March 11th, 2012 
Brian Leak 
Exotic Animal Petting Zoo is an experimental progressive rock band with a hugely diverse sound that’s as original as their name. They’ve released one very well received full length album and will be releasing their sophomore effort Tree Of Tongues via Mediaskare Records on May 8.
UTG spoke with one of the founding members Stephen Carr about their upcoming release, their influences, and a little memory with Marky Mark. Read through to get the scoop on EAPZ and make sure to check out two amazing new tracks from Tree Of Tongues on their Facebook page at the link provided above.
Who/what are some of your guys’ biggest influences that go into your writing?
We have a lot of diverse influences between all of us, but to name a few off the top of my head would be: Sigur Ros, Aphex Twin, Tycho, Deftones, The Flashbulb, Every Time I Die, Little People, The Mars Volta, Smashing Pumpkins, Hella, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Nurse With Wound, or anything that we can all agree on that sounds sweet for the part we are composing.
What can the world expect from the band in 2012?
Our goal for 2012 is to reach out to as many kids as possible and to show that we are not a band who wants to sound like another band. We want to set the bar for ourselves with our own genre we create and don’t want to be a flavor of the month band. We have a full US tour already booked to be announced shortly and plan to stay out on the road for as long as possible. Once we leave for tour we do not have a place to call home anymore except for our van so possibilities can be endless for us.
What did you put into your upcoming record that differs from I Have Made My Bed In Darkness?
IHMMBID was mostly just a collection of riffs and different styles we kinda just threw together and put some vocals over it. Tree Of Tongues has numerous things that IHMMBID was lacking… structure, emotion and originality. We wanted to slightly veer away from the heavy “experimental” aspect. Instead, we wanted to sound like an actual band with songs, but still keep the heavy prog style to it.
How did the band name originate?
On our local fair brochure that I had to assemble for 13 hours straight. The name never left my head ever since and when it came time to come up with a band name, the most difficult one to say and remember was a hit… it was Exotic Animal Petting Zoo or “Through The Arms Of The Tyrant” or “Tomorrow’s Today.”
How would you describe an Exotic Animal Petting Zoo live show?
It’s kinda like the moon Iapetus having a tsunami with no water over epilepsy.
What would you say has been the highlight of the band’s career thus far?
Mark Wahlberg winking at the band in person.
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