Hello.

Firstly, thanks to everyone who came to Night of the Long Swords on Saturday. It was hot and late when we went on so I’m really glad that people stayed and made us feel welcome enough to air a lot of new material. Apologies to those who had to leave early to get the tube, and massive thanks to those who stayed and missed theirs (I still feel like I left too early.)

So we’ve been in deepest West Wales recording what will eventually become our debut album. I think it’s fair to say we’d all been looking forward to doing this for as long as we can remember, and we weren’t disappointed. Living amongst the ruins of a mansion in the late summer weather, in almost complete isolation with your best friends, a beautiful studio and a job to do was every bit as good as that sounds.

I almost want to keep the studio a secret it’s so good but that would be unfair to Jethro, who’s put a lot of hard work into making Mwnci Studios what it is. He’s a great engineer and a thoroughly nice man and the studio and surroundings are nothing short of idyllic.

We rushed back from Wales to play a last minute support for Dinosaur Jr at Koko. It was an overwhelming experience for all of us, not least since we’d been in the middle of nowhere for two weeks with very little contact with the outside world. We loved it though, thanks everyone who turned up to support us.

So the album is underway but is still a long way off, we’ve got a lot of work to do. We won’t be doing a lot of live shows over the next few months but we’re not disappearing entirely, the next show is with Akron/Family at the Garage in Islington, which I am ridiculously excited about. Their show at the ICA a few months ago was one of the best things I’ve seen all year.

Lastly, our friend Mark Oliver designed the amazing banner which is at the top of our page and with some nagging from us he made a limited run of screen prints to sell at the show last weekend. There are a few left that you can buy from him via our page. I’ll put a link up soon.

Sorry for the huge message, I didn’t intend it to be that long.

So long and take care,

Love,

WPx

It’s out.

You can buy it from http://www.finderskeepersrecords.com

You can download it from http://www.klicktrack.com/bmusic/home

Best Wishes,

WPx

(gig review,
February 2009)

OK I hold my hand up!

I am a late convert to the Wolf People and had it not been for an email our esteemed editor Mr McMullen sent out just before Christmas, I’d still be in the dark about them.

This email brimmed with more missionary zeal than Burt Lancaster in Elmer Gantry – one of the most enthusiastic urgings to check out a band since Nick Kent’s review of Marquee Moon in the NME back in 1977! *blushes* - Phil

I simply got on the Net and bought a copy of the EP he’d so evocatively reviewed and was hooked immediately. I was soon extolling Wolf People’s virtues to anyone who cared to listen! Even bought a bunch of the EPs to give away to friends as Xmas presents! They had become as important a discovery to me as
Television had been in the 70s and the Rain Parade in the 80s.

Next stage – catch a live gig. I missed their Hoxton show in December but then what do you know - two London gigs back to back in February! Barely containing my excitement I headed over to the stylish What’s Cookin at the Sheep Walk in Leytonstone for their set on the 25^th February. I wasn’t disappointed.

Both musically and visually the band live are a force to be reckoned with. They look like they might have stepped straight off a late 60s album sleeve – lots of beards and straggly hair – and in a quiet sort of way bags of charisma and intelligence. In contrast to bopping flautist Ross Harris who looks like a cross between Pete Brown in his Piblokto days and Quintessence’s Raja Ram, singer and guitarist, Jack Sharp (what a great name) has the air of a true band leader about him. Reminding me a little of a blond Tony Hill, Sharp is the genius behind Wolf People, a band he has nursed from bedroom project to full blown five-piece live experience.

The rest of the band fall in behind him – drummer Tom Watt has all his Drumbo/Artie Tripp moves down pat and gives the band much of its distinctive basic sound. Bassist Daniel Davies with his academic looks locks down with Watt to provide a driving rhythm section and importantly adds some much-needed backing vocals into the mix whilst Preston-born guitarist Joe Holick flicks out licks, solos and rhythm parts with equal abandon. His slide playing is also something to be reckoned with particularly on ‘Caratacus’. And it’s always a joy to see two guitarists bouncing off each other as their amps warm up and their adrenalin takes hold. In the days of guitar heroes, Sharp and Holick would have been revered with the same sort of hushed tones we’d normally have reserved for Duncan and Cipollina, Jones and Leonard or Lloyd and Verlaine.

Wolf People have both a finely tuned musical discipline and an ability to extemporise as and when the mood takes them. At their gig at the Social in London’s West End on the following night (26^th), they played as a quartet (Ross had a prior engagement with his other band) and towards the end of ‘Empty Heart’, they broke into an intense 12-bar boogie which would have given vintage Canned Heat a run for their money. The group seamlessly blends together various genres – most obviously they love the blues as any of you who own any of their 45s or the EP will know. They also have a firm grasp of both traditional and contemporary folk music. This is no more evident than on ‘Black Water’ (a tune on one of their singles but not featured live) where the band slips into the kind of folk rock groove redolent of Ashley Hutchings’ Steeleye Span or Full House Fairport. The epic, current set closer, the gothic ‘One by One from Dorney Reach’ exudes a similar feel.

Yet at their best Wolf People are very much their own men – one minute re-treading Black Sabbath or Black Widow riffs into stunning psychedelic hard rock tour de forces, the next steaming along with a rhythmic intensity older readers won’t have witnessed since the glory days of This Was, Ahead Rings Out or Mr Fantasy. I hope the band will forgive all my retro referencing but there are few contemporary bands that play or sound as original as these guys. There’s this weird 40 year correlation – if I close my eyes I can almost believe it’s spring 1969, John Peel’s Top Gear is on the radio, copies of Gutbucket, The Rock Machine Turns You On and You Can All Join In are on the hifi and the first issue of ZigZag magazine is literally about to run off the presses!

But this is 2009 and when I open them and see all the shit around, it’s a glorious realisation that Wolf People exist NOW, one of the  most exciting and vital bands playing anywhere, as yet unsullied by the music business and playing a raw, carnivorous brand of music that defines all we hold dear here at the Terrascope.

There’s a new single ‘Tiny Circle’ b/w ‘Mercy II’ 7” 45 due out in April on Battered Ornaments and housed in another fabulous bag designed by Luke Insect. Their gig sheet seems currently fairly empty but watch this space because on this evidence, they’re gonna be in big demand. (Nigel Cross)

Tiny Circles and Mercy II

After a stupidly long amount of time we’ve got two new tracks ready for the next single. The single will follow the proud example set by the last two, being released on Battered Ornaments Records with a sleeve designed by Luke Insect… but it marks a milestone by being the first true “wolf people” record, pulling further away from the bedroom project that spawned it and taking in the influences of five heads rather than one.

These are the first steps towards the LP, more news on that soon.

WPx

Wolf People are returned from a week rehearsing and writing the album in deepest West Wales. New music happened.

Being the blessed souls that we are, we managed to stumble on the perfect environment for writing and recording; A 17^th century mansion grounds in a secluded bit of Carmarthenshire. The mansion is long gone but the kitchen, servants’ quarters, coach-house and barns are still there, with an ancient cromlech across the valley. Look at some pictures: http://mwncistudios.com/ and http://getlostinwales.co.uk/. All stone walls and wood burning stoves.

I don’t know what else to say about it without it sounding too much like an advert but I can’t imagine finding a more appropriate situation to write and rehearse in. The studio was 100 yards from the cottage!

.. ..

I’ve just ordered more stock for the CD EP, so they will be back on sale in about a week.

.. ..

New single news, and other exciting developments soon…

WPx

Just wanted to apologise to anyone who came down to the Amersham arms in New Cross on Saturday and was unable to get in. It was unexpectedly a bit oversubscribed to say the least and the venue door staff weren't exactly aiding the situation. We had good friends and people on the guest list standing in the rain during our set despite the fact that the venue was half full for most of it.

Sorry if I was out of tune too, shouldn't make excuses about the monitoring, but er, it sounded pretty nasty onstage.

Don't have a bad word to say about the organisers, who worked really hard to make it a good night, or the other bands who were all on fine form.

We're playing for free at Night of the Long Swords on the 13^th, so that should provide some balance, and I'll make some CD's to give out to anyone who came to the Amersham, or even if you didn't. Hope to see you there.

Love,

Jack

WPx