Last year, the US prog band Spock's Beard surprisingly formed a new formation: Pattern-Seeking Animals consists of the two Beard musicians Ted Leonard (vocals and guitar) and Dave Meros (bass) as well as ex-drummer Jimmy Keegan and John Boegehold, who up to now has mainly been a co-singer-songwriter and now acts as composer, keyboarder and producer. Musically close to the mother band, Pattern-Seeking Animals offer more AOR elements and melodies that are catchy. Mastermind John Boegehold explained to us which "stories" they have to tell and which mysterious "patterns" these new prog animals are on the trail of.
eclipsed: Can you briefly summarize how Pattern-Seeking Animals came together?
John Boegehold: It started with demos that I wanted to record professionally. Then I called people I knew well, like Ted and Jimmy. It quickly became a band.
eclipsed: Do you see yourself as competition or challenge to Spock's Beard?
Boegehold: It is a continuation of my previous work in tape form. Spock's Beard was only a side project for me. But no, I do not see it as competition. Nowadays, especially in prog, it's not a full-time job anyway. Nobody tours that much that they don't have free time.
eclipsed: How are the tasks and responsibilities distributed in the band? Are you a democratic company?
Boegehold: It's my band, and I write most of the song material, everything on this album. For better or worse, that's my thing. (laughs) That doesn't change anything about the great musical contributions of the individual band members, of course. I myself could never play and realize it that way.
eclipsed: The band name and also the album title sound cryptic. How did you come up with the unusual name Pattern-Seeking Animals, and what musical patterns are you on the trail of?
Boegehold: (laughs) In anthropology, humans are basically seen as highly developed animals that look for patterns in order to survive. Let's say that as hunters in the Stone Age, at some point they found out that at a certain position of the sun, certain animals come out of their hiding place. Actually, we humans are always looking for patterns, in new inventions, but also when reading coffee grounds. (laughs)
