see a magnet work and you’re like wow magic?
AH: Well. Similar to that.
GB: And this is another question. I know I promised that I wouldn’t make you free associate, but.
AH: [bursts into riotous laughter]
GB: What what’s the deal with metal?
AH: Oh. Because I I I kept talking about metal?
GB: You kept saying metal during the free association.
AH: [incredulous] That was like seven years ago.
GB: Yeah. But I think there’s something. There’s something about meta(l). You said it so many times that it’s obvious that there’s something about the word metal that’s intrinsic to your philosophy.
AH: I hesitated so many times on that. It was so like not like a legitimate free association.
GB: It’s totally legitimate. You said metal. A lot.
AH: It sounded really insincere though. I was just nervous.
GB: [nervous chuckle] I’m just saying. I’m just curious about the metal thing. I’m just curious.
AH: Like it was. You’re just. Like it was. You would say something about human and then I would say metal or something?
GB: Maybe you think that. Maybe you think that the people are metal people. Maybe it’s something like that. I don’t know. There’s this weird thi(ng). Ca(use) I have to admit. Okay, last night at the show. I’m really drunk. And you’re playing your set. And I got really excited and I started shouting, This is totally metal.
AH: [riotous laughter]
GB: And that made me think of it, so I was like.
AH: Oh. But not in like the metal sense?
GB: Well. There’s a lot of interpreting metal. There could be heavy metal. There are heavy metals, you know. [suggestive] There’s metals that are softer.
AH: Hm. [nervous giggle] Yeah. I don’t know. Um. Let’s delve further into this. I haven’t really thought about it that much.
GB: What. You want. You’re telling me to delve into it. How am I going to do that?
AH: [riotous laughter] What else am I gonna? I’m not gonna sit in the van and think about this too much I guess.
GB: Oh.
AH: Let’s talk about it now.
GB: Oh. I see what you’re saying. So you’re like. So you’re like. Yeah, well. Alright. Right. Well, so.
AH: Probe further.
GB: Well, the metal. Well, how am I supposed to do that? Where? Where? Do you remember anything about metal as a child?
AH: Um. Nothing traumatic, or.
GB: Were you drawn to metal?
AH: Actually, I really hate. Well, I don’t hate I just have a really. It it. This isn’t always. Um. Yeah. Like I like electronics and metal boxes but like um. I’ve always had this weird thing with jewelry where I don’t like to touch jewelry of any kind.
GB: Mhm.
AH: Like if somebody took off their earings and handed them to me like I would have a real anxiety of holding the.
GB: You’d feel. You’d feel weird. Like you’re holding a slug or something like that?
AH: A slug wouldn’t be that bad. This I know. I don’t know why but it kind of creeps me out.
GB: But, I mean what were you drawn to as a child? Were you drawn to like playing with tonka toys or like drawn to like throwing sand in your teacher’s face? I mean. What was like the thing that like got you excited? When you were like, seven?
AH: Frogs and as far as toys.
GB: [irate] Frogs are totally not metal.
AH: Yeah. I mean, I had like a this big tr(uck). Toy truck that was all metal that was a lot of fun to play with.
GB: Mhm. And then as you were growing up was there like a was there some thing what what did you were you drawn towards music then or was it more like you were drawn towards like tonka trucks but bigger?
AH: Hm. Well, I mean, probably, um. I like taking things apart I guess a lot. Um. Before I got into music I guess.
GB: Mhm. So maybe there’s something about. Maybe it’s. Maybe it’s associated with sort of like a clean world.
AH: [laughter]
GB: You know. It’s just like it’s just like the the the sort of mechanic the sort of like mechanical world that’s like the there are is there is and you can just you know control and change, I remember, didn’t you also say the word plastic a lot?
AH: I don’t remember.
GB: In case our readers don’t know, I’m talking about this free association album, this album, Journey to Happiness Island, where Kevin played Little Billy and he did some free assocation and there were certain words he said repeatedly. Metal was the most obvious one. But I thought plastic was also a big one. Like both of those are like these like malleable products that like humans, that like civilization and industry shape. You know what I mean, and there’s something cause when we’re watching your show last night there’s some(thing). We’re actually playing Koyaanisqatsi in the background, and there was something that like seemed to work with the like you’re you’re, like the the the this, like this like epic I always thought. I think of your sound as epic, this epic sound, and like, and this, and this like photo-collage of like, of like industrial decay and like explosions. You know, and just like massive amounts of people and just this sense of like of the, of civilization at it’s, at it’s like, at it’s like falling off the cliff point. Know what I mean? And so, and somehow that’s, to me, that that seems to link in with the idea that, of metal and plastic being like very strongly positioned in your mind as these forces. See what I’m saying? Um. So. I’m just. That’s really. Where it’s all coming from. It’s like. It’s just. It’s just. It’s like. I guess what I’m really getting at is what’s BEHIND this vision, what is it the vision behind the music? Really. I mean, where are you going? Like if you were. If you were a road in music town, where would be your destination? And where would be your starting point?
AH: I mean, I think. I don’t know. I think. I c(an). I can just. Since it’s just me I can just change it whenever I want really.
GB: You can change it whene(ver) you w(ant). No. I agree. I’m not like. I’m not tryn ta. I’m not trying to be an aesthetic fascist and tell you, you have to be this, but I’m just saying it does seem like there is this direction you’re going in that seems like you’re pretty consistently going in this one direction.
AH: Yeah. Yeah, I mean I been thinking about it, and.
GB: And the paring down is totally part of it somehow I feel like.
AH: Yeah. I mean, a lot of I mean. I think, um. I don’t really. I like it to have an organic aspect of some kind. I mean, I like creating everything basically from scratch there with um what I have there. Like, um. So it’s mostly the guitar and the drums and and the vocals. So, um. And with the recording I like having some some more natural sounding sometimes, or having a room. Having a sense of it being in a room, or.
GB: Right.
AH: There being like noises outside, or something.
GB: Right.
AH: So. I don’t really think of it being this clean. I mean, it’s very controlled but I don’t like it being very like.
GB: Yeah.
AH: Um. I like having it on some.
GB: Yeah.
AH: Having some chaotic aspect to keep it sort of realistic I guess.
GB: Right. You mean, it’s like it’s like it’s like clean like sunshine not clean like an operating table is what you’re saying.
AH: Okay. I guess so yeah.
GB: You know what I mean? Like it’s like. Like it’s like. It’s pure maybe. There’s maybe maybe a purity to it maybe.
AH: Well. I like it to be like emotional in some way and in, I don’t know. I don’t know. But, yeah it’s uh I like some of it, I mean again it changes like some songs are more melodic songs. Other songs are more dramatic.
GB: Mhm. What was the idea behind Memory? Where was that? How did that all start?
AH: Um. I think a lot of that is like. Some of the songs took so long to to write and revise that it was over a couple of years. That it was like um some of it just got associated with what MOOD I was in consistently at the time, or what I was going through, the frame of mind I was in.
GB: Mhm.
AH: So. Coming back to them a lot, um. Just made me have to. Put myself where I was at the time when I was writi(ng), working on it last I guess.
GB: So the process of revising it sort of made the songs have this kind of sort of like general feel of like of like revisiting something?
AH: I guess so. I think so, yeah. I mean. Yeah, they just. Um. Yeah, I would just have to like revisit what I was feeling at the time when I started writing that song and try to get them to where I. Where they felt right, or felt like they [unintelligible]. I guess when I’d listen to them right away I would, I don’t know. I don’t wanna always have them associated with a feeling from a couple years ago, but. But um. But, but but.
GB: Did they expand? Cause cause those songs are really long.
AH: Yeah. I guess a lot of them came, started with parts, and then um.
GB: So in a weird way it’s sort of like you’re associating certain emotions with each other by the way you associate different parts of the song? Cause it would the parts be like. Cause it I would imagine that if you start with parts and then you start to put it together then it’s like there’s these memories back here. These little parts and then there’s the memory of the longer thing where these parts have been put together in relation to each other. You see what I’m saying? It’s a different thing. You know what I mean? You got the little parts, and you’re like, Oh, this is strawberries in a field. Oh, this is running from the law. And then you like put them together, and you’re like, Strawberries in a field while I’m running from the law, or I don’t know.
AH: Hm. Well I. I don’t think I’m really there.