Wand (band)

Wand
Origin Los Angeles, California, United States
Genres Psychedelic rock, garage rock, noise rock,
Years active 2013Present
Labels Drag City, In The Red Records, God? Records
Associated acts Ty Segall & the Muggers, Mikal Cronin, together PANGEA, Meatbodies
Website Official Website
Members Cory Hanson
Lee Landey
Evan Burrows
Past members Daniel Martens

Wand is an American psychedelic rock from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2013. The band consists of Cory Hanson (vocals, guitar), Lee Landey (bass) and Evan Burrows (drums).

To date, the band has released three studio albums in quick succession, Ganglion Reef (2014), Golem (2015) and 1000 Days (2015).

History

Formation and Ganglion Reef (2013-2014)

Prior to forming Wand, vocalist and guitarist Cory Hanson performed with Mikal Cronin and the bands, together PANGEA and Meatbodies.[1] Working on the songs that would become the band's debut album, Ganglion Reef, Hanson subsequently re-recorded his material after forming Wand with former art school classmates Lee Landey and Evan Burrows: "[I] found a band, and we re-recorded everything and then just started playing... really intensely.”[2] Regarding the band's name, Hanson noted: "My girlfriend actually thought of the name. We wanted a name that was kind of empty, like a wand is more of an idea, like a magical tool; it’s a means, a vessel to execute a superhuman thing."[3]

Wand released the album on fellow-garage rock act Ty Segall's Drag City imprint, God? Records, and subsequently supported him on tour.[4] Regarding the experience, Hanson stated: "[The tour] was great, it was a little bit crazy for us because we’ve never toured before. And the turnout—it was just a lot of people, and we were all surprised by how warmly received, how receptive everyone was to hearing us play because no one had ever heard us before. And Ty’s super fun to tour with."[3]

Golem and 1000 Days (2015-present)

The band quickly recorded its second studio album, Golem, with producer and engineer Chris Woodhouse, best known for his work with the garage rock acts, Thee Oh Sees. The album was recorded in twelve days, with Hanson stating: "I went in thinking, 'Oh, this is going to be a really grimy, disgusting record with these really fucked-up guitars.' And then Chris sort of took a different turn, because he just kind of gave it a Big Star treatment. So the production is, like, bizarrely pristine and all of the performances are really fucked and weird."[1]

Six months later, the band released its self-produced follow-up, 1000 Days, on Drag City. Prior to the album's recording and release, guitarist Daniel Martens temporarily stepped down from the band, with bass guitarist Lee Landey stating: "He's not touring with us this time because he's just had a baby."[5] The band was subsequently referred to as a three-piece, with Martens remaining absent from press photographs.

Regarding a potential fourth album, Hanson noted: "I think we’re a little more interested in having some more creative elbow room to push out something that feels like the right next step, rather than having this consistent output of record, tour, record, tour. Having a little bit more time to work could only benefit the way that we think about making records at this point."[6]

Side projects

In 2016, both Cory Hanson and Evan Burrows joined Ty Segall's backing band The Muggers, to tour in support of Segall's eighth studio album, Emotional Mugger.

Band members

Current members

Former members

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

References

  1. 1 2 Salmon, Ben. "Meat and Veg - Wand's Heavy, Hooky Sound". portlandmercury.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  2. Milo, Jeff. "Wand: The Best of What's Next". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  3. 1 2 Tenney, Justin. "20 Questions With Wand". thewildmagazine.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  4. Pearis, Bill. "Wand released debut album, tour with Ty Segall starts next week". brooklynvegan.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  5. Blackmarquis, Phil. "Interview: Wand - 2015". reflectionsofdarkness.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
  6. Koons, Christian. "Breaking: Wand". floodmagazine.com. Retrieved 16 November 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, February 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.