Satan Wriders
Satan Wriders (from left), Eli, Sam, & John; photographed by Logan Thomas Hatch.
Satan Wriders’ debut of “Violent Haze” presents one of the band’s best songs they have ever made that is finally set to be heard outside of live renderings. Making good on the promises set forth by the “Sun Coma” & “Freeway” singles from the Black Eyed Kids era, it features John’s sharper than ever song writing talents that tackles the John Peel radio art schools of reaching to create the perfect power pop single through the less obvious approaches, mechanisms, arrangements, et al. With ride or die bandmates Eli & Sam in toe, these three horse man battle the purple haze with a fog of fuzz that is made with their own signature distortion designed menace that maintains all melodic integrity forms that ride beneath a lo-fi smoke machine smog-cloud.
The ‘Bubble Guts’ cover boy, created by Wimps’ Matt Nyce.
We had the chance over various cables and communications for a roundtable interview session with both of the esteemed groups Wimps and Satan Wriders featured in the following transcription:
Both Seattle’s Wimps and Stockton’s Satan Wriders have had a storied history from first fans, to friends, touring buddies, & now all around BFFs. Tell us how you all first met, and everyone’s earliest introductions to each other’s band(s).
John Steiner: We was introduced to Wimps through Charles Albright. I was in a band with Eli and a few other folks called Godspeed and Albright booked us on a bill with Wimps in Sacramento in the summer of 2012. I remember blasting their tour CD all summer. Then a few months later we played together with Naomi Punk at a house in Davis called Fuck Dungeon. We’ve all probably seen Wimps play 7 or 8 times. We’re big fans and would love to get to know them better outside of music…
Wimps (from left) Rachel, Matt, & David parodying fellow Seattle pals Childbirth’s infamous press photo; courtesy of Wimps/Childbirth.
Wimps: [We] first met Satan Wriders back when some of them were in Godspeed 209. We were playing in Sacramento for the firs time and they were loud and awesome and nice and we knew we’d be best band buds. Three years later here we are, cementing our band friendship via analog tape!
John: One time we went up to Seattle on our first tour ever, and Matt told us we looked disgusting and then gave us valuable tour tips.
Can you tell us what sorts of tips were involved?
John: I can’t…they’re secret industry tips.
And what types of demos and sketches would be the blueprints that would later become this Harlot split?
John: We had been playing these two songs for two years before we finally recorded them. Originally we had several other songs that we recorded and were gonna make an EP but these two were the best.
Satan Wriders recording “Violent Haze” & more; photo by the band.
It’s on good authority not just from my own ears, tastes and biases; but both artists and the industry at large has dubbed both the sounds of Satan Wriders and Wimps respectively to be some of the best power pop found on the west coast.
For all of you, what do you feel is the perfection measure between all of your loves of distorted dissonance, balanced by a certain sort of melodic diligence?
Wimps: We wanna play the kind of music we would want to listen to. And be the kind of band we would like to see live. For us, and our varied musical tastes and influences, that happens to be sometimes loud, sometimes dissonant and sometimes melodic.
John: I can only speak for myself, but my favorite songs are always an artist’s anthems. Best recent example would be Future’s “Purple Rain” track. I’ve always been a fan of distortion, Kill em all style, and wailing instrumental leads, synth, guitar or otherwise. Lately however I’ve been getting into acoustic guitars and string sounds. Most important are a cool melody and a hook, though. Also vocal harmonies.
Sam Regan: I’ve always approached making music by doing whatever feels the most natural at the time. Sometimes loud dissonance feels right, and other times pretty melodies feels right. That kinda laissez faire attitude has lead Satan Wriders to write at least 10 weird, un-listenable sci-fi songs that we kept for a week or two before scrapping.
Wimps’ Rachel, Matt, & Dave occupying the last of the world’s remaining payphones.
Wimps, takes us to the ennui that informed “Boring”, & the supplements that inspired “Medicine Cabinet”.
Wimps: “Boring” is a driving dance number about remembering to shake things up if you find you’re getting stuck too much in a routine. “Medicine Cabinet” is an existential exploration into self-medication to deal with one’s woes.
Satan Wriders, give us the lowdown on the styling of “Chic”, and the aggression that initiated the foundations of “Violent Haze”.
John: Sam wrote “Chic” around the time we all kind of figured out how to write pop songs and I always felt like it was a self-reflection in a way. You gotta ask Sam though.
Sam: I wrote “Chic” during the same two weeks we were recording our Black Eyed Kids LP. I sorta just hung out in my underwear all day and recorded it while I was waiting for John and Eli to get off work. The song is vaguely about how I thought it was cool to be really smelly, and how that doesn’t make any sense.
I wrote Violent Haze, like, four years ago now and it’s gone through a few different changes and edits. At the time I wrote it I was listening to a lot of girl group music and feeling very haunted.
We played both these songs a shit ton live and I think they go very well together.
Also, tell us about Wimps big second album out now on Kill Rock Stars, and ‘Wriders tell us about the potential upcoming EP and other projects that are in the works.
Wimps: Our second full length, Suitcase, recently came out on Kill Rock Stars Records and is more fun than a barrel full of lazy monkeys.
John: The three of us aren’t doing much together these days ’cause we all live in different places, but individually we all have different projects brewing. Sam put out a sick rap mixtape last year and his production is on fleek.
Sam: Like John said, we’ve all been doing stuff separately these days. I know John has a bunch of stuff in the works that I’m really excited for, and I’m pretty sure Eli has a secret vault of material he keeps hidden. If you dig deep and follow closely, every once in a while Eli will quietly upload a new song with visual accompaniment to YouTube.
Sam on the drums; photograph courtesy of SW.
Can we possibly/maybe expect a future Satan Wriders/Wimps supergroup project?
John: Get at me.
Sam: Possibly, maybe…
And Kevin [Showkat], please weigh in with your thoughts on making this dream team split happen, and what’s next in the cards for Harlot.
Kevin: Well, I’m obsessed with both bands and this tape seemed like a cool way to bring them together and create something fun and somewhat ephemeral (we only made 200 tapes). This tape was actually supposed to come out months ago, but Wimps signed to Kill Rock Stars for their awesome LP Suitcase (go out and buy it) and became world famous so we iced it for a bit. Sitting on these songs / tapes has been pretty hard!
As for Harlot (now Harlot Records), I’m hoping to release 3-5 records this year. I’ve been listening to a lot of acid house. I’d like to evolve the label and experiment with publishing deals.
Satan Wriders & Wimps’ split Bubble Guts will be available split Bubble Guts January 29 from Harlot Records on limited edition cassette.
