We are Wolves releasing album (MP3), playing shows (dates)

by Bill Pearis

DOWNLOAD: We Are Wolves – Blue (MP3)

At this point it’s passed by funny and verges on absurd. When I mention to Alexander Ortiz that there is a We Were Wolves in Beaumont, TX and a We’re Wolves (get it… werewolves?) from Belgium he can only chuckle. When his thrashy synth rock trio from Montreal named themselves nearly a decade ago (after a t-shirt he designed with a skull smashing through a keyboard) there wasn’t also a Wolf Parade or an AIDS Wolf sharing the island.

Because we’re not commercially a big band we don’t exist [in the same way] for the world. Our name came around 2000, but in 2005 we were doing a show in Portland and a drunk kid comes up saying ‘What’s up with you fuckers, using the same name as everybody else,’ and he mentions Wolfmother.”

Once you get past the nomenclature, any resemblance to Australian faux classic rock melts away. Their debut on Fat Possum records, Non-Stop Je Te Plie en Deux, was a visceral blend of grimy guitar over hypno-synths with percussion both live and electronic. It got them compared to everyone from the Cramps to Suicide to Devo. Now on their third album, and second for Canadian indie label Dare to Care, the sound hasn’t changed so much as been refined. [Exclaim!]

Montreal’s synth rocking We Are Wolves release that third album, Invisible Violence, out February 2 on Montreal label Dare to Care and will be in NYC for two shows that week: Feb. 5 at Studio @ Webster Hall and Feb. 6 at Brooklyn Bowl after with Small Black (tickets) and WITH Hot Chip (DJ). You can check out “Blue” from the new album at the top of this post.

We Are Wolves were last here during CMJ. A couple videos, including the NSFW “Coconut Night,” tour dates and a flyer for the Studio @ Webster Hall follow below…

We Are Wolves – “Holding Hands”

We Are Wolves – “Coconut Night” (NSFW)

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

We Are Wolves – 2010 Tour Dates
Feb 5 Studio @ Webster Hall New York City, New York
Feb 6 Brooklyn Bowl Brooklyn, New York w/ Small Black
Feb 18 Box-Office Drummondville, Quebec
Mar 5 Les Nocturnes du Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal Montréal, Quebec
Mar 6 Trou du diable Shawinigan, Quebec
Mar 18 SXSW M for Mtl showcase @ Paradise Cafe Austin, Texas