from kickstand #9

Wolfie
Wolfie are the raddest! Ay-yi-yi, are they ever fantastic. They combine mad crazy rhythms with catchy melodies and bratty vocals to create what could be the most excellent music in the eastern half of the state. Seriously, I've listened to their new CD, Awful Mess Mystery at least seven times today. The wacky thing about this interview is that I decided to do it two days ago, and I'm printing this zine in another three! But I couldn't deprive you guys of the wonder that is Wolfie. Anyway, both Joe & Mike had email, hence they were the ones I ended up questioning.
List everyone and what they do:
Mike: i play the guitar and sing, Joe plays bass and tends to sing more than me, rj pounds the drums and amanda plays keyboard and sings.

Who writes the songs?
Mike: joe and i write all of the songs. joe is much more prolific than me so more of his songs show up on the record and in our live shows.
Joe: mike and i write the songs. whoever sings it, wrote it. usually, we just record versions on our own of the songs on 4 track and give them to the other wolfies. sometimes, we add little things like background vocals to each other's songs, but mostly the song stays exactly the same. here's a guide to awful mess mystery if you're curious-1.joe 2.mike 3.joe 4.mike 5.joe 6.joe 7.mike 8.joe 9.mike 10.joe 11.joe 12.mike 13.joe

Are you going to tour? Come out to California?
Joe: we've toured for only a week so far. a little tour in the midwest. this summer, towards the end of may/beginning of june, we're going out for two weeks. hopefully out east. we're really excited to play in new york and visit all the places that we've never been to. i think that california's way in the future, but maybe in august?
Mike: yeah, we're planning an east coast tour that will start at the end of may, go through the middle of june. California?.....maybe someday.

If you could play with any band, who would it be?
Mike: here's three......the mountain goats, unrest (impossible) or the pulsars.
Joe: my dream show would be to open for the new hardship post. but it could never happen because they broke up a year and a half ago. as far as bands that are still together, i would totally freak out if we could open for sloan or the vees, or any band that sebastian and alyson are in (they were in hardship post and have a new band called speedo). i would also love to play with of montreal.

What do you guys do besides Wolfie? For fun/work/school?
Joe: i'm in graphic design at the university of illinois. rj is in the photo program at u of i, mike i'm sure told you what he's in, and amanda will be attending illinois state in the fall (she's taking some gen eds right now in junior college). i work at the education library here at school( with rj too!) amanda is my girlfriend and we usually do everything together - this includes watching tons and tons of movies, going out for dinner, and recording songs. i love old exploitation movies from the 60s and i watch, read about, and collect as many as i can.
Mike: Joe does totally cool design work, rj usually has a camera attached to his face, amanda takes jobs at baseball parks and i spend more than half my day checking my email or wishing i got more email.

If you were going to have a soundtrack to your life, what would be on it?
Joe: this is a toughie. does this mean my favorite bands? ok here's my favorites (first two in order). 1.the hardship post 2.the superfriendz, sloan, of montreal, elvis costello, squeeze, beatles, the vees, weezer.
Mike: i've always liked the "Grease" soundtrack so i'll just go with that one.

Where do you live and what's it like?
Mike: i live in Normal, IL. the name suits it well. it's your typical college town with lotsa beer drinking frat boys.
Joe: i live on a farmhouse 5 minutes from campus in champaign. it's two story and has an awesome living room that makes drums sound great (we recorded drums on four or five of the songs on awful mess mystery here). i live with my good friend rachel from the band sarge and amanda stays/lives here on most of the weekends. my car got stuck in the snow today though. champaign/urbana is very cool if you play music. urbana holds one of the greatest record stores ever, parasol distribution, and that's reason enough to live here. they have everything you could ever want (as long as it's on an independent label). i really love living in champaign, it's a beautiful place. there's also the best video store i've ever been in, "that's rentertainment."

If Wolfie had a motto, what would it be?
Mike: don't forget the maracas......or.........tambourines have feelings too.
Joe: strip it down

What's the most fun thing you've ever done?
Joe: watching "some kind of wonderful" for the first time ever with amanda/reading comic books when i was very little/recording our album.
Mike: probably the one tour that we've done. i guess i liked it so much because it was short and our van didn't break down. touring scares me but i'm looking forward to seeing if some of the myths about it are true or not.

Tell us some little known facts about Wolfie or members of Wolfie.
Joe: i'll let mike take this one.
Mike: we're a private people.

What's the best thing about being in Wolfie?
Joe: the best thing, by far, is being able to make music with the three people i make music with. i really love all of mike's songs and can't get enough of them. i truly feel honored to be playing his songs with our band. I totally love them! it's like getting a new hardship post or super friendz song when he hands me that maxell with a new four track mix down. for me, wolfie is more than music. we're all great friends and i feel really lucky to be a part of it.
Mike: easy, the money..............totally a joke.

Are any of you in any other bands, and if so, do you have anything out that we can get?
Joe: amanda and i are in a band with my roommate rachel called busytoby. we have a 7" single coming out on parasol records in april/may. i play the drums and sing and amanda and rachel play organ and sing. mike has tons and tons and tons of solo songs! i mean he's got a backlog two miles long. he's putting together a new tape right now, so i'm super excited. wolfie has a new 7" coming out on 100 guitar mania records in japan this summer with three new songs.

Do you have any last messages for today's youth?
Mike: read a book.

See the Wolfie webpage!