Written By Wolves
18th January 2018
The Kings Arms, Auckland, New Zealand.
Review by Marius Nel. Photography by Matt Henry Mendonca.
Pass up the opportunity to review a triple bill rock show? Hardly likely! I was delighted when I was asked to report to the King’s Arms, Auckland’s well-beloved live music club, for an evening of “Rock, Hardcore and Pop Punk”, headlined by stalwarts “Four Years Strong”. My brief was to review the band first on the bill, “Written by Wolves”. Online I discovered that this was a new, unique band that “pushes the boundaries of the genre.” A quick listen to “To Tell You the Truth” on their YouTube channel piqued my interest with its beautiful spaces and huge rousing chorus.
It was a drizzly, mizzly Auckland twilight when we arrived, but there was excitement in the air when the doors finally opened for an evening of standing-room-only hard rock. We were not kept waiting too long past the 8:00 start time. Neither were we disappointed by WBW. They launched into their opening number, “Not Afraid to Die”, with not one smidgen of fear, sweeping the audience up with them: “Let the wolves come out to play” – and play they did! Beautifully tight, driven rock that sent a thrill down the spine and “adrenaline to the heart”.
Their lyrics are certainly rousing: “Starlight” exhorts the audience to “Let the moment take control and just be”, taking us over the threshold of humdrum reality into that magical moment of hard rock ecstasy. “Explode” is a high-energy tidal wave of breaking frustration and determination “You can bar up the windows, encrypt the code; I won’t stop til it’s mine or I feel my heart explode”.
I noticed that the band did not have a bass guitarist, yet there was a huge amount of bottom end in the mix. I asked at the mixing desk where this came from and the sound engineer pointed out the percussionist’s box of synth tricks, which he operates while playing percussion. He is a fairly recent addition to the band (I can’t find his name anywhere – help us out here guys and get Facebook and the websites updated!) and really rounds off their driven sound superbly by playing that vital linking role between the drummer and the rest of the band, one usually played by the bassist.
I caught up with Davie, the lead guitarist, after the gig to ask a few questions – one of them being about the band’s claim to making “Cinematic Rock”; after all, they count among their influences such soundtrack composers as Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman – yet the set tonight was all butt-kicking driven rock. He and Michael, the lead singer who had come to join us, assured me that this was because of the band they had come to support; their usual gig is much more stadium rock-oriented. This is good news: maybe it’s because I’m a bit of an old fart with tinnitus, but for me one of the downfalls of modern gigs is that the sheer Marshall/Orange power saturates the air with so much distortion that very little can be heard of individual notes and this is why I have so little to say about Davie and the other guitarist’s virtuosity: it might have been there but I couldn’t hear it. Maybe if I attend a gig where they headline with their cinematic approach I’ll be able to give fairer comment on this musicianship.
Michael was a runner-up in the 2004 NZ Idols contest and it’s easy to see why: his stage presence is charismatic and he delivers his searing vocals with effortless confidence.
The overall impression that I and my fellow reviewer had was the band’s sincerity – which probably has a lot to do with their climb up the ladder towards recognition: they have not yet got the acclaim that bands like “Four Years Strong” have, but they are determined, energetic and talented. It’s that sincerity which one would like to see recognised with the acclaim that this band deserves.
Were you there at the Kings Arms for this great rock gig? Or have you seen Written By Wolves perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!