Portland punk-pop quartet Wolf Colonel began on the campus of Lewis and Clark College in the fall of 1996 as the solo acoustic project of singer/guitarist Jason Anderson. It was at a gig at the college where Anderson met K Records rep Calvin Johnson and he began sending self-released cassettes like "Sex Riot" and "This Is Compton" after adding bass and drums to the recordings. Johnson finally agreed to record a session at his Dub Narcotic studio, resulting in the early 1999 release of Wolf Colonel's self-titled debut EP.
For a subsequent spring tour, Anderson recruited rhythm guitarist Jake Longstreth, bassist Ryan Wise and drummer Adam Forkner; the full length "Vikings of Mint" followed in early 2000 and "Castle" was issued later that fall.
The band specialized in absolutely spot on lo-fi nuggets of beautifully observed pop and while Anderson may have had a singer-songwriter label attached to his name, his songs have more in common with the muscular rock power of Thin Lizzy - all wrapped up into two and a half minutes of power pop bliss. They recorded three albums for K between 99-2002, before Jay dropped the wolf colonel moniker and has gone on to record some more tersely infectious melodies, woozy harmonies, and careening guitars- smashing stuff that’s slightly more polished.
The Aussie band Wolfmother hails from Erskineville, Sydney, Australia and has since grown exponentially in popularity since their formation in 2000, making their way into the public spotlight in 2004 after "years of jamming and anonymity." Wolfmother took the initiative of recording a four-track self-titled EP in 2004 for the purpose of getting booked for shows. But the results were so astonishing that the band re-recorded it for official release via local Modular Records. A second EP, “Dimensions,” appeared in 2006 and Wolfmother made the jump to the majors in early 2006 courtesy of an American distribution deal for Modular through Interscope. Their self-titled album debut appeared in May and reached the Top 40 and "Woman," a single from the album, won the band their first Grammy Award, for Best Hard Rock Performance, in 2007.
Originally comprising of vocalist and guitarist Andrew Stockdale, bassist and keyboardist Chris Ross and drummer Myles Heskett, the band has released one studio album, Wolfmother (2005), which reached number three on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart.
NME dubbed them the “Best New Australian Band” and the UK’s Radio 1 presenter Zane Lowe featuring their new album as the “Best in the world!” Soon, as the music world started to hear more of the band, more comments about the band followed, some good, some not and the inevitable comparisons to Led Zeppelin worked against them in some ways. In fact, a Stylus Magazine review stated "everything there is to say about them is best said by immediate reference to another band and Wolfmother always come up short in the comparison." An Allmusic review of the band is more critical, calling their music "precious, inarticulate, [and] confused" when compared to that of their musical influences, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Cream and Black Sabbath. However, fellow musicians raved about the band's sound, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has stated that he is a fan of Wolfmother as is Lars Ulrich of Metallica. Alice Cooper has described Wolfmother's sound, stating they are "like a teenage Jimi Hendrix, Steppenwolf kind of band."
In August 2008, co-founding members Ross and Heskett left the band due to "irreconcilable personal and musical differences," though Stockdale has stated that he would continue using the Wolfmother moniker with new members in the future. After a brief hiatus, Stockdale returned with three new musicians in the fold, bassist and keyboardist Ian Peres, guitarist Aidan Nemeth and drummer Dave Atkins. The new lineup's first album, "Cosmic Egg" is scheduled for release on October 13, 2009 and promises to bring more comparisons and critical acclaim to the psychedelic- metal band.
In the late-'90s Chris Manak, aka Peanut Butter Wolf began DJing as a teenager and became quite the entrepreneur at his San Jose, CA, high school, selling mix tapes of his turntable work.
He made his debut in 1989 with "You Can't Swing This" which was recorded with a smooth MC named Lyrical Prophecy and by the end of the year; he began working with MC Charizma. The pair was very successful and perfected their skills at block parties and shows with the likes of the Pharcyde, House of Pain, and Nas. However, right after the duo secured a record deal with Hollywood Basic in 1992, Charizma was shot and killed.
Peanut Butter Wolf carried on without his collaborator and began issuing instrumental tracks, including his first release called "Peanut Butter Breaks" (Heyday Records). Other tracks followed, including "Return of the DJ" which is known as the first all-DJ album, helping to launch the careers of turntablists such as DJ Q-bert, Cut Chemist, DJ Z-Trip, and others.
In 1996, Peanut Butter Wolf formed Stones Throw Records and released its first single, Charizma & Peanut Butter Wolf's "My World Premiere." Peanut Butter Wolf then released his own solo album on Stones Throw, "My Vinyl Weighs a Ton" in 1999 and in 2002 two excellent compilations, "The Best of Peanut Butter Wolf" and the Stones Throw 7" collection Jukebox 45's only fueled the budding label. In 2003 he released “Badmeaninggood, Vol. 3” and the next year he produced a compilation CD/DVD of his label's artists, “Stones Throw 101.” He continues to pour his efforts into the record label and occasionally performs, doing DJ gigs in Europe, Australia, Canada, Japan, and the US. Stones Throw Records is a major player in the genre with noted hip hop releases by Madlib's Quasimoto, Yesterdays New Quintet, Jaylib (J Dilla and Madlib) and Madvillain (MF Doom and Madlib) and the label has expanded their repertoire to include funk and hip hop re-issues as well as experimental jazz and electronic music. Peanut Butter Wolf is also a member of the L.A. hip-hop orchestra Breakestra.
In part thirty-one of our ongoing series, we will switch gears and move away from the ‘wolf’ names and continue our look at other bird and animal group names and people in rock and roll history.
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Wolfmother Tidbits:
Thanks to the success of their album and singles, Wolfmother's music has been featured in many video games, films and commercials. "Love Train" featured in an iPod commercial; "Woman" was included on such video games as Guitar Hero II, MotorStorm, Pure, Saints Row 2, Tony Hawk's Project 8 and NHL 07; "Dimension" featured in the film School for Scoundrels and in video games FlatOut 2, and Rugby 06.
"Joker & the Thief" appeared in films Jackass Number Two, Shoot 'Em Up, Shrek the Third and The Hangover (2009 film) and video games Need for Speed: Carbon, Rock Band, and MLB 07: The Show, as well as commercials for both Mitsubishi and Peugeot cars.
The band performed at big-name local and international festivals in 2006, including SXSW, Big Day Out, Sasquatch! Music Festival, Roskilde Festival, Lowlands, Splendour in the Grass, Fuji Rock Festival, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds Festivals, V Festival, Download Festival and the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival among many other tour stops.
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Peanut Butter Wolf Tidbits:
In 2006, Peanut Butter Wolf served as presenter for Stones Throw & Adult Swim's “Chrome Children” CD/DVD.
Chris is married to clothing designer Violet Valen, owner of BUDDY by Violet Valen
Copyright 2009 Robert Benson www.collectingvinylrecords.com
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