"The first thing I'd definitely like to clear up is that people always think we're talking and singing about ourselves, but we're not—we're singing about the Wolf," says Party Wolf frontman and guitarist Ian Reed.
So begins a lengthy and often rambling discourse about the hard-rocking Northampton band with Reed, aka Eye Wolf, and drummer Roger Knight, who performs under the nom de rock Thunder Wolf.
"We're talking about the Wolf," says Knight. "It's an actual wolf. We're just his hype machine; we work for him."
"Yeah, it's like he's our boss," Reed continues. "We write songs about the things he does, and we play them as loud as we can and try not to make him mad."
"We promote him," Knight says. "He's busy. He's traversing the universe. He's busy in other galaxies. Time traveling. Partying. Destroying civilizations."
Party Wolf—the band—began as a running joke: two coworkers riffing about a larger-than-life wolf god who, in the words and minds of Reed and Knight, was in charge of all things party. The two quickly decided they needed to start writing songs about this object of amusement.
"We'll usually come up with a phrase at first," says Reed. "Like 'Skytrain Rollerghost'—that's the train he rides through space and parties on. Goes through different dimensions. People always say to us that it's kind of cheap to keep yelling out the name of your band during songs—and it is the name of our band—but that's not what we're doing. We're glorifying the Wolf."
Knight agrees: "People come up to us and they're like, 'You guys really like to name drop. You shout out "Party Wolf" in every song,' and I'm like, 'No way, we're just praising the Hard Rock Lupine Deity.'"
The band, augmented by guitarist Ra Wolf and bassist Jimmy Abz, initially had a difficult time getting onto the stage: several early bookings were scuttled due to illness, conflicts and, in one case, a club closing down. After thinking there might be some sort of "curse of the Wolf," Party Wolf finally made its debut at the Basement in Northampton, with positive results.
"Right from the outset, people were going crazy," says Knight. "Taking off their clothes, sweating profusely. Some people are surprised—they think, 'This is going to be some pussy rock,' you know? Some wimpy '60s pop, which is great, we love it, obviously, but compared to the Wolf, it's pussy rock. We get up there and blow minds."
"We take it to the max," Reed concurs. "I feel like we're more in the vein of Grand Funk—we jam a lot, we've got a lot of solos. We're hard rock, but it's not like Disturbed, or something. It's not metal-y."
"We're not Nickelback," says Knight. "We're more like a Grand Funk, or a Blue Cheer. I wouldn't exactly say we're subtle. More like '70s hard rock. I think if you listen you can detect AC/DC, ZZ Top, Free, Blue Cheer."
Reed even gets a little philosophical when discussing their influences: "I used to listen to so much White Zombie. I don't anymore, but I feel like it's still coursing through my veins. Obviously they're more theatrical, into more 666 stuff, but I think they're funny, and people don't know that about them, but I like that. Roger and I were talking about this—yeah, our band did start because of a joke, but I feel like you cannot be a joke and still be funny. I think humor is important. It's fun; everyone likes to have fun. You don't always have to be all doom and gloom."
"We'd like to avoid being lumped in with jokey bands, though," says Knight. "We don't want to go down that road—we're super serious about rocking hard. There's no irony in that."
"I don't have personal lyrics to rock hard to," Reed continues. "I think that rocking out with dudes that like to rock out is one of the greatest things you can do as a dude. It's awesome. But if it was lyrics all about me—you know, 'I work a lot, I'm broke'—no one wants to party to that. So you gotta make up some bullshit to talk about: Party Wolf, who is awesome and hilarious."
Party Wolf has plans to produce an album, but the band has encountered some doubters—those who don't think the live experience will translate to the recording studio. "I've heard a couple people say at our shows that they would never buy one of our albums," says Reed. "I don't know why this has happened, but I'll be walking by, and I'll hear a guy say, 'I'll never buy their album—they're awesome and I'll always go see them, but I'll never buy an album.'"
This premise befuddles Knight. "Why wouldn't people want to rock hard at home, or in their car, or while jogging? Or when they're getting arrested?"
"I think maybe they think [that] lyrically it's not profound. So they think that emotionally they're not going to get anything out of it," Reed says. "But I think that they'll react to the music—the skull-crunching riffery that we provide. I think that they'll respond to that, and their emotions will soar."
Reed believes his band is filling a void in the music scene: "I think that the Wolf's real goal is to destroy people in real life. There's plenty of rock bands around that shred, but don't have fun."
Knight agrees. "Yeah, we just want to destroy people with rock and roll. In the best possible way. There is just a dearth of proper, straight-up, in-your-face rock bands."
Reed encourages folks to come out and share in the Party Wolf experience. "The thing I'd like to tell people is to come to shows. Come on out, you'll have fun, we'll have fun. We'll shred harder because you're there. We'll drum twice as fast, and we'll bring it. It's cheap, and it's better than TV."
"Check your attitude at the door," adds Knight. "Let's cut a rug and rock out."
This leaves us with perhaps the most important question: Does the world need Party Wolf now more than ever?
"In this economy? Oh yeah," says Knight.
Reed concurs: "We want to celebrate with everyone. And with Obama. Before, people were partying with us and things were terrible, but they were like, 'At least we've got Party Wolf.' Kind of like dancing to keep from crying. But now, we don't have to cry. We can dance and drink and shred. And be happy. 2009: it's all about Party Wolf. And change."
"I want to change a little bit," Knight concludes. "I want to be more awesome. Undeniably awesome."
For complete Party Wolf show listings and to sample songs, visit myspace.com/partywolfrock.
