Achter deze toch enigszins merkwaardige bandnaam gaat een gezelschap schuil dat bij menig rock- en metalfan de nodige interesse zal wekken. Giraffe Tongue Orchestra bestaat namelijk uit Ben Weinman van The Dillinger Escape Plan, William DuVall van Alice In Chains, Brent Hinds van Mastodon, Dethklok’s Pete Griffin en voormalig The Mars Volta drummer Thomas Prigden. Deze heren vormen niet het type supergroep dat we al zo vaak hebben gezien en gehoord. Dit zijn kerels die willen experimenteren en nieuwe paden willen inslaan.

De heren hebben inmiddels een album opgenomen dat op 23 september zal verschijnen. Het album heet Broken Lines en hieronder kun je alvast twee nummers luisteren, namelijk Blood Moon en Crucifixion. Komend weekend maakt de band haar live debuut tijdens het Reading festival en een dag later staan ze in Leeds op de planken.

Zanger DuVall vertelde een radiostation over de plaat het volgende: “It’s a serious, serious album, man. I could not be more proud of this thing. We just pushed each other to new heights all around, and it’s amazing… It’s such a dynamic record, and it’s just so powerful. And these are some of the best lyrics that I’ve ever written, because I was pushed to write to this really cinematic soundtrack.”

Over de muzikale koers zei hij: “It has a lot of what people might expect in terms of heavy, progressive… a lot of riffing, a lot of stuff going on… A lot of beats per minute, a lot of beats per second. I mean, Thomas, he can scramble the eggs like nobody else. So there is a lot of that. There’s a feast for the senses. For all the musicians and musos out there, we’ve got you covered. But as much of that heavy, progressive stuff is there, there are also more, shall I say, straightforward, for lack of a better way of putting it, there’s more straightforward tunes, but they still have the drive and the attitude and the go-for-the-throat quality. But, you know, a couple of them you might even be able to dance to as much as headbang to. We all have eclectic tastes, and we wanted to represent all of that.”

Weinman voegde daaraan toe: “This band has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. Many times I considered just giving up on it, because it just seemed like it wasn’t meant to be. From the very start, it was something that was just supposed to be fun and kind of casual, so, in essence, even if it didn’t work out, that would have been fine. For some reason, Brent and I kept just wanting to continue to try to find the right kind of chemistry to make this happen, and William actually was the first guy we ever talked to about singing with this project when it was just me and Brent, interestingly enough.”