Animal Panic on their new album, getting signed to a label and branching out of the Chicago scene

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Chicago based trio, Animal Panic, has been accumulating a raging cult following, getting bigger and better than ever. The band includes Ben Fister (vocals and guitar), and brothers Jack Sullivan (bass), and Mike Sullivan (drums). The three use their different musical inspirations to their advantage, taking all their influences to create genre bending music that can only be classified by each listener. We first talked to Animal Panic back in January, where they were first getting started in the DIY scene. Six months later, they have seen rapid growth. The three are consistently selling out shows, working on their first album, and looking to potentially branch out from Chicago.

We talked with Ben Fister and Jack Sullivan six months after our initial interview to catch up on July 26th in Chicago.

Last time we talked you had just released the single “21st Century Girl.” Since then you’ve released three singles, “Burn,” “Live, Laugh, Loathe,” and “Moonlight Drive.” Out of those three, which was the hardest to craft and which was the easiest?

Jack: The hardest to craft was probably “Burn” and “Live, Laugh, Loathe.” Those were our first songs that we recorded in a professional studio from front to back. 

Ben: With both “21st Century Girl,” “Moonlight Drive,” and “Cocaine Honeymoon,” which is our first song, that was from an era in which I was producing the songs, and we were recording drums in Jack and his brother Mike’s garage. Those were the first songs we actually had studio drums recorded. We put much more attention to “Burn” because it was a very much more nuanced song. It's my favorite song we've written. 

Jack: They’re much more attention oriented, and we spent more money, production value was higher, and I think it shows. 

What was the songwriting process for those three singles? 

Ben: With “Burn,” I always like to say the best songs come to me. Most of the time when I hear a song like “Burn,” it just happens and it’s not more than 10 or 20 minutes where most of the entire thing is written in terms of the music, melody and everything. I go back through and try to make sure the lyrics are somewhat meaningful or impactful in some way. Beyond that I like to make sure it's kind of a hodgepodge of shit, that way you don’t know what to make of it. But, with everything else, “Live, Laugh, Loathe,” that was the first song where I think everyone in the band wrote the song together. I came there with the riff and some words. 

Jack: It was a jam. We just started jamming at practice, and the song just came to fruition. 

Ben: Jack wrote the breakdown, the slow part that you hear in that song. Mike wrote … 

Jack: The best drum line he has ever written. 

Ben: Seriously. The trademark drum line of that song, literally all of it was manifested, which I guess is definitely different from what we did before. 

Jack: People say “Live, Laugh, Loathe” is their favorite song of ours. Maybe that has something to say about it. 

Which song is your favorite to play live out of those three? 

Jack: Mine is “Live, Laugh, Loathe.” Everyone seems to like it. 

Ben: I like “Burn.” Most recently I had a big mishap on “Burn.” 

What happened? 

Ben: We were playing a lot of other songs, and then basically … my guitar at the moment is just not fully equipped for a full show. 

Jack: It’s a piece of shit. 

Ben: What ended up happening was that we started and it was in tune, and halfway through the song it became out of tune. So I just ditched it and sang the song. 

Jack: It was just bass and drums. 

Ben: We came up with the fun little tradition where I do a blindfold for “Burn” and “Desperado.”

What started that tradition of wearing a blindfold every show? 

Ben: A lot of things. It started as a stage gimmick. We had a show at Bookclub and that basically was like we were trying to combine elements. It was a very DIY stage but we wanted to bring a show that a DIY setting or audience wouldn’t expect. We were bringing something more theatrical. Half of the funniness of it was that I just thought of playing “Burn” with a blindfold. It went over well and has done it pretty much ever since. It's kind of become a visual trademark of the band. A lot of people literally videotaped us. Now it’s like, ‘that’s the blindfolded band.’

You recently signed to Oakley Avenue Records. Last time we talked you were starting to look into getting management. What has the process been like of getting signed and how have you gotten to this point?  

Jack: We kind of rapidly grew our Instagram, and then a small label, which was Oakley, randomly reached out to us, said they wanted to sign us. We were kind of unsure about it. We talked to the guy, Kyle. It's been nothing but great. He’s more of a manager than anything. He’s been the best manager we’ve ever had. 

Ben: He's been so involved. 

Jack: He genuinely likes our music, and you can tell he cares about us and he only wishes the best for us. And (for) any other Chicago bands out there, if Oakley Avenue reaches out,(we) highly recommend (them), They’ve been a great help to us. 

Ben: All I was going to say is that the biggest thing as artists is that somebody actually believes in your dream and puts capital behind it. Which is actually what they did, no questions asked, which I think all of the songs that I’ve written (I) can thank Oakley and Kyle for that. Beyond that, they’ve also been so hands off. Most of the time it's issues with signing right now. It's not popular because labels usually have a pretty intense hand over what you do, how you do it. And he’s let us just be the artist we want to be.

Jack: He’s completely facilitating the recording process of our new EP that’s coming out August 19th, Coldest Summer. We’re excited about it. 

How has being signed helped benefit the band more than doing it alone? 

Jack: The record label puts money behind what we want to do. Being a small band, that helps. They helped facilitate merch, make it, and sell it. It helped us as artists be exactly that. We’re just artists, and they totally took on the business aspect of it, which has made our jobs easier. 

Ben: It's hard to mix creative fundamentals and business in general. With Kyle and Oakley, we just never felt that. We’re like kids in a sandbox to play, which was the optimal environment to make a record in. Beyond that, it's only helped us. The thing that’s crazy is at our last show at Schubas, we sold out shirts on the first night. 

Jack: We have a fan in Canada that bought a shirt. And even our record label has shipped shirts before, but that was the first time it was international. 

Ben: It facilitated a wide expansion for demand that we had no idea was there. We're nothing but grateful for that. 

Your EP is releasing August 19th, titled Coldest Summer. Can you give insight into the creative process of the album?

Jack: The EP has some of the songs that are out already. We’re building off the same vibe as that. We’ve been in this creative process 

Ben: We came from the studio not even an hour ago. 

Jack: Just trying to improve our production, recording in a full production studio, thanks to our record company. I think that everyone’s going to love, more of the Animal Panic sound people seem to love, but amplified. We're excited about it. 

Ben: That's the thing I’m most excited about, this EP we have a lot of the classic stuff that has got people’s blood boiling at the house shows and small concerts. Like “Cocaine Honeymoon,” “21st Century Girl .” Other than that we posted on social media. “Desperado” is on there as well, which is a very dark song. Now that we have more sophisticated production we can explore darker emotions where they don’t seem so cheesy with amateur production. Other than that we have a song that’s for dead people. I think it’s going to be very impactful. We finished recording it today. It's strange but I think it’s everything people want to hear from us. 

How long does it take to record each song?

Jack: It really differs. Usually around two studio sessions.

Ben:  A few hours. “Desperado,” we took a long time to finish that song. We finished it in like three sessions. But it was a matter of 6-8 hours. With a lot of the new songs, they come very quickly. So we come in with demos, record what is needed. 

How far along in the process are you? Still writing the songs, or focusing only on recording?

Ben: The songs are all written. We pretty much just finished up recording, and we’ve had the privilege to work with a great producer, Andrew. He has been basically a fourth artist to this band. 

Jack: all the songs are done recorded. They just need to be mixed

Ben: Aside from mixing and just any type of addition. It’s been a great time. 

What has been your favorite live show you’ve played?

Jack: Probably the last show at Schubas. The sound was amazing, the fans were completely into it, mosh pitting. I just thought it was amazing energy. The venue was great to us. 

Ben: Since I’ve talked to you last there’s been a lot of shit that has happened. I always champion the Champaign (Illinois) show. The Champaign show, there were some people there from Japan that loved our music, people from all over the world. 

Jack: It was U of I (University of Illinois), it was a frat. They hired us to play a show, and they were doing an end of the year frat party. We were on a bill with three other bands, and as you can imagine, it was pretty insane. It was going back to our house show roots. Playing to a fraternity and the crowd they brought in, it was pretty wild. That was a really good show. It was more diy,  but it was awesome. 

Ben: It was one of those things that put us back in our element, where it doesn’t matter if it’s blood or bruises or anything. But we make the best show out of everything. 

Do you miss those house show days, or do you like the bigger and more produced shows?
 Jack: We like mixing it up. House shows are fun and you get really good content from that. And you get a wild audience and let go a little more. The fans go a little more, they can be themselves, whereas when you’re at a professional venue where it’s a little more controlled.

Ben: We have the reins and chains on us a little bit. 

Jack: But it's an amazing sound.

Ben: We’ve had a few venues that have audited the shit that we’ve done. 

Jack: They have to tone the crowd down. We kind of want to get more into the DIY scene. We want to throw another rooftop show. 

Ben: The things that you’ll see us doing recently and later, we’re kind of getting into the rave scene. We’re going to be under bridges soon. There is no capacity (limits) for the concerts. 

Any plans to branch out of Chicago?

 Ben: Yeah, definitely. 

Jack: Once we build up a bigger audience, we hope to travel to more major cities like Milwaukee and New York. Maybe a show trade. Well bring a band from New York, and they’ll bring us out there. That would be awesome. 

How has Chicago been a source of inspiration?

Jack: It really hasn’t to be honest. 

Ben: There’s two bands I have to credit: Daylongsigh, a fucking phenomenal band, They have a record that’s just been released and everyone needs to go and listen to it. The other band is Sawamura No Hitter. I think in terms of stage energy, that’s the only band that competed if not exceeded what we attained in just a cult following. 

Outside of Chicago, where does much inspiration come from? Does fan interactions help with that as it becomes even stronger? 

Jack: We all have different inspirations. We're a three piece band with very different tastes in music. Which I feel like helps us a lot because you can’t really group our music into a genre. Some of the music Ben likes, I fucking hate, and vice versa. We all put our own taste into our original songs. 

Ben: It comes from anywhere. It’s like hunting where if you find something, you got to fucking shoot it and chase it down. That's all that happens. With all of us it comes from different points and that's what makes Animal Panic what it is. .
Jack: Michael, our drummer, brings the classic rock in. Ben brings a lot of electronic and house music. 

Ben: Electronic house music, alternative stuff. In addition to that, just suspend belief where if you think we're doing this, we're doing something completely different. We're going to keep that going. 

Last time we talked, we asked what your dream venue was to play? Do the answers stay true or has it changed? 

Jack: It does stay true. Mercury Lounge in New York. And we have a connect. We might be playing at the Metro soon. 

Ben: The Metro actually was a dream venue, but now it's well within our grasp with what's coming soon. Other than that, for me it's Aragon Ballroom. I've been very inspired by The White Stripes, the record they released there. I think its a show we would completely fuck the socks off of. 

What have been the biggest changes since we talked in the last 6 months? 

Ben: We have become a far more recording unit. In almost the same stride, we've been a performing unit. We have all grown a lot in terms entirely as musicians. 

Jack: And performers. I feel like we're a lot more comfortable on stage. 

Ben: We went through phases where we were comfortable and had our beginner’s luck. Luckily, that never wore off, and we've gotten some kind of sophomore anxiety at some shows. Beyond that, nothing has faltered in terms of reception. 

Jack: Shows are getting bigger, we're getting more listeners. 

Ben: The scope of the project that we had when we last talked was getting far bigger than we ever thought it would. There's been complications with that as well. 

What have been some of the biggest challenges recently? 

Jack: The demand for shows. We have people asking us every month to play shows, other Chicago bands wanting to bill with us. We got to a point where we don’t have the bandwidth to do this. 

Ben: For the first time ever, we've seen a social media engagement that has needed two or three people to engage with, which was insane. I never expected that. 

Jack: We have this person that has made a fan page of us, and they’re from France. This one account just made edits, and they made a separate account just for us, an Animal Panic fan page. 

Ben: Shoutout @rip.never.mind. 

Jack: It inspires us but it's more pressure. 

Ben: It’s all a positive trend. All we can do is drink that up. 

What's the goal?

Jack: The goal is to do what we're doing now, but cross continental, where we can go to different cities and pull an audience. Bigger venues in Chicago.
Ben: We're never going to move until it demands us.

Jack: We want to make a name for ourselves in Chicago first and see where it goes from there. The growth that we've got in less than a year has been pretty motivating. We want to make music where it’s different genres but you know it's Animal Panic. 

Follow Animal Panic on Instagram, TikTok and Spotify to keep up with their music and live shows.