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An Evening with Post Animal in Allston

Since the band’s formation in 2015, Post Animal has released two albums and multiple singles. (Photo courtesy of Hristina Tasheva)

Christopher Romano
Connector Staff

On the first hot day following nearly two weeks of chilly temperatures, I made my way to the Brighton Music Hall in Allston for the Post Animal / Wavves show on May 17th. Before doors opened at 7:30, however, I had spent some time with the Chicago based band, Post Animal.

The psychedelic, pop rock band had loaded in, sound checked, and was itching for some dinner. We were on the move to find something to eat, as the band only had about an hour before the doors to the venue opened to the audience. The guys were all really excited about an all-day breakfast joint, but ironically it was closed. After window shopping for a meal, they decided on the Chicken and Rice Guys.

Post Animal got their food to go and we headed back to the venue for a place to talk and eat. On the way back, the drummer, Wesley Toledo, said the tour supporting Wavves ends on the 23rd, but the band is launching another solo tour in a few weeks. No date is set for Boston yet, but there could be a last-minute show booked later this Summer.

Typically, Post Animal performs as a six piece band, but for this tour they had to continue as a five piece. One guitarist is a little busy filming season two of the Netflix hit show, “Stranger Things.” Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington on the show, may make appearances at some bigger shows. Jake Hirshland, who somehow plays guitar and keyboard at the same time, said they’re all supportive of Keery’s acting career.

Being the band’s first tour outside of their city in Chicago, they don’t have a previous tour to compare to where all the band members were present. They all agreed that they can achieve the sound they create with six people by only having five on stage.

The band travels in a rustic brown RAM 3500 that they often find themselves sleeping in while on the road. Matt Williams, one of the guitarists, found he experiences a sense of vertigo from the traveling. The band felt as though their tour wasn’t exhausting or dreadful, as the stereotype tends to go. It seems the band would agree that playing live in a different city each night makes sleeping upright in a van all worth it.

Ripping through an energetic, fuzzed out, 40 minute set, the band played a couple new, unreleased songs and instrumentals. Truly channeling their King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard influence, the singers, all members but the drummer, would screech like animals into the microphones throughout songs. Almost as a running gag, the band kept referring to the audience as “Beantown.”

The band had released a new single, “Special Moment,” on May 12th and was eager to play new material on the tour. This single will appear on the band’s new, yet to be named debut album. “The album is annoyingly close to being finished. There are just some small, small things that need to be fixed,” Toledo said.

The band will embark on a second Summer tour, starting on June 1st with dates until the beginning of August. Post Animal will be releasing their debut album sometime in August after the tour, but not before they release a couple more singles supporting the album.

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