"They go, 'What is that? That's bizarre,' " Hulleberg says, laughing.
Part of what impresses Hulleberg about Animal Collective is the band's boldness - the creative way the members pull music from their instruments. They're not classically trained, he says, and they probably don't know a lot about theory, but they sure know sound.
He calls the band's music "wonderfully quirky," but then wants to scratch that.
"Quirky isn't really the right adjective. There's a dismissive quality to 'quirky.' Ebullient?" he tries. "I don't know. It's a great vibe."
DeRan met the band through mutual friends in Baltimore. They started hanging out and seeing shows together and, in 2005, when things were beginning to gel for the band members, they asked him to be their manager.
Through the years, their nine albums, rabid fan base and burgeoning critical acclaim seem to come almost despite Animal Collective's efforts. The band members don't advertise. (They think it's "kind of evil," DeRan explains.) And with the guys either married, getting married and having kids, they have cut back on their tour dates - something, DeRan says, that no other band trying to shop a new album would do.
The group has turned down Coachella, other big music festivals and appearances on TV shows just because they aren't the ones the guys like to watch.
As for Conan O'Brien and Letterman, DeRan says, "They like those guys as comedians. They watched them all through their college years."
For those with tickets to tonight's show - it sold out in a matter of minutes, as did Monday's show in D.C. at the 9:30 Club - it will be a rare chance to see the ascendant band in such an intimate setting.
The Ottobar holds just 400 people, compared with 9:30, which can pack in 1,200, and Terminal 5, where the group is playing in New York City, which holds 3,000.
DeRan, even though he owns The Ottobar, wanted the guys to play somewhere bigger in Baltimore, but the band vetoed it.
"I said, 'If you're willing to play a stage the size of a coffeetable when you're used to playing the deck of a superliner, sure.' "
