The Source of All Math Rock

“There seems to be a lot of freaks here,” according to guitarist/vocalist of Dead Animal Mod, Aaron Legrow. It appears San Diego’s reputation of being a garage-pop mecca has evolved to include genres yet to be named. As Legrow mentions on our phone chat, musicians in San Diego “are more into no-wave-type weird jazz stuff than anywhere else,” on a par with Providence and New York City.

Originally from the Ozarks in Missouri, Legrow moved to San Diego in 2009 and found his bandmates Forest Harding and Jason Nunez on Craigslist.

“Craigslist is the source of all math rock in San Diego, which would make Craig Newmark pretty much completely responsible and the master of us all” jokes Harding in a Facebook message. Harding played in a band called Generic (an early incarnation of the Advantage) while living in Nevada City, CA, before moving to Milwaukee, WI, and finally winding up in San Diego. Nunez is a native San Diegan.

“One of the reasons why the music scene is so good here is because it’s a reaction to the fakeness of everything you see. There’s not many people that get on my nerves here,” explains Legrow. He admits an exception he encountered while delivering pizzas, “I’m not really good with customer service. I got fired over a Yelp....

“He ordered five minutes till closing and on a $30 order tipped $1 and some change. I told him to keep the tip and then he was pissed. I guess he’s a well-known photographer in the music world. He takes pictures of radio-friendly bands — Sum 41, Deftones.”

Legrow found him on the internet and sent him an email: “Hey, dude, your pictures are cool, will you take pictures of my band?” Legrow says the gentleman responded with, “Thanks for reaching out, my rates are $4000 a day.”

Dead Animal Mod recently recorded an album with John Cota at Archival Sound. “It’s about how many distractions everybody has due to technology. Human nature fighting against robotics. Even here, people sit on Facebook, Tweeter, or sit on the phone. It’s a way to make you lame and not think for yourself,” says Legrow.

Dead Animal Mod will be playing a benefit show for the Ché Café on January 8. Legrow will be performing at the Soda Bar for the third annual San Diego Experimental Guitar Show, January 21.