INTERVIEW. 032 - GNARWOLVES
How and why did Gnarwolves form?

I think Gnarwolves formed purely out the need for the three of us to be active in music. We all live up in Brighton, and when the band started Kasa and Rasputin were spread out all over the country so playing regularly just wasn’t an option. Me and Max had already bodged an attempt to start a band in Brighton, then we saw a post Charlie put on facebook saying he wanted to start singing and playing bass in a band. The rest is very recent history.


I’m guessing Charlie named the band?

I honestly can’t remember who coined it, but Charlie is giving credit to Max for this one. The basic story behind the name was us lazing around, massively blazed watching “Frozen Planet” after a band practise, seeing a Narwhal and saying something like “Imagine if there were wolves, like…Gnarwolves”.
After two days of cracking up every time we thought about it the name was chosen.


Who influences Gnarwolves sound? Did you deliberately choose something less heavy after your previous bands?

I guess we’re pretty influence by the 90’s/ early 00’s US pop punk/ emo sound. The bands that really made us want to get started were the new wave of “Gruff Punk” (Rvivr, Iron Chic, Title Fight, Bangers) but there was never really any conscious decision to sound a certain way. The basic idea was to write some songs that would (hopefully) make people want to dance, shout, hug their mates and drink a beer. 
There was a never a conversation about not being “heavy”, but there is definitely a deliberate separation between Gnarwolves and the sounds of our previous bands. Why do the same thing twice?


You released your first E.P Fun Club last December. Did the material for that come together quickly? or was it something you had been working on for awhile? 

“Fun Club” came together extremely quickly, we practised twice a week and wrote together pretty much every day for about a month. There are definitely merits to working on a record for a really long time and spending a long time recording it, but there’s also something quite cathartic about intensively writing tunes then sharing them with the world whilst they’re still fresh. Plus, gigging is really our main priority, so getting out there as quickly as possibly was always on our minds.


All the songs on Fun Club are under three minutes. Will you continue to write short, fast songs or will your next release be more varied? 

I don’t think that the length of song has to have any bearing on the variety of the record? I think with what is essentially pop music, if you can’t get your point across in under 3 minutes you need to reconsider your point. Writing short songs gives us a lot of room to mess around with different ideas because we don’t have to spend time awkwardly fitting sections into songs, or repeating verses that don’t need repeating.
Besides, we all have MASSIVELY short attention spans. The next record has songs pushing the 2.30 mark. I like the sense of urgency that it brings.


What else can you tell us about your next release?

I can tell you that it’s being released in May/June on a couple of really awesome labels. I can also tell you it’s going to be 7/8 tracks depending on what feels right. Sound-wise we’re definitely still doing the pop punk thing, but the songs are more focussed this time around. At least that’s the hope. We’re pretty proud of the tunes we’ve written. They’re definitely some of my favourite songs I’ve written with any band and I think the other guys are getting a similar vibe from them. So excited for everyone to hear them! Keep your eyes peeled.


Is Gnarwolves more a priority now that both Kasa and Rasputin are on hiatus? Or will it be put to the side if either of those bands become active?

We’ve honestly never spoken about it. I guess we’ll cross that bridge if we ever come to it? 

What shows/tours do you have planned at the moment?

Our next show is with Touche Amore, Basement, Maths, WCOLT and No Coast on Saturday. We are massively excited about that. After that we have one show in March so we can concentrate properly on writing/recording the new record. In April we’re going out on tour with As We Sink from Plymouth, which we’re massively excited about then playing some pretty awesome shows with Spraynard, Red City Radio and The Arteries in May. The record drops after this so the world is our lobster after that I guess!


Anything else you’d like to add?

Yeah, cheers for the interview man it’s always fun answering your questions. Also, thanks to everyone that has made this band so exciting to be in already. We never expected anyone to want to listen to our little punk band so we’re eternally grateful to everyone that has listened to the record, turned up to a show, put us on, let us support them, had a beer with us or let us sleep on their floor. I think a special thanks needs to go to the PVHC boys, Brainache Records and miss Jen Woodger for helping us out so much.
Our music scene is the most vibrant it’s felt for years and years, especially in DIY circles. We’re so stoked to know so many great people. 
“…and I shall be gnarly, because the lord sayeth, thou must always shred.”

Check out Gnarwolves here: http://www.facebook.com/Gnarwolves

Posted 3 months ago
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