Local Music

Talking to Animals, an independent Boston rock band, excites and engages its audience by blending powerful rock 'n' roll guitar and drums with the distinctive voice of singer Juliana Nash. Their sound--which defies classification--resembles a mix of Natalie Merchant's 10,000 Maniacs and Scotland's distorted but melodic Teenage Fanclub.

Energetic drummer Jay Bellerose provides a substantial backbone to the Animals' songs. His driving beats power the music without overwhelming the other instruments. Guitarist Thomas Juliano also adds force to the band with skillful psychedelic strumming. His creative '70s-type solos--together with Jay's modern drumming--produce a compelling package.

Greg Porter adds to this mix with consistent, rapid-fire bass playing. He also collaborates with Nash to write emotional, from-the-heart lyrics. Like alternative rock singers Black Francis (of the Pixies) and Thurston Moore (of Sonic Youth), Nash has the ability to switch her voice from a peaceful lullaby one moment to a rage-filled shriek the next. Her voice quietly draws in the listener before overwhelming with her sheer power.

Porter's steady bass lines help to keep this high-powered, often volatile, band from roaring out of control. His smooth and dynamic playing is the only constant in cacophony-prone band.

Talking To Animals often play at Boston clubs The Paradise, Nightstage. The Channel, Avalon, T.T the Bears and The Plow. At a recent gig at the Middle East Cafe, they energized the room, transforming hesitant dancing into uninhibited partying.

I met with Talking to Animals after their Middle East Cafe performance. Since we couldn't hear each other over the din of the noisy smoke-filled room, Juliana, the lead singer, suggested we sit outside. With sirens blaring and cars rushing by, Juliana and Greg, later joined by Jay and Thomas, talked comfortably about themselves and their music.

How long have you been together?

Juliana: Greg [bassist and co-writer] and I have been together for over five years in different forms of bands, and we've been in this form for a year. Jay, who's our drummer, joined us a year ago. Thomas [guitarist] started jamming with him and they got along really well.

Greg: The music we're doing now and the band have been evolving for five years, like the songwriting and the way Juliana sings and everything. But what we're doing now--the band and the music--is about a year old.

In what direction do you think you're evolving?

Greg: Cacophony--sort of.

Juliana: We used to be really poppy and quirky. I think we're stronger and louder now and more rocked out.

Who are your biggest influences?

Greg: Tonight we listened to The Who.

Juliana: Neil Young.

Which album?

Juliana: Harvest, and the new Harvest, which is good except for that song about the dog.

What else do you listen do?

Juliana: We listen to Arrested Development. And we listened to Jay play in his high school talent show when he was 15.

Greg: And we listened to Juliana sing a song with her best friend of 15 years, Laura Powers.

Juliana: We were listening to our high school records, like if you were in a high school show they'd make a record. We were laughing very hard.

Are you all originally from Boston?

Greg: No one's from Boston. The closest is Dave, and he's from Maine.

Juliana: And Thomas is from Queens. And I'm from Manhattan, and Greg is from North Carolina.

So how did you two first meet?

Greg: We went to school at The New England Conservatory, down in Boston, and met and became best friends and did a lot of stuff together in school. And once we got out of school we started trying to make music in the real world as opposed to the school world, and we decided to form our own band.

Did you ever think about going back to Manhattan?

Greg: She thinks about it everyday. She plans to move.

Juliana: I don't want to leave without the band. And New York's not a good band city.

Is that why you stayed in Boston?

Juliana: Yeah, but we could move to another city, just not New York.

Greg: We're kind of feeling like we need a new inspiration, different people to play for.

Juliana: When you play a city for five years--Greg and I have played here for five years--and we were signed once, but it didn't work out.

Who were you signed with?

Juliana: With Epic, but it didn't work out. We got a development deal for six months. We were very in-between pop and alternative then. All the independents thought we were too pop, and all the majors thought we were too alternative. So they wanted to sign us, but they were like: Could you be a little more poppy? Greg and I had to go write with some writer in New York who wrote Cher hits. But it was a good lesson: just never be what you're not.

Greg: We kind of weren't sure what we were. And in the last year, we've really found out what we feel, and what kind of music we want to do. We've grown and gone through all this developing, and this year it's kind of all come together. And we're so happy with it.

Juliana: I just want to tell you what happened with the Epic deal. The head of the label started really liking us when we turned in our five-song tape, but then he got fired. And the new guy really didn't like us.

You were saying you weren't sure what kind of music you played before. How would you categorize your music now?

Greg: We kind of don't like to categorize it. We like to do a lot of different kind of stuff. I guess if you have to, it's alternative.

Juliana: It's the kind of alternative that's easy to listen to. I think we're more like bands that came out of the '70s, and that's why we're hard to define--because I'm a woman, and those bands had male singers. If you can think of one band, there's Jefferson Airplane, but we don't sound like Jefferson Airplane.

Jay: We do a live show, a lot of energy. Some bands are more studio bands, and we're more of live band.

Juliana: We haven't really captured our songs on tape.

What would you like to see happen with your band?

Greg: We'd really like to get signed by a small independent label. That would be the best.

Jay: We'd get a chance to go on the road. We want to get out and have more people see us.

For more information about Talking To Animals, call Shannon Ferguson at 876-4121.