The Golden Animals Desert Williamsburg for Creativity’s Sake

Former Brooklyn residents and Golden Animals duo Tommy Eisner and Linda Beecroft happily swapped their spots in the too-hot-to-trot Williamsburg scene two years ago and trekked cross-country to the isolated deserts of SoCal in search of the organic space to nurture their 60s blues and rock ‘n roll-inspired music. A few months in the desert sun has resulted in their psychedelic debut LP (Free Your Mind and Win a Pony), the group’s first cross-country tour, and no sign of a return to the East Coast.

How did you guys come up with the album title?
Tommy Eisner:: It’s the first line in one of the songs on the album called “Shine On Me.” We finished writing and recording the album, and we were trying to think of names, so we looked at the lyrics of some songs, and that first line made us both laugh. We both just cracked up to think about naming an album that. Nothing else was that funny, so we thought it was good to have some humor in the title, to make sure no one took anything on the album too seriously.

So the desired effect is for listeners to “lol” when they read the title?
Linda Beecroft: Well, yes!

Can you describe the album in four words or less?
TE: I think that we could tell you four words that were important to us when we were making the record, all natural elements ...
LB: Fire, air, space, and earth.

Does that create perfect harmony on the album?
LB: I think we must add water also ... then it’s a perfect balance.

Your music sounds like it’s from decades past. What influences you to create it?
LB: A lot of it comes from just being in nature together, and the other part comes from being inspired by old, really early blues.
TE: Yeah, and I think the kind of music we’re making doesn’t sound old to us. When I listen to blues and 60s music, it sounds like really good music to me, while a lot of the stuff that’s being made now doesn’t. I think that during the 60s, people wanted to make things sound better. Then at some point, everyone wanted to make things cheaper, more affordable, and more accessible. So in the 80s, the idea was to make things cheaper instead of nicer, and I think that part of what we’re doing is reacting against that way of thinking. This disposable culture is ruining what is actually beautiful because you always get what you pay for. I think that we’re trying to make something that’s of a certain quality, and maybe doing that is something people associate with an older time.

You wrote the album in the desert of Southern California. Do you think the location had a lot to do with the particular sound of the album?
TE: I think that had we written it anywhere else, it definitely would’ve sounded totally different. We were really isolated in a way that neither of us had really been before, so while we were writing, I think we both felt like really different people than who we were when we first went there. I think we kind of transformed out there, and that certainly is going to be reflected in the album that we made.

Do you guys have a ritual when you sit down to write music?
TE: We’ve been in the desert for about two years, and I think that our rituals are evolving everyday. We’ve been nomadic, so for each time period we find a different location. We sort of know what we want now, like in our rehearsal room we might want a huge open wall, or a huge window just overlooking nature, so when we’re writing we don’t have to think about society and what time we’re living ... We prefer to only be exposed to things that are not fleeting—a building is going to be torn down, a person walking by you’ll never see again.

You both lived in Brooklyn for a while, but decided it wasn’t for you. Was the music you were making in Brooklyn completely different from what you’re making now?
TE: I just think it’s an evolution. We don’t sit around analyzing our old music; I think there are just natural things that change. We couldn’t be quite as loud in Brooklyn, so we were writing more stuff on the acoustic guitar. If I ever have any kind of idea on the guitar, we’ll immediately just start jamming, because that’s what there is too do. It isn’t the one thing you schedule in amidst all your other things this week. It’s just ... you wake up and that’s all there is to do.

You’re currently on your first official tour. What’s been your favorite city or venue to play so far?
TE: Santos’ Party House was one of the best venues that we played because they had such a killer sound system, and that means almost everything. Aside from just getting paid something, in terms of what kinds of clubs we’d prefer, if the sound system is really good, then that’s really the most important thing.

Will you try to maintain your disconnect from the world by remaining in the desert?
TE: Well, I think we’re still totally connected to one part of this world that a huge part of America isn’t connected to anymore. We’re still very much in the world and experiencing it fully every day. It isn’t jumping on the subway, hopping in a car, and seeing movies, but there’s a lot more to the world than that, so we don’t feel disconnected from the world. When people go out into nature, they don’t feel they’re missing so many things in the city. I think most people who come from the city to nature realize they’ve been missing all this stuff the world had to offer.