INTERVIEW ~ SCREAMIN' JACK NOVAK OF FASTEST LAND ANIMAL

I'm music magazine, Fastest Land Animal, the cringe, jack novak, next to you, tesla, john cusimano, andrew meskin, east coast west coast in between, motley crue, alice cooper, covid

There is no question the two plus years of shut downs during Covid had an impact on most people. Despite the restrictions and shut downs many musicians were able to use the down time to create more. Such is the case for John Cusimano and the members of Fastest Land Animal. The group recorded their debut album during the height of Covid. Since then, the band has released their sophomore album (East Coast, West Coast, In Between), did some show dates with the group Tesla and more. I had the chance to sit down with the lead vocalist of Fastest Land Animal Screamin’ Jack Novak.

For those that may not have heard of Fastest Land Animal, who are the members in the band and what are their roles?

Screamin’ Jack Novak/Fastest Land Animal: Screamin’ Jack Novak: Singing and screamin’ (a/k/a John Cusimano: vocals), Alfonse Castillo: Slapping and strummin’ (a/k/a Jonny David: bass and guitars) and Shark Samuels: Bashing and smashin’ (a/k/a Andrew Meskin: drums)

John, you and Jonny both are part of the band The Cringe prior to forming Fastest Land Animal, how is your current band different from The Cringe?

Fastest Land Animal is more of a punk rock band/new wave band, whereas The Cringe is more rooted in grunge and classic rock.

Similar to the Traveling Wilburys, the three of you adopted alter egos for the band, explain the decision in doing that?

We recorded our first album, Fastest Land Animal, at the height of Covid, so touring and public appearances were out of the question. We took that opportunity to go incognito, record music that was different than what we had done in the past, and create alter egos so that the music could be listened to and gauged on its own merits without any preconceived notions.

As your bio states members of the group have “performed alongside everyone from Motley Crue to Alice Cooper. What have you been able to take away from performing with such heavy weights that you incorporate in what Fastest Land Animals does today?

When you do an arena tour and are playing to 15 or 20 thousand people a night, and along with bands of that caliber, you learn real fast that you must swing for the fences and fire on all cylinders at all times. You think of the show as not merely a gig but more of an event. Also, you have to be well rehearsed and comfortable on that stage to the point that as musicians you are not thinking about the notes you play or words you sing. You are thinking only of how to entertain that crowd.

The group’s debut self titled album was released in 2021, how long did you have the songs for that album?

Most of those songs were written in the few months leading up to the recording of the album. I had made a decision that I was only going to write fast punk rock influenced songs – nothing slower than 150 beats per minute – and those rules informed the songs I wrote.

The album was recorded during Covid shut downs in New York so you had to resort to online meetings to collaborate. How was that experience and has that helped you in working on the second album?

While nothing beats getting the band together in person to workshop, rehearse, arrange and eventually record an album, out of necessity we all had to work from home. Luckily, we all have home studios, so while we each live in different corners of the country, technology allowed us to work together remotely. The process was actually quite efficient – so much so that we decided to record the second album the same way.

I read in an interview that your wife Rachael helps with some of the lyrics, how much input do you seek from her when you are writing?

Rachael is a very musical person and she has helped me write lyrics in the past. But for the Fastest Land Animal songs, I worked solo.

The group’s sophomore album East Coast, West Coast In Between was released earlier this year, first off how did you come up with the title for the album?

The band all live in different areas of the country: I live in New York; Alfonse lives in Arizona; and Shark lives in Texas. Hence East Coast, West Coast, In between.

Talk about the album, what can the listeners expect from the 12 songs on the album?

Listeners can expect fast, punchy and hooky songs that are influenced by punk rock and new wave of the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

Did you write all the songs for the new album or did the other members contribute with the writing process?

I’ve written all the songs on this album. The process is, I’ll record the songs as demos, and then bring the demos to the rest of the band and to our producer, Don Gilmore. Then everyone else brings their own ideas and we arrange the songs collaboratively.

Punk rock shows are full of raw energy the band the crowd seem to feed of each other, how do you bring that same vibe or feel when you are recording the albums especially considering you are in rooms by yourself working over video conferencing?

There is a real history among the three guys in the band, as well as Don. We have all been friends for a long time and have thousands of hours playing and recording together live. So even though we aren’t physically in the room together, when we play our parts remotely, it feels like we are.

You had some recent shows with the band Tesla and you have toured with them with The Cringe, what was it like doing shows with them?

Touring with Tesla is the best. We’ve become pretty tight with the guys in the band and their road crew, and we have a great level of comfort when we go on the road with them. On stage, we have developed a relationship with their fans over the years and look forward to playing for them every night.

The new album is out for Fastest Land Animal but what about The Cringe, any new music from that band?

Although I wouldn’t say there will never be any more music from The Cringe, right now I’m laser focused on Fatest Land Animal.

Will there be a third album for Fastest Land Animal?

Yes.

Any tour plans this summer?

We are working on more tour dates and will announce them as soon as we can.

Interview by I’m Music Magazine Writer Tim Board