Crack

Watching Bristol hard rockers Turbowolf play live is something anyone who loves truly captivating performances should compulsively do.

Rammed full of personality, melody and a fuck-you attitude, it’s a big ride that sees all members collide in bursts of energy usually reserved for the Hadron Collider.

So it’s hardly surprising when discussing their current studio recordings, drummer Chris D says: “In the last few days, we’ve scrapped takes because they’ve been too clean. I’ve been told, ‘go back and start fucking sweating. We aren’t going again unless I’m in severe pain’...and I think that’s really helped actually.”

Camped in the studio and in the process of putting together their debut album, Turbowolf aren’t in the ball game of waltzing in and waltzing out. All four members are focused on the job in hand. Chris D explains: “This album is a consolidation of the last year and getting all the songs together in a way that feels right on an album. It’s all on our plate. All everyone has told us so far is that unless you get an album to use as a weapon, none of these doors are going to start opening.”

“This is our debut album and we’ll be truly happy and content to have something in our hands. That’s the fuel we’re running on right now. To have an album is going to be wicked. We want people to know that we aren’t going to let it out ‘til we’re one hundred per cent happy with it.”

Reassuring sentiments and ones that shouldn’t be underestimated. Here is a band that places their authenticity at the top of the pile. It’s done effortlessly. Across all aspects of the Turbowolf machine from their searing live performances to their relaxed and genuine manner, they offer the complete package.

At home in front of just eight people or a sweating mass of four hundred, their live performances leave nothing in the locker room. Lead singer Chris G is the frontal exponent of this attitude: “There’s no grey area with us, we’re either on or off. If you’re a band you are one of two types. You’re either like Sonic Youth who stare at their shoes for half an hour or you’re Iron Maiden. We definitely fit into the second category. There is no grey area there at all.”

It’s an attitude that has seen them become a serious live draw not just in Bristol but also in the capital. This partly has to do with their ferocity and commitment to live performance, but also their multi-stranded sound.

Pitched somewhere in a quagmire of metal, punk and hard rock, the difficulty pinning Turbowolf down has won them fans from both indie and metal fraternities. It has seen them play dates across London; as well as do a Maida Vale session for leftfield maestro and Bestival boss Rob Da Bank. This session acted as a watermark for the band and put them in some esteemed company.

“It was pretty cool flicking through the Maida Vale guestbook,” Chris G enthuses. “You had every band I’ve ever known, loved and worshipped in there. White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, System of a Down, Nirvana!”

Timing is good for the band at the moment. With a reputable live show firmly cemented in Bristol and a number of well received shows causing ripples in London, the release of their debut album in early summer should propel them into the consciousness of a city where they feel they’ve made significant progress.

“We’ve been really smart about where we’ve played in London,” Chris G explains. “We didn’t want to just play anywhere and book the Frog and Donkey or anywhere like that. We wanted to find the cool places to play, where the cool kids go. So we looked at other bands we like and where they play and that’s really helped us get a foothold in London. We’ve had people wanting to book us again and again and we’re still rolling off that. It feels good when you go to London and everyone’s standing there at the start of the gig with their arms crossed, stroking their beards and then you just blow them away.”

In terms of influence, Turbowolf’s ability to harness a whole host of fans from various pigeon holes is a credit to their love of different music styles as much as their ability as musicians. Chris D explains: “I’ve got pretty serious metal interests and roots. I’m the drummer, so that gives it a pretty solid foundation. But then we are also into all kinds of stuff from ELO to Daft Punk, Slayer and Justice. We know what a good song sounds like, other than just being really brutal.”

“The whole idea of Turbowolf is that we wanted to do something different and wanted to be something you don’t hear very often. We’ve taken elements of all the things we’ve grown up loving in order to make something new. That’s the reason why people find it really hard to pigeon hole us. They are going to go; ‘yeah, they’re a bit metal, but they’re also a bit punk, but they’ve also got synths, so are they electro?’ We aren’t any one of those things.”

Working in Bink Bonk studio with sound engineer Matt Samson - who has helped the band immensely, the new single Let’s Die is a taster of what to expect from the new album. Through commitment to all the essentials that make up a quality rock band, the anticipation of what could happen and the positive results of their time in the studio leave both Chris D and G in an excitable, enthusiastic frame of mind. Chris G says: “If you’re in a band, you go through these periods thinking that you’re going to get signed all over the place, be millionaires and live on yachts.”

From Crack's spot across the table you can tell that a small part of him thinks this could happen and why the hell not? Turbowolf are on the crest of a wave that could potentially collapse at any point.


Tune: Ancient Snake

http://www.turbowolf.bigcartel.com
http://www.myspace.com/turbowolfband

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