The Return of Gnarwolves and its Outsider Voice
It’s basically a bunch of miserable introverted songs…it’s really a very neurotic record
When Gnarwolves started the band in 2011, Thom, Max, and Charlie were pretty young lads. They were in a whirlwind world of 20-somethings life, channeling the anxious, adrenaline and creating the heaviest shit in the pit through bunch of EPs and an album.
But after a series of the relentless tour, from basement gig to Leeds & Reading festival, they decided to stop being a band, and continued their separated lives. At least for a while, until the band transforms into a more grown-up version of Gnarwolves. Well, it’s not really a cliche, I see it a natural way in some people’s lives.
As they’ve grown up, I also see the band has progressed and changed from one release to another. However, Gnarwolves new full-length album Outsiders is the best sound that this band should have in the first place. The band now sounds more expansive, exploring crisp guitar sound, and confidently do actual singing than the shouting.
When I heard it, the album offers a diversity and dynamic repertoire. I’d like to divide it into 2 parts, first sequence we can see the trading place between RVIVR and the Lookout! Records best like early Green Day to Operation Ivy and Small Brown Bike.
‘Argument’ to ‘Talking To Your Ghost’ marked the transition into the thick stoner indie-rock from the likes of Weezer and Superchunk. But don’t worry, they also got some Jawbreaker, Kid Dynamite, and Lifetime vibes. The tracks from this sequence can nicely get along with the current UK indie punk lineup from Specialist Subjects Records collection.
‘Straitjacket’ of course a perfect demonstration of the new Gnarwolves. I can’t stop jumping and singing along to the chorus. ‘English Kids’ is the track that makes me said Gnarwolves sounds like the Lookout! Records Green Day. ‘Channeling Brian Molko’ is interesting song that tells “every song sounds the same” and they intended making a homage but ended up an honest ripoff from ‘Nancy Boy’ of Placebo. The album finally ends its journey with an emotional anxiety experience and the slowcore punk track ‘Shut Up’. It’s all glorious!
Being outsider
“Our band doesn’t necessarily fit into any of the things we’ve flirted with in the past,” said Thom in an interview, explained the title of the album. He claimed the title is inspired by the class struggle and coming of age novel The Outsiders by S.E Hinton, and later the book was adapted to the big screen by Francis Ford Coppola.
Outsider doesn’t just deliver a new Gnarwolves sound, but it’s also new deep perspective that deals with interaction and relationship. “It’s basically a bunch of miserable introverted songs…it’s really a very neurotic record,” added Thom.
I’m really buying the whole fit-in theme. What Thom said about being outsider really got me. Since I moved to Jakarta, I don’t have many friends in the scene. I work here, so I just get a small circle friend. I write for this blog because I want to reach people beyond that circle through the same things we’ve obsessed with.
Well. That’s not always well. The scene here is sort of tight-knit community-oriented, I sometimes feel like an outsider and cannot fit in there. Most of the time, I also feel anxious and weird at gigs.
But I was wrong. I learned from Thom, that I might be over-thinking that feeling. It’s just a thing and just a feeling. As if he told me if I feel like I don’t fit in, it’s my fault for too shy to introduce myself and mingle with others. Who knows that many of them wanted to be friend with me as well. If that happened I think that’s very beautiful.
