The Wolfmen
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| The Wolfmen | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, England |
| Genre(s) | Post-punk Alternative rock |
| Years active | 2004–Present |
| Label(s) | Damaged Goods |
| Associated acts | Siouxsie And The Banshees Adam and The Ants Sinead O'Connor Lou Reed Brian Eno Primal Scream |
| Website | http://thewolfmen.net/ The Wolfmen's official website. |
| Members | |
| Marco Pirroni Chris Constantinou |
|
The Wolfmen are a rock music band formed in 2004 and centred around Marco Pirroni (guitars, co-writer) and Chris Constantinou (bass guitar, lead vocals, co-writer).
Contents |
[edit] Pre-History
Constantinou began as a bass guitar player with Diz Watson until the late 1970s when he formed Drill, who worked extensively with Chas Chandler and then Adam Ant, who he joined in 1982.
By that stage, Pirroni, who has worked with Siouxsie And The Banshees, The Models and Rema-Rema - had joined Adam and The Ants to worldwide acclaim, co-writing five number one singles and co-writing a further four top tens, with Ant. When the Ants disbanded in 1982, Marco remained as Ant's co-writer, starting off with a number one single ("Goody Two Shoes") and album (Friend or Foe), followed by nine more top 20 hits. The former gave Pirroni and Ant their second shared Ivor Novello award.
Constantinou and Pirroni went their separate ways in the mid-1990s, with CConstantinou forming the Miles Copeland-managed SF Go with Danny Kustow (TRB, Glen Matlock), followed by a co-writing project with Bow Wow Wow's Annabella Lwin, which led to the hit single "Do What You Do" (Sony, 1994), complete with Farley & Heller and Junior Vasquez mixes. This led to a song writing partnership with multi-Ivor Novello winner Guy Chambers, before Constantinou took centre stage with post-punk outfit JackieOnAssid, releasing two albums (2001's 4Play and 2002's Zip Me Up), touring extensively, soundtracking award-winning British filmmaker Paul Hills' 2003 movie The Poet and supporting Iggy Pop.
By the time they came back together to form The Wolfmen, Pirroni had added co-writing and performing credits with Sinead O'Connor to his CV, as well as releasing the acclaimed SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die and Biba: Champagne and Novocaine albums on his own label, Only Lover Left Alive.
[edit] Releases
August 2006 saw their first EP released – a limited edition 10” vinyl and download on Damaged Goods. Its four tracks include a cover of Brian Eno’s "Needle In A Camel’s Eye". Lead track "Jackie Says" had a film noir video by Paul Hills that was first shown on Slash Music, Channel 4’s music website. They received strong media support for "Jackie Says", including Jonathan Ross (BBC Radio 2), Mark Lamarr (BBC Radio 2), Phil Jupitus (BBC 6Music), Gary Crowley (BBC), Steve Jones (Jonesy’s Jukebox) and the BBC’s music website which asked “Is (Marco & Chris') music as necessary in 2006 as it was nearly 30 years ago? In a word, yes. In more words, too f***ing right it is.”
A second limited edition single appeared in October 2006 on 7” vinyl and download. "Kama Sutra"/"TV's On John Wayne's Been Shot Again" became iTunes’Rock Pick of the Day and won rave reviews including Metro and Mojo which said: “...Marco and Chris do growing old disgracefully moves with style. With thumping Suicide-alike beatbox and glam-rockabilly guitars, the A-side is exuberant filth…” As part of the promo for the single, the band visited the USA where they appeared on Jonesy’s Jukebox, hosted by ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones and the CMJ Music Marathon where Pirroni was a guest speaker. An extensive interview with Pirroni on his life, times and The Wolfmen appeared on SuicideGirls.com in January 2007. US radio picked up on the band with ‘taste-maker’ stations including KROQ Los Angeles, KDLD Los Angeles and KVGS Las Vegas playing tracks. As a result, "Jackie Says" entered the FMQB’s MediaGuide airplay chart which monitors specialist, college and tastemaker airplay, beating new releases from Babyshambles and The Good, The Bad And The Queen to make one of the highest ever entries in the chart, remaining in the top five for three weeks and the top 10 for five weeks.
A third single, "Cecilie" was released on November 12 2007 on CD single, limited 7” vinyl and download. The B-side is "Do The Ostrich", cowritten by Constantinou and Pirroni’s with Lou Reed. The CD included the bonus track, "Look Like Tarzan Sing Like Jane".
Their fifth single "Needle In The Camel’s Eye", was released on 5 May 2008 on 3-track extra-hard 7” vinyl and as a digital download on Damaged Goods records. Immediately selling out its vinyl run, the single generated a double-page spread in Word magazine and reached number one in Mojo’s Playlist chart. “This is one band whose energy and vigour craps out of my speakers. 9/10,” reported Atomic Duster.com. “Marco Pirroni and fellow ex-Ant Chris Constantinou do a fine mix of ESG beats and old school glam that holds a knife to the throat of pretenders,” said Teletext. The single was launched with a live date at Smoky Carrot Sessions at 333 Motherclub, Shoreditch, on 17 April.
[edit] Collaborations
Pirroni and Constantinou finished co-writing with Lou Reed in June 2006. A twisted remake of The Primitives' 1964 cult classic "The Ostrich".
The Slits’ comeback record, The Revenge of the Killer Slits appeared in September 2006 featuring both Pirroni and Constantinou and drums from the Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook. “For fans of punk, post-punk, reggae, dub, riot grrrl - f***, just about anything - this is colossal news,” wrote kittyradio.com.
In spring 2007, The Wolfmen first collaborated with Daler Mehndi and Pirroni provided guitar for Primal Scream’s cover of Screaming Jay Hawkins’ "I Put A Spell On You", a special commission for an Alexander McQueen fashion show.
The first fruits of The Wolfmen’s collaboration with Daler Mehndi were leaked to radio in August 2007. One track - "Two Eyes (Do Naina)" – went straight into the top ten on the BBC Asian Network chart and spends four weeks at number one. DJ Bobby Friction called the track “The greatest crossover song to have come out of India.”
On a wave of true popular demand, Two Eyes - credited to “Daler Mehndi feat. The Wolfmen” - appeared as a digital single on iTunes on October 29 2007. This unique collaboration was showcased live when The Wolfmen played their first ever gig: headlining the Jazz Café stage of the BBC Electric Proms on October 26.
[edit] Soundtracks
In January 2006, The Wolfmen made the soundtrack for an entire series for UK television. Fronted by Loaded’s James Brown, Bravo TV’s I Predict A Riot was described as “absorbing” by Time Out and “compelling” by The Times.
In April 2006, The Wolfmen recorded original soundtracks for two hitherto silent early 1900s fetish films for the ICA’s inaugural Fashion in Film Festival. Amor Pedestre, directed by Italian Marcel Fabre in 1914 at the height of the futurist movement, is described by futurism.org.uk as “an exquisite essay in modern stylistic experiment”. Media support came from Sight & Sound, Time Out, The Independent, i-D, The Guardian and Vogue.
In February 2007, shooting finished on the British movie Doggin, a romantic comedy produced by Vertigo Films. Pirroni and Constantinou made a cameo performance and provided new songs for the soundtrack, working with music supervisor Lol Hammond. The same month, "Kama Sutra" appeared on prime time UK TV on the soundtrack to the fantasy thriller series Primeval.
In March 2007, the The Fashion In Film Festival arrived in New York for a residency at the Museum of the Moving Image. The Wolfmen’s films were premiered at the Astoria Theatre and media coverage included Harpers & Queen and Vogue.
[edit] Compilations
At the 2007 South By Southwest Music & Media Conference (a/k/a SXSW) in Austin, Texas, "Jackie Says" featured on Filter magazine’s promo CD alongside Bloc Party, Tom Waits and The Fratellis who used it as the intro and outro to their set at The Filter Party.
In spring 2007, BMG Music Publishing’s Beverly Hills-based Killer Tracks division launched Indier Than Thou, a specially-commissioned CD of music for film and TV soundtracks featuring 12 Wolfmen originals.
In July 2007, "Jackie Says" appeared on "Filter" magazine’s Give Listen Help CD available at 110 Urban Outfitters stores across USA.
[edit] Social networks
In February 2006, The band’s MySpace, YouTube page and website opened for business at www.thewolfmen.net, www.myspace.com/thewolfmen and www.youtube.com/thewolfmen, with exclusive demos and news updates going live every month. In May 2007, social networking websites began to embrace the band with videos from the Wolfmen popping up on Blip.tv, Clip Shack, DailyMotion, Guba, Veoh, VidiLife, Vimeo, Vsocial and Bolt. Fan pages appeared alongside MySpace at Virb, Bebo, TagWorld, hi5, IMEEM, GarageBand, purevolume, SoundClick and iLike.
[edit] Television
Early in 2007, Living TV spent a day with the band as six models appeared in a new Wolfmen video as a special task for series three of Britain's Next Top Model. It was shown in August 2007 in the UK and October in the US. Constantinou and Pirroni appeared as judges and mentors on Channel 4’s new series, the E4 School of the Performing Arts, with began on 3 October 2007. The same month, Britain’s Next Top Model featuring The Wolfmen became the first ever UK reality show to be shown on US terrestrial TV.
[edit] Influences
In May 2008, Constantinou was the subject of a one-hour Wolfmen special on Red Bull Music Academy Radio, playing tracks both by the band and others that point the way to their influences. Full track list was as follows:
Marc Bolan & T-Rex - Ride A White Swan
Jimi Hendrix - Cross Town Traffic
The Wolfmen Jackie Says
The Wolfmen - Cecilie
The Wolfmen - Needle In A Camel's Eye
The Wolfmen - Up All Nighter
Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues
Velvet Underground - Waiting for the Man
Johnny Cash - I've Been Everywhere
Warren Zevon - Werewolf In London
The Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso
Daler Mehndi featuring The Wolfmen - 2 Eyes
Dahler Mendhi featuring The Wolfmen - Thieves and Liars (Radio Edit)
Leonard Cohen - Bird on the Wire
X-Ray Spex - Germfree Adolescents
[edit] Future plans
The Wolfmen embarked on monthly UK live dates across spring and summer 2008 and are currently finishing both their first album, Modernity Killed Every Night (set for release in August 2008) and Daler Mehndi’s latest album, both of which will be supported by live dates worldwide. All tracks on Modernity Killed Every Night are mixed by Alan Moulder.
