Homegrown Doylestown Band Announces New Album, Signs To Record Label

DOYLESTOWN, PA — After self-funding, self-releasing, and self-producing three albums all on their own, a band of brothers and childhood friends from Doylestown just dropped a big announcement.

On Thursday, Ceramic Animal signed to a record label and announced a new album, "Sweet Unknown," forthcoming on March 4. They also dropped a new single by the same name.

Ceramic Animal is known for "an original and exciting new sound" which includes influences of "glam, post-punk, psych rock, [and] ’70s pop," according to their website. The band features a trio of brothers: Chris Regan (vocals and guitar), Erik Regan (drums), and Elliot Regan (vocals and keys), rounded out by childhood friend Anthony Marchione (guitar) and Dallas Hosey (vocals, bass).

The five bandmates say they appreciated the chance to figure out their sound in the Doylestown and Philly-area music scenes, which place less business demand on music professionals. They got their start playing in a series of cover bands throughout high school and college, performing homages to Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Strokes, and The Black Keys.

Sadly, the brothers' father and their greatest influence died before getting to witness Ceramic Animal's success. But the band says he still inspires their music.

Now, the band has signed with the record label Easy Eye Sound and begun working with the Black Keys' frontman himself, Dan Auerbach. Ceramic Animal recorded the songs on "Sweet Unknown," the album, from Auerbach's studio in Nashville.

"Sweet Unknown," the song, seems to be in part an homage to their journey while they begin a new chapter. Some lyrics:

Said it won't be easy
Anyone could find a spark
And nobody believes me
That I can make it in the dark
Here we go
Jumping in the sweet unknown

Ceramic Animal released a live performance video on Thursday.

The band also announced 2022 tour dates, with a show at Johnny Brenda's in Philadelphia scheduled for March 6.

According to their website, they naturally fell into different roles while navigating their way to this point: Chris handled the creative side, Erik took care of financial logistics, and Elliot became the team's legal voice.

“We didn’t know what we were doing, and we still don’t,” Erik said. “We were able to try things out, and we tried to fail small, fail cheap, and fail fast whenever we could. Then we could regroup and keep going.”

Learn more about Ceramic Animal here.