GIRAFFES? GIRAFFES!


Giraffes? Giraffes! (often abbreviated as G? G!) are an instrumental math rock band formed in 2001 in Massachusetts by guitarist/drummer Kenneth Topham and guitarist Joseph Andreoli. Along with math rock, the band's music frequently touches on post-rock, progressive rock and experimental rock.

Ken Topham and Joseph Andreoli both grew up in Massachusetts and met at Keene State college. The pair moved to California for four years, before eventually returning to Massachusetts and forming Giraffes? Giraffes!. The moves exposed the duo to several "musical communities," which Andreoli described as "totally weird to join," and then the band would "leave them and start again somewhere else."
During their stay in California, Topham and Andreoli performed in several different groups, before performing "this stripped down guitar and drums thing for fun" under the name Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, taking the name from a Dave Eggers book. A year later, Giraffes? Giraffes! would also take their name from an Eggers book.The titles for their songs, on the other hand, are chosen after each track is complete and is based on the tone of the finished song and the evolution of the ideas (used and unused) throughout the creative writing and arranging process.






The group's first album SUPERBASS!!!! (Black Death Greatest Hits Vol. 1) (2005) was recorded in a warehouse in Massachusetts and was recorded mostly live, as with the rest of the band's output. "We try to record as much as possible live with minimal overdubs," says Topham. "But for the sake of time and frustration, we do some overdubs." Andreoli added "especially with looping. In a recording situation where you’re working with loops one little fuck up a loop 8 minutes in on a ten minute piece it’s just devastating," concluding that the band tries to only record material that they can play live.

In 2007, G? G! released their second studio album, More Skin With Milk-Mouth recorded in Topham's apartment in Santa Cruz.And following on from that with Pink Magick in 2011 and the 2013 split EP10" with Goddard. The band's most recent release is Spazz Master 7", released in February 2015.
The band is very open to the use of their music in other media, publicly responding to one fan's request by stating: "Use whatever you want. Sounds cool! If it’s ever on the Internet, send us a link to check it out."

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