>>PREVIEW
WE ARE WOLVES
Friday October 28
Broken City
There have always been trends in naming bands. A few decades back, "The" names were big (The Beatles, The Byrds, The Monkeys) and at the height of grunge, three-word monikers were the order of the day (Stone Temple Pilots, Our Lady Peace, I Mother Earth, Third Eye Blind – the list goes on and on). But now there is a trend in North American indie rock that capitalizes on the power of the wolf.
Whether it’s Wolf Parade, Wolf Colonel, The Wolfnote, Raised by Wolves, Peanut Butter Wolf or Wolf Eyes, it seems that people just can’t get enough of the pack mentality. Montreal’s We Are Wolves are no exception. Their noisy, swampy dance rock has pricked up the ears of more than a few people, most notably the folks at neo-blues label Fat Possum who just signed the band. The appeal of their music is undeniable, but what about the appeal of their name?
"For a long time We Are Wolves weren’t even called We Are Wolves," says the band’s synth player Vincent Levesque. "It was more like a fun thing – a jam band for a couple of friends. Then one day the bass player Alex (Bolieu) came in with a shirt he had made by himself with spray paint that said ‘We Are Wolves’ and we thought, ‘Yeah, that’s cool. That could be our band name.’ That is how it started. We’re really crafty people."
Levesque says the appeal of the wolf is universal. In his mind it is undeniably a rock animal and Canadians, specifically, can relate to the pack mentality. He does admit, however, that the band is more attached to the "We Are" portion of the name as a declaration of their identity. At the same time, though, he has no problem riding with the rest of the pack.
"We don’t feel ashamed, because all the ‘Wolf’ bands are good, although I personally prefer Wolf Eyes," he says. "They’re really wild." |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.