Ceramic Animal's "Sweet Unknown" Feels Right at Home on Easy Eye Sound's Roster
Ceramic Animal, photo by Ford Fairchild
By Emily Herbein
Doylestown psych-inspired rockers Ceramic Animal are celebrating tomorrow’s release of their fourth LP, “Sweet Unknown,” at Johnny Brenda’s this Sunday with Echo Kid, but arguably the biggest accomplishment is their secret signing to Dan Auerbach’s legendary Easy Eye Sound label last year. I feel really lucky to have watched this band rise through an insurmountable tragedy that resulted in the release of 2020’s “High End” LP, an album that I truly felt was untoppable and got me through most of the early pandemic’s quietest days. “Sweet Unknown” is proving to be exactly that, though. Lead singer Chris Regan is a gifted and honest songwriter, and the support of brothers Erik (drums) and Elliot Regan (keys), bass player Dallas Hosey, and guitarist Anthony Marchione make this record worthy of the iconic platform that it’s been given. In a lot of ways, this release listens like Ceramic Animal finally feels right at home.
I caught up with Chris for the first time in a while to talk about all of the change surrounding this release, and the relatively high-profile industry Ceramic Animal has quickly been thrown into. He’s a musician who can handle it all in stride, and in my honest perspective, is exactly right for this sort of next step.
A lot has changed since we last spoke about “High End” in 2020. What has that transitional period looked like — signing with Easy Eye, exploring new sounds.
Chris Regan: It’s been a good journey, we began writing the album in 2020 and recorded it in early 2021. Working with Dan and the Easy Eye Sound team has been great – I used to wear many hats in the band as I would write, record, and mix everything but now I can take some hats off so maybe I only wear one or two hats now and I can put the other hats on my shelf or in the closet. Dan is a wizard in the stu so the sonics are all impeccable. It was great having him shepherd us through the fields of tone as we created what felt like a paradox of timeless-yet-fresh. The only challenging thing about the transitional period was that we were keeping it a secret the whole time, but I did share the info with some people that I really trusted and knew cared which was imperative in helping me work through it and stay focused. So, thank you to them.
How do you feel this new album represents Ceramic Animal? What’s new? What’s the same?
Chris Regan: This new album is definitely still a full-on CA album but with the added flavors and influence from Dan, Nashville, and an actual studio to record in. The sounds and some styling are new but the diversity of the album is classic CA through and through.
“High End” was a very specific album surrounding themes of loss and moving on. How would you compare songwriting processes?
Chris Regan: Some of those elements still find their way onto this record for sure. The writing process was a lot different. Instead of me sitting in my home studio layering track after track, I was around the kitchen table in the EES studio with Dan and either Angelo Petraglia, Pat McLaughlin, or Desmond Child. A very Nashville move. I was really trying to soak in as much as possible from these legends. It was a profound experience.
Was big label representation ultimately the goal for you? You’re one of a handful of prominent Philly (and PHL adjacent) bands who have earned this sort of recognition. How’s it feel?
Chris Regan: It was never the intended goal for us to sign with a label, but this opportunity just felt so serendipitous and powerful that we had to do it. It felt like a large step forward in so many ways. And purely, I was just really excited to see what we would create with Dan.
What are your goals following this release?
Chris Regan: We really want to start the next album right away, lace the shows we have opening for The Black Keys, tour internationally, sell out huge venues, headline our own arena tours, win 14 Grammys, drink a beer, shoot under 80 consistently while golfing, maybe run for president.
I hope they get those Grammys. You can stream the best of Ceramic Animal before “Sweet Unknown” drops tomorrow, and find tickets to their homecoming headliner at Johnny Brenda’s March 6th right here.