With a band like OF WOLVES whom prefer to blend the genres together, to create something unique and their own. By doing so, they have released an EP and two album's, as well as slowly starting to write right now as we speak. This band goes into great discussion about their music, how things began and where they see them ending up next.
1. Please tell us about the history of your band and its members.
I started the band (Steve Sherwood) in 2007 with a couple old friends when we ran into each other at a local record store. Pat Mclaughlin (Idecline) played bass and shared in the vocal duties and we had our bud Danny play drums for a minute but we were loud as fuck and we couldn't hear Danny. Pat recommended Jon Kulpit. He hit hard and even though he was a jackass we continued. We played a couple of my old tunes (that we never recorded) from my band back in the 90s Chronic Jaywalker and started writing. We recorded the first 7” in my garage. Long story short Pat went his own way and we spent a lot of time looking for the right guy. In the meantime we released Evolve in which I ended up recording all the bass after getting sick of waiting for the right bassist and shortly after it was released we found Scotty Cirksena (After School Stoners) He was with us up until we found Ivan Cruz (Yakuza) Ivan was who we had been looking for a long time and we settled right into to finally start finalizing what would become the band to finish writing and record our new album Balance. Shortly after finishing the recording Jon got a great offer and moved to Cali. We miss him to this day. We played together for at least 10 years as Of Wolves. We have had some great guys fill in while we search...
2. What’s the origin of the band’s name?
When we first started we used to practice in my garage on the south side (until the Chicago cold came and made it impossible) and we had been throwing random names in the air for weeks in between jamming and smoking sessions and one day my German Shepherd Kaya walked up to our original bassist Pat and all the sudden he yells From Wolves! I instantly replied Of Wolves! We all agreed it sounded better and that was it. So, in a way we are called German Shepherd or dog or Kaya (RIP) or not really? I always loved all animals, especially wolves. It also fit really well because of the pack mentality and how they work together as a pack to survive. It fit from day one. We even fought like it. We also liked the Edward R. Murrow quote "A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves." and quickly realized how it fit us more every day as the world around us pushes us further and further into a need for more therapeutic release based on the insane reality that we are stuck in. These moronic hoarding fucks so hellbent on money and power that they are destroying everything in their path.
3. Where is the band based out of and what is your music scene like there? Are there any local bands you could recommend?
We are based out of Chicago and wouldn't have it any other way. Its a great city and we all love it more every day. The scene itself is mind blowingly passionate, unique & talented and is constantly raising the bar and keeping things raw & fresh. There are WAY too many bands killer to list. But here's a current list of some of our favorites. Snow Burial, Hypervolume, Black Road, Rosaries (Ivans other project) Canyon of the Skull, REZN, Lume, Wizzo, Huntsmen, Varaha, Something is Waiting, 5RVLN5, Immortal Bird, Bear Mace, Unto the Earth, Sons of Ra, Beyond Deth, Gigan, Salvation, Bloodletter, Cloud Cruiser, Pale Horsemen, Sacred Monster, (I think all of these bands released killer new material recently you should check them all out) High Priest, Making Ghosts, Indian, Scientist, Never We See, Without Waves, Boatmans Toll, Still Machine, Djunah, Campdogzz. Then flipside to that is our label Trepanation Recordings. They just released a compilation that really lets the music speak for itself.
Check it out here> https://trepanationrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/trepanned-volume-one
4. How would you describe your style?
Wow this is a hard question. First thing that comes to mind is therapy! The band is all about release and it has proven itself by far the best form of therapy I have ever found. Especially with how moronic and backwards shit has been getting. And because we love so many styles we don't stay in one place or one overall genre or territory. We tend to blend everything we love together while unleashing the anger and frustrations of our daily lives. So we have been called and grouped into just about every category based on any one song. We often hear things like Sludge and Crust. Or a combination of various genres and descriptions put together.
I think the best one so far is Post Sludge! Its all rock though right? All these categories are hard to keep up with and seem to want to box art in. I feel like that stifles creativity. We wont allow ourselves to be boxed in or cornered. I think it's my ADHD! (Randy Blythe recently posted about us quite a bit this is the most recent see file attached).
5. What have you released so far and what can someone expect from your works?
A 7” early on, an EP & the two full lengths “Evolve” and our album Balance that was released this summer on Trepanation Recordings What is left of the first 50 of each is a special limited edition that comes with some cool one-off goodies. Get it here http://ofwolves.bandcamp.com and we will be doing a pre-sale for vinyl soon as well (that is the first time we have said that publicly)
I have made two videos for Balance so far and a new one is in the works for the title track.
As for what should you expect from us? Well with all the shit 2020 has brought us the music is more vile and pissed off than ever! With that said you never really know what to expect from us but we definitely plan to mix shit up and always deliver a dose of therapeutic aggression and raw honest emotion while trying to create what we love and would want to listen to ourselves.
6. Do you have any new music in the works?
We have a new drummer so we are starting over. In writing phases as we speak and look forward to recording a song or two for some really cool splits next year. We are also working on a remix album based off of the songs and various reworking of tracks off of Balance. Anyone interested (any style literally) hit us up and we can send you the tracks.
7. How about playing shows and touring, have anything planned out?
All our shows, tours and festivals have been canceled and will be at least for the rest of the year… of course it has been very disappointing for everyone but we look forward to getting back out there! We hope to do at least one more livestream show before years end and then it all depends on how this shit goes from here. Here in the states its a big fucking mess as we allowed the biggest loser to try to ruin our country and seems hellbent on taking as many lives and as much of the planet with him as well.
With that said this seems like a good spot to say. With everything going on, lots of what we love is barely surviving. Be it a local bar, venue, restaurant or various other small businesses. We have all been out of work since all this shit started. So please. If you have any extra or are going to spend money please do it wisely. If we don't help support the people & places we love they may not be there for us later.
8. What plans do you have for the future as a band?
I'd love to add a multi instrumentalist, and I have wanted to add another guitar for quite a while… Maybe I'll take up cello? With Everything going on it makes this question that much harder to answer. But I plan to do this till I die. And I expect to be around for much longer! From there I think the only limit is what we out in ourselves.
9. Where can we listen to your band and where can we buy your stuff?
Everything but the 7” and the EP are on all streaming and download sites like Spotify, YouTube and Apple Music etc. All of our music is available on our bandcamp page here> http://ofwolves.bandcamp.com we also have cassettes and CDs available there as well. We hope to have the pre-order up and rolling before years end and expect to release more details on that soon.
10. What is it you’d like a listener to remember the most when hearing your music for the first time?
We hope they feel it and we hope it helps.
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