LIVE REVIEW - Sir George Robey, London

It seemed as though they would suffer from the jinx, band members almost demolishing the DJ's turntables in the stuggle to get onstage and then each of them picking something different for the opening song. They looked around, bewildered and accusing, shrugged and proceeded to justify being top billing.

They are men with physical afflictions, bent double over instruments, lolling dangerously on to one side, but never quite toppling, always maintaining a proud pop stability. The vocalist is a real roaring boy, spitting fur, his throat slaked with grit. Alongside, the two guitarists work equally hard, blurs of skin sweeping across strings, generating a range of splendid noises, refreshing slaps in the face.

The Wolfhounds are one of the most potent bands on the bump and grind indie-rock circuit. There's life in the old dog yet.


PUSH
SOUNDS
11 April 1987.

A twisted corridor of no-nonsense garage pop, Wolfhounds are a combo on the boil.
JOHN ROBB
NME

A sartorial wasteheap of a group with Karl Lagerfield material.
ANDY HURT
NME

Wolf Boy

Record Mirror 1988

The Wolfhound' singer Dave Callahan sits smiling in the corner of the room dressed in a curious brown outfit, and explains that its laundry day. It's not surprising that the young man's been caught sartorially short, as he and his band seem to be permanently crossing the channel these days - Paris one week, Switzerland the next. They put a lot of miles between them for such a fresh faced bunch of musical mischief makers.

The band's new single, 'Son of Nothing', is the best from the wolfhounds since the early 'Anti-Midas Touch', with its crazed guitar and upfront drums. A tad Birthday Partyish?

"I suppose they are a minor influence," concedes Dave. "A lot of people have said it's Pop Group influenced but the idea is to get across an alienated, uptight feel, because its the way most people feel when they walk through the city. I used to travel to work on the train and feel homicidal towards the people surrounding me, and that's the feeling the record's supposed to put across. It's one step beyond the blues, maan."

It's always a shame that while other less awkward, less talented outfits have continued to stare from the pages of rags like this, that the Wolfhounds have never been pampered, loved or taken for long walks on sandy beaches by press and media alike. Dave more or less agrees.

"I'm not going to whinge about it. I never expected people to come flocking, because we are not fashionable, we never intended to be. I never liked records because of the clothes the bands wore or because of things they said in interviews. We sidestep all that fashion thing, so I fully expect to be ignored from time to time."

That time seems to have had its day if the band's European forays are to be mirrored here at last, though they've now cultivated an almost Euro approach to their career.

"Its not because we go down better when we play abroad, " says Dave. "We sing about Britain but we find that people don't want to hear about their own lives, as we see them. We did an interview in Paris last week and this guy seemed to really know what the record and my lyrics were all about. He was asking me about the alienation and stuff, whereas over here people only go on about the 'C86' cassette and the effects of that.

"I don't want to sound too earnest or intellectual, but we are trying to do something meaningful in an abstracted way. I'd like people to think of us as being aware of the challenge still in pop music and of us being prepared to rise to that challenge.

AS.

Pic by Mike Morton

Melody Maker 1989

"The Wolfhounds music is acidic, gently insurgent: plangent guitars lay a poignant bluesy background for Callahan's offkey vocals to complain against."

(click image to enlarge)

One Two Testing...

1986 interview with Muso mag One Two Testing
Insight into the early musical approach!

Click on each for enlargement

"Your average Hound likes speed, and your average Wolfhound is no exception. Keeping up with them is another matter. In fact, it is more than merely another matter… it is an impossibility. I know. I’ve tried.

Despite popular opinion, you can't ride your wolfhounds, but wolfhounds are great to skate behind!"