SoCal-native band Half the Animal brings alternative pop to Dance Marathon
Chase Johnson, the frontman of Half the Animal, hyped the crowd during it’s 8 p.m. performance. The band played a 40-minute set, which included songs “Babylon” and “Saturday Night.”(Nick Kardan/Daily Bruin)
By Linda Xu
April 8, 2017 10:28 p.m.
Half the Animal’s all-black outfits clashed with the bright sounds they brought to Dance Marathon.
Growing up in Laguna Beach, California, drummer Nick Gross and lead singer Chase Johnson began their musical careers in a band called Open Air Stereo in high school, mainly performing rock music, Gross said.
However, the group rebranded themselves as Half the Animal in 2016, recording songs that aligned with a more alternative pop sound.
Half the Animal balanced catchy electronic earworms such as “Shakes” with slower anthems such as “Babylon.” The heavy drum beats brought the scattered crowd together in synchronized rhythm while Johnson encouraged people to jump and clap along.
Dancers sang along to the band’s cover of Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire”, and bounced to the band’s final original song, “Saturday Night” – a fitting end to the 10th hour set.
Dancers clamored towards the stage as Gross threw his drumsticks into the audience. One was snagged by first-year statistics student Kendrick Brayman.
“They were not the sound I was expecting, but the sound I was wanting to hear,” Brayman said.
