Giraffe Tongue Orchestra, a new supergroup featuring members of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon, The Mars Volta and Dethklok, appears to have a new permanent addition in the form of US actor and musician Juliette Lewis.
After teasing photos of Lewis in the studio with Giraffe Tongue Orchestra (below) over the last few months, band member and The Dillinger Escape Plan guitarist Ben Weinman has confirmed Lewis’ addition to the roster.
In a recent interview with Revolver, Weinman cleared up some of the confusion around the band’s current lineup, but didn’t give too much away.
“There have been some personnel changes throughout the years, it’s something we’ve been working on for a long time and interestingly enough we finished all the music and we’re finalizing all the vocals now, Juliette Lewis is singing on the project right now along with some other guest people,” Weinman said.
Lewis, who stared in films such as What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, The Evening Star and Kalifornia before launching her now-defunct band Juliette And The Licks in 2003, has clearly impressed Weinman with her talents.
“Me and [Juliette Lewis] have become pretty close friends and she’s amazing, obviously I’m a huge fan of her work as an actress and many years ago I saw her band Juliette and the Licks play and like most people I was pretty skeptical.
“I’m like, ‘Oh another actress or actor that has a band, like vanity project blah, blah, blah.’ So I went into the show and I basically saw somebody that gave 110%. By the end of the show she was drenched in sweat, she was throwing herself into the crowd, and when I thought about it I saw this person putting all her energy and spirit into this music, I thought this was almost more real that most bands because she doesn’t need this… She’s a successful actress–she did a 9-minute-long acting scene with Robert DeNiro for god sakes.”
On the subject of Giraffe Tongue Orchestra music, Weinman said tunes will arrive “soon”, through his Part Smasher Inc. imprint. As for the band’s lineup, Mastodon’s Brent Hinds retains his position, while former The Mars Volta drummer Thomas Pridgen has taken up the drum stool from former sticks man and fellow The Mars Volta member Jon Theodore.
On bass the band have Pete Griffin — “Not the guy from Family Guy, but the same name,” Weinman says — who played with Zappa Plays Zappa and is currently part of virtual band Dethklok. Jane’s Addiction’s Eric Avery, who was said to be playing bass in the band, appears to no longer be involved.
Weinman said Giraffe Tongue Orchestra’s music “doesn’t sound quite like Mastodon, Dillinger or Mars Volta, but you hear all of it in there”. He also said the fruits of the band’s labour should come out sometime this year. Catch some footage and happy snaps of the band in the studio, below.
