Artist(s) Who Deserve Your Friendship: Mammal of Paradise

 

If you made it out this past Friday to Orbit to Leslie’s SOLD OUT CD Release Party that The Deli presented, you learned that the boys behind the indie pop flying machine known as Aderbat have a new project in the works to unveil to the music world. Singer/songwriter/guitarist Matt Taylor, drummer Todd Scheid, bassist Brad Kunkle and multi-instrumentalist Craig Hendrix will be now known as Mammal of Paradise. Check out a sample of what they are working on at http://www.myspace.com/mammalofparadise. Both unmastered tracks, “Anyone’s Song” and “Freeway” were mixed by anti-music industry producer Andrew Weiss (Ween, Akron Family, Rollins Band). “Anyone’s Song” is sure to be their debut single with its chill, groovy “Walk on the Wild Side” feel. Hopefully someone better than Marky Mark will be smart enough to sample or remix it. I had a chance to catch up with Matt Taylor after the show to talk about Mammal of Paradise.
 
Q.D. Tran: With such recent critical acclaim for your full length We Belong to the Sea and your EP Man Overboard as well as your debut full length Rabbits and Rocks, why did you feel that now was the right time to change your name?

Matt Taylor: A bunch of reasons actually, Mammal of Paradise is more of a new project for us than a name change. When we became a four piece with Craig Hendrix and started to record a new Aderbat record this past year, it felt like a new band. Our whole dynamic changed and not to mention our personal lives. It was then I first thought about making the album under a different moniker. Also, Brad, Todd and myself started Aderbat way back in 2003, so we have a long list of songs…too many really. Most I can’t remember or I just don’t feel excited about playing anymore. This gives us the opportunity to have a new set of music without feeling obligated to throw in the oldies. Its a new decade…new ideas. 

QDT: What is the meaning behind Mammal of Paradise? Where did the name Mammal of Paradise come from?

MT: As a child in this industrial landscape, it’s a way of thinking, being and escaping. It’s romanticism, its emotion and intuition over rationalism. More importantly, it’s taken directly from a book by Lord Whimsy called The Affected Provincial’s Companion Vol. 1. 

QDT: Did the new name come to you easily or was it a grueling process?
 
MT: Grueling. Making up band names can become an obsession. Drunk, high, early in the morning, I would make a list then scrap it, then do it again. I’ve got some for future projects that I’m going to start. Mammal of Paradise came early actually, but I thought we couldn’t use it until I wrote Mr. Whimsy for permission and he so eloquently said “Matthew–words are for everyone, wear it in good health”.

 
QDT: That’s pretty cool. How has the reception been with the new name from your fans and friends?

MT: Awesome, I met a guy yesterday and he asked what my band was called, I told him, and he didn’t say, “How do you spell that?” Otherwise, no one really knows.

QDT: What should we expect from Mammal of Paradise in the new year?

MT: I’m very excited for the new year. We have the Mammal of Paradise debut record presently being mixed by our friend Andrew Weiss and new songs to write. We have a couple up online now. 

QDT: Would you consider yourself a "mammal of paradise"?

MT: Absolutely, I’ve got my own exotic paradise going on right now, somehow, it’s a mystery how I do it sometimes.
 
QDT: What is your favorite thing to get at the deli?

MT: Whatever I forgot to get at the grocery store…cream, cafe bustello.

 
 
(Photo by Ed Roper)
 
– Q.D. Tran