The Amygdaloids
Encyclopedia
The Amygdaloids, an American rock
band from New York City, are four New York University
scientists: Joseph LeDoux
, vocals and guitar, Tyler Volk
, lead guitar
and vocals, Nina Curly, Bass, and Daniela Schiller, drums. LeDoux is a professor of neuroscience and Volk a professor of biology. Curly is a graduate student and Schiller a postdoctoral researcher
in cognitive neuroscience
.
with mind and brain themes, including: Manic Depression, 19th Nervous Breakdown
, and Mother’s Little Helper. But, in addition, they performed several original songs about mind and brain and mental disorders
. With each gig during the following spring, they included more original material.
In May, 2007, they played to 10,000 people in Madison Square Garden
for NYU’s College of Arts and Science graduation . The audience of students and their families did “the wave” during their set. The moment was captured on video by several parents and friends and posted on YouTube
, which gave them a PR boost.
. The interview led to an invitation to play at the JF Kennedy Center
in Washington DC. Since then the group has had a steady flow of invitations to play in NYC clubs and art venues and museums.
The Amygdaloids were offered a recording deal with Knock Out Noise, a music production
company, and in June 2008 they did basic tracking for a new CD(producer/engineer, Stuart Chatwood
; executive producer
, Tim Sommer). A pre-release version of the CD called Brainstorm was issued in March 2009. It contains 17 songs, 14 by LeDoux and three by Volk. Grammy Award
Winner Rosanne Cash
sings duets with LeDoux on two of the songs, Mind Over Matter and Crime of Passion. The official release will be spring 2010 and will be called Theory of My Mind. It will include a 13th song, Theory of My Mind, that was written by LeDoux and featuring Simon Baron-Choen, autism researcher from Cambridge UK on bass.
Science Music Festival, an event organized by LeDoux, Knock-Out Noise, and the Sensation and Emotion Network. Guest artists included Lenny Kaye
(Patti Smith Band), Dee Snider
(Twisted Sister), Rufus Wainwright
, The Kennedys
, Gary Lucas
(Capitan Beefheart), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate
), Stuart Chatwood (The Tea Party), Peter Holsapple (The dBs, REM), among others. Other scientist musicians include Daniel Levitin
(author of This Is Your Brain On Music
, McGill
neuropsychologist), Pardis Sabeti
(Harvard Geneticist), and David Soldier (aka, David Sulzer, a Columbia
Neuroscientist). At Rock-It Science, The Amygdaloids were joined by Maura Kennedy on vocals and Jeff Peretz (the producer of their first CD) on guitar.
Their unique profile, scientists who make music about their science, has garnered them much attention in the media. Though their songs are about mind and brain, they are rock songs with typical rock song themes about love and life.
American rock
American rock is rock music from the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and country music, and also drew on folk music, jazz and classical music. The creation of American rock music was highly influenced by the British Invasion of the American pop...
band from New York City, are four New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
scientists: Joseph LeDoux
Joseph E. LeDoux
Joseph E. LeDoux is a neuroscientist, the Henry and Lucy Moses Professor of Science, and professor of neuroscience and psychology at New York University. He is also the director of the Center for the Neuroscience of Fear and Anxiety, a multi-university Center in New York City devoted to using...
, vocals and guitar, Tyler Volk
Tyler Volk
Tyler Volk is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biology at New York University. Volk is an active proponent of the Gaia hypothesis. A 1989 study, co-authored by Volk, published in the journal Nature asserts that without the cooling effects of living things, Earth would be 80 degrees...
, lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and vocals, Nina Curly, Bass, and Daniela Schiller, drums. LeDoux is a professor of neuroscience and Volk a professor of biology. Curly is a graduate student and Schiller a postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral researcher
Postdoctoral research is scholarly research conducted by a person who has recently completed doctoral studies, normally within the previous five years. It is intended to further deepen expertise in a specialist subject, including acquiring novel skills and methods...
in cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is an academic field concerned with the scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognition, with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced by the brain...
.
Early career
The band’s first gig was on November 1, 2006 when they formed to play a set in conjunction with a lecture given by LeDoux about his research on fear and the brain. They played a number of rock cover songsCover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
with mind and brain themes, including: Manic Depression, 19th Nervous Breakdown
19th Nervous Breakdown
"19th Nervous Breakdown" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones.The song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during their 1965 tour of the United States. The song was recorded during the Aftermath sessions between 3 and 8 December 1965 at RCA Recording Studios in Hollywood,...
, and Mother’s Little Helper. But, in addition, they performed several original songs about mind and brain and mental disorders
Mental illness
A mental disorder or mental illness is a psychological or behavioral pattern generally associated with subjective distress or disability that occurs in an individual, and which is not a part of normal development or culture. Such a disorder may consist of a combination of affective, behavioural,...
. With each gig during the following spring, they included more original material.
In May, 2007, they played to 10,000 people in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
for NYU’s College of Arts and Science graduation . The audience of students and their families did “the wave” during their set. The moment was captured on video by several parents and friends and posted on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
, which gave them a PR boost.
Recording
The Amygdaloids recorded their debut CD, Heavy Mental, at Axis Sound in New York (Jeff Peretz, producer; Steve Rossiter, engineer) in June 2007. The CD contained 8 original songs, 7 written by LeDoux and one by Volk. It was released in October 2007, around the same time as an article on LeDoux in Salon.Com called “Joseph LeDoux’s Heavy Mental” by acclaimed rock interviewer, Jonathan Cott, who did the last interview with John LennonJohn Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
. The interview led to an invitation to play at the JF Kennedy Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
in Washington DC. Since then the group has had a steady flow of invitations to play in NYC clubs and art venues and museums.
The Amygdaloids were offered a recording deal with Knock Out Noise, a music production
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
company, and in June 2008 they did basic tracking for a new CD(producer/engineer, Stuart Chatwood
Stuart Chatwood
Stuart Chatwood, is a Canadian musician, best known as the bass guitar and keyboard player for the rock band The Tea Party. The Tea Party are known for fusing together musical styles of both the Eastern and Western worlds, in what they call "Moroccan roll"...
; executive producer
Executive producer
An executive producer is a producer who is not involved in any technical aspects of the film making or music process, but who is still responsible for the overall production...
, Tim Sommer). A pre-release version of the CD called Brainstorm was issued in March 2009. It contains 17 songs, 14 by LeDoux and three by Volk. Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
Winner Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash
Rosanne Cash is an American singer-songwriter and author. She is the eldest daughter of the late country music singer Johnny Cash and his first wife, Vivian Liberto Cash Distin....
sings duets with LeDoux on two of the songs, Mind Over Matter and Crime of Passion. The official release will be spring 2010 and will be called Theory of My Mind. It will include a 13th song, Theory of My Mind, that was written by LeDoux and featuring Simon Baron-Choen, autism researcher from Cambridge UK on bass.
Rock-It Science Music Festival
On March 3, 2009, The Amygdaloids shared the stage with a star-studded cast of musicians for the Rock-ItRock-It
Rock-It is an Australian music festival held at the Arena Joondalup in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia. The festival was first held in 1999, and mainly features modern rock music...
Science Music Festival, an event organized by LeDoux, Knock-Out Noise, and the Sensation and Emotion Network. Guest artists included Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye
Lenny Kaye is an American guitarist, composer and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.- Early life :...
(Patti Smith Band), Dee Snider
Dee Snider
Daniel "Dee" Snider is an American singer-songwriter, screenwriter, radio personality, and actor. Snider is most famous for his role as the frontman of the heavy metal band Twisted Sister...
(Twisted Sister), Rufus Wainwright
Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter. He has recorded six albums of original music, EPs, and tracks on compilations and film soundtracks.-Early years:...
, The Kennedys
The Kennedys
The Kennedys may refer to:*The Kennedy family, an American political family*The Kennedys , a German museum about the Kennedy family*The Kennedys , an American folk rock band...
, Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
(Capitan Beefheart), Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate
Dream Syndicate
The Dream Syndicate was an alternative rock band from Los Angeles, California active from 1981 to 1989. The band was associated with the Paisley Underground music movement.-History:...
), Stuart Chatwood (The Tea Party), Peter Holsapple (The dBs, REM), among others. Other scientist musicians include Daniel Levitin
Daniel Levitin
Professor Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D. is a prominent American cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer...
(author of This Is Your Brain On Music
This Is Your Brain On Music
This Is Your Brain On Music is a popular science book written by the McGill University neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, and first published by Dutton Books in the U.S. and Canada in 2006, and updated and released in paperback by Plume/Penguin in 2007...
, McGill
McGill
McGill may refer to:People:* McGill , a common surname of Scottish and Irish origin and list of for individuals with the surname McGill* McGill family , a prominent early Americo-Liberian family...
neuropsychologist), Pardis Sabeti
Pardis Sabeti
Pardis C. Sabeti is an Iranian American computational biologist, medical geneticist and evolutionary geneticist, who developed a bioinformatic statistical method which identifies sections of the genome that have been subject to natural selection and an algorithm which explains the effects of...
(Harvard Geneticist), and David Soldier (aka, David Sulzer, a Columbia
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
Neuroscientist). At Rock-It Science, The Amygdaloids were joined by Maura Kennedy on vocals and Jeff Peretz (the producer of their first CD) on guitar.
Their unique profile, scientists who make music about their science, has garnered them much attention in the media. Though their songs are about mind and brain, they are rock songs with typical rock song themes about love and life.