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Wolf & Cub.
Despite rumours of a move to Melbourne, Wolf & Cub are still firmly based in Adelaide, even if they haven't spent much time here in the past few weeks. Having just returned from a run of dates with Hot Hot Heat followed closely by shows in Japan, Joel Byrne is - not surprisingly - a very tired boy.
"I'm just getting ready to go away to Sydney," Byrne yawns. "I've only been home for two days and I've got to get going again. It's a bit annoying. It'd be good if we were reaping the benefits of rock stardom but we're not. It's weird, people in the media think we're from Sydney or Melbourne but I'm glad we're still in Adelaide. People ask about the Adelaide scene and assume it's pretty dead, they always think it's weird that we come out of Adelaide - I don't know exactly what that means, because we play with a bunch of Adelaide bands and they're better than a lot of other Australian bands."
The Wolf & Cub boys are firing up the van on route to Sydney for the start of their Australian tour with Die! Die! Die!. "They'll be the same old shows really, just repackaged differently; it's more for the record label's benefit and our agent and management. We're just trying to make their jobs easier by keeping up the momentum," Byrne says of the upcoming tour.
Okay, so that didn't exactly sound like a sales pitch but Byrne assures me that he's just tired. "I still enjoy playing, it's great, but the logistical challenges are proving themselves to be a bit of a problem at the moment, especially considering all the traveling and driving," Byrne yawns again. "I'm a bit worried of Die! Die! Die! playing before us because they might blow us off stage. If you've never seen them before you'll be amazed; it's quite an experience. They're very abrasive, a bit shocking."
As Byrne hinted, the up coming tour is largely to promote the
release of their new single, Steal Their Gold which contains
remixes of Thousand Cuts by Paul Epworth, a name becoming
increasingly well known for his production of Bloc Party and
The Futureheads. "People have asked about how much say we have
in the remixes; pretty much the only say is whether we want
to put it out or not. If anyone tries to interpret our songs
then we'd put it out anyway, because it's just another version
of our song. If we don't like it then that's probably not the
point. It's usually the record label who think it's a good idea
to get 'this guy' to do it. It wasn't as if we were having a
beer with Paul Epworth and it went from there. It's flattering
but it wasn't really personal. We would rather someone like
Cut Copy to do a remix based on the fact that they're good guys."
Wolf & Cub have been recognised internationally with Thousand
Cuts featured on BBC Radio along with features in Rolling
Stone acknowledging their potential. "[Rolling Stone] just have
this 'Hot Band of 2005' section or something," Byrne says casually.
"We've been in it twice and we're about to be in it for another
one so it's the most unimaginative thing you can imagine. I
swear we get asked the same questions every time," he sighs.
"At the same time, I'm not going to say no to it."
Despite this international recognition, Byrne is quick to dismiss the misconception that fame equals fortune. "Being in this industry you realise bands don't make any money at all. There's someone making money but it's definitely not us. We got an alright cheque [from radio play] but it went straight into paying off bills. Doing shows out of Adelaide is always expensive, but we always seem to be breaking even and we've got no money, that's for sure."
That said, things are improving: "We do have a van at least," Byrne admits. "Now that we're playing a few shows we can slowly move up to comfortable transportation. I know we'll have made it when we've got a van with beds and a TV. That would make the trip just fine - until then we'll keep on doing it how we're doing it."
Cassie Hilditch
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Wolf & Cub launch "Steal Their Gold" at Jive on Fri 7 Oct with Die! Die! Die!.
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