The Name Game Vol.3: Sea Wolf, Wolfmother, Wolf Parade, We Are Wolves

Photo by bobster 855 from here.

Has every possible band name based on the English language been used already? Probably not yet, but the tipping point may be coming soon. This series of posts is being created to ensure you can tell the which from the what when that catastrophe finally occurs.

I've mentioned in a couple of previous posts that the amount of bands with "wolf" in their moniker or song title or album title was getting outrageous. It's finally time to delve into a few of those lycanthropes.



Sea Wolf seems to be a fellow based in Los Angeles named Alex Brown Church and whomever he gets to play along. He takes the cake, because he's got this ultra-catchy ditty called You're a Wolf.



New album White Water, white Bloom is out September 22nd. You can get a free mp3 of bonus track Stanislaus here.

Wolfmother is a band from Australia that embraces 70s rock icons like Deep Purple, Sabbath, etc. Here's lead Wolfie to explain the band himself; I think he loves Spinal Tap.



This one sounds a bit like White Stripes, though, don't it?



For some reason Wolfmother always make me think of Danzig's Mother - remember that one? It went a bit like this:



Wolf Parade is a Montreal-based band featuring Dan Boeckner (Handsome Furs), Spencer Krug (Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, Swan Lake), Dante DeCaro (Hot Hot Heat, Johnny and the Moon), Hadji Bakara, and Arlen Thompson. I am immensely enjoying Handsome Furs lately, so Wolf Parade is like a bonus because I missed out on them previously. Free mp3s are available for you here.



Wolf Parade should not be confused with another Montreal wolf band, We Are Wolves. Ultra-small drum-kit (or non-existent and replaced with electro-drums), squelchy, distorted synths, squalling guitar, fuzzy bass, rock vocals that might fit on a Turbonegro record instead of cold robot voices - compelling oddities, these chaps. And judging from the video below, bandmembers seems to have a sense of humour, which could probably serve Bono & Co./Coldplay/etc well. Imagine a world where artists couldn't play their music until audience members hit the target with a baseball to drop them into the watertanks, and even then they had to play underwater. These guys are dedicated! Plus they give info on their website in both French and English, which is cool and pretty damn Canadian (the lyrics are sometimes in French, too, which is all right with me).

We Are Wolves Fight & Kiss from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.

Also, the band clearly does some wild shows -check out these photos by Patrick Cormier taken from www.pcormier.com. That's the band playing on a platform hanging from a crane way up in the air.





Caution: the following should contain a nude mammal/general weirdness warning. Sounds a bit like a more tuneful Pere Ubu.

We Are Wolves Coconut Night from Dare To Care Records on Vimeo.