Animal Kingdom Get Festive With Intimate Christmas Concert

Posted on Dec 28th 2009 4:10PM by Animal Kingdom
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Holed up in a North London church-turned-studio, Animal Kingdom are gathering material for their sophomore album just months after the release of their breakthrough debut, 'Signs and Wonders.' The British quartet will be checking in during their creative brainstorming process with personal anecdotes and photos. Here, the band talks about the London premier of 'It Might Get Loud' and their special Christmas concert for their friends and family.

Although we've had to rehearse with hats and scarfs on, the bitterly cold spells from Scandinavia have also brought with them some Christmas cheer. We've had a week of preparing a few little winter warmers for our fans, rubbing shoulders with legends of the rock world and playing a special Christmas gig at our local pub with some of North London's finest new acts.

So for all our friends who have subscribed to our website (weareanimalkingdom.com) we have hand made six little Christmas crackers, little video clips, a couple of extra songs and live performances for you to enjoy with your mince pies.

Tuesday night was our band's Christmas outing to the premier of 'It Might Get Loud.' We were invited along with Paul from Snow Patrol and Som from My Vitriol to the Hammersmith Apollo. After narrowly avoiding being run over on the crazy junction that runs by the Apollo, we made our way to the entrance and watched from the side as Jimmy Page was interviewed on the red carpet. We tried to enter in the side entrance but got redirected to the box office, which was around the other side of the mob of photographers and Zeppelin fans. We bustled our way through but didn't gain entry there either, finally we were pointed to the main entrance and realized we should have been walking down the red carpet with all the other guests ... Oops!

We just made it in time for Jimmy's intro. Now, I don't get starstruck very often, but having Led Zeppelin as a solid musical foundation, it's almost impossible not to be slightly in awe. He sat two rows behind us and I could hear him commenting and laughing all the way through the film. For such a legend, he came across as really genuine and down to earth. At the end, he received a standing ovation. While everyone watched, he made his way past us, but almost went arse over tit because Rich left a bottle of champagne in the pathway. Luckily Hamish pulled the bag from his feet just in time. Just think, we could have killed the guy! We then went on to a little after-show bar for a pint, and I must say, if I look as well as Jimmy at his age after all he's done, I'll be one happy white-haired dude.

On Wednesday we played our Christmas show for friends and fans in North London at The Dairy in Stroud Green. We were supported by our good friends The Title Sequence and Sam Whates. Although a very simple affair, the setting was perfect -- Christmas lights around the windows, a little flurry of snow and everyone was up for some acoustic treats. To finish the set we invited the other guys back on to the stage to join us in playing 'Chalk Stars' with the additional outro of Sufjan Stevens' 'Sister Winter.' It was a memorable end to the evening, and everyone sang along merrily.