Rock and Roll Bestiary

But no doubt about it, the wolf pack is the one that's getting the buzz this year. Maybe the wolf bands are just better than the lion, tiger, bear, shark and goat bands, I don't know. But I don't think that there are any more of them, that's for sure. What's more, I think Klosterman may have erred in using so prosaic a research tool as sociology to arrive at this thesis. Clearly, a series of convergences of this magnitude requires a discipline that allows for a little more mystery and mysticism.

Something like Jungian psychology, which has a lot to say about the matter of animal totems and archetypes. I called a practitioner of that discipline, who didn't want his name used, and here's what the Jungian had to say: "The use of animal names is an effort to associate with the qualities often associated with those animals -- in some cases aggression, as in lions and tigers; in some cases perspicacity, long-seeing vision, as with Eagles and so forth. So it's a rather general set of associations with the instinctual qualities of those animals."

I e-mailed his theory on What It All Means and some other questions to several dozen bands with tiger, wolf, bear, shark and lion names. Characteristically, the tiger bands pounced first. The very next day, I had replies from four out of six of them, but not a peep from the wolves, lions*, sharks or bears. (And of the Tiger bands that didn't reply, one was Tiger Bear Wolf and the other was Tigerbot Hesh, both of which are tigers adulterated by other animals or robotics.)

(*One lion band -- Cypress's Lions in Paris -- did respond, but we might print their response later.)

Tigers and Monkeys, New York, New York, www.tigersandmonkeys.com

Question fielded by front woman Shonali Bhowmik, formerly of Ultrababyfat. "I was in a bind. I called a comedian friend of mine for guidance and he asked me, 'What are your two favorite animals?' The response 'tigers and monkeys' just flowed from my lips.

"No other band names were considered. There are no dissenters either. In fact, I am sure that my other bandmates are in the band precisely because we are called Tigers and Monkeys. Seriously, after naming the band, I found out that our guitar player has a tiger tattoo and a beautiful ape belt buckle he wears all the time. At each of our performances -- depending on how we feel, each one of us takes on the characteristics of the animals; some of us are Tigers, some of us are Monkeys, and then there are those of us that are a little bit Tiger and a little bit Monkey. I noticed [percussionist] Antonia Santangelo's teeth are getting a bit more fang-like these days and [keyboardist-drummer] Jason Sheinkopf has definitely been swinging a bit more from the rafters at our shows.

"In terms of attitude, perhaps we are conveying our appreciation of the playfulness and majestic qualities that both our music and these animals share. Honestly, I sing about animals in many of our songs. They are often given human characteristics and then their characteristics are often given to inanimate objects or ideas. It is somewhat therapeutic to view animals as people. It is comforting. I am sure there are things that humans will never be able to comprehend. Oh, hippie drippy stuff, huh?

"Have you checked out the Chinese horoscopes? Apparently, tigers do not make good lovers for monkeys. Which works out well for my band, no romantic dramas within the band."

Tiger in the Grass, Charleston/Columbia, South Carolina, www.gallowaymusic.com

Question fielded by Adam Seven, a.k.a. Tiger One: "Tiger in the Grass is from a children's book my mother read to me when I was young. It references a housecat that is 'play stalking' in the grass, trying to connect with its primal former self.

"We used to be in a band called 'Living Continues in Galloway, Nearer to God's Earth through these Weathers, through which Life Pulses Processionally as the Moods of the Earth Flank Across the Skies Endlessly.' We were called …Galloway… but this is the right name for the right time.

"We're trying to convey a sense of the loss of nature and the exotic, and our domestic selves dealing with the loss. We are not aggressive [like tigers], so I don't think that particular quality was reflected in our band's sound. We were reaching for exoticism and a feeling of nearing extinction. The rarity of the tiger in the grass.

"Yeah, there's tons of tiger bands out there. We have bonded with many of them acknowledging this fact."

Tiger Cried Beef, New York, New York, www.tigercriedbeef.com

Question fielded by guitarist Keith Parkins: "I was at a Thai restaurant with a friend and we saw that one of the dishes was Tiger Cried Beef. I thought that it must be a typo, which is why I liked it, but then later found out that it was indeed a tasty dish.