Stomp and Holler. Loud and banging. Fun and wild. Fireside folk. All of these describe the West Coast Wolves. And yet, unless you’ve seen them play or listened to their music, no amount of description can fully sum up what they’re about. Luckily for me, I recently got the privilege to sit down for an interview with one of their members, Pete Grey, as well as watch some of the members rehearse. I was able to find out all about their music, their passions, and their plans. As well as little tidbits about their band – such as how they got the name, The West Coast Wolves.

Part of it came from their love and attachment to the West Coast. The West Coast is ingrained into their cultural identity. They’ve been camping, surfing, and making music around the fire there for around 20 years! Oh and the “Wolves” part of the West Coast Wolves? That came with their introduction to the chaotic, crazy 2012 film The Wolf of Wallstreet which they believed to be the greatest movie ever. The madness of that movie combined with the West Coast just seemed to fit. And thus, the name West Coast Wolves was born. Their name serves as a pretty apt description of their band.

That said, it’s difficult to sum up the genre of the West Coast Wolves. Folk-Rock-Bluegrass-Punk, a mix of a little bit of everything.  Listen to their discography on shuffle and you’ll find  songs from categories that are polls apart . Different genres and different messages  are seen throughout all their songs. You just can’t contain them to one genre alone. When asked why they create such a mixture of variety the response was simple; they listen to a lot of different genres. And they realized a while ago that one does not have to stick to just one.

Pete’s story reflects this: a man who played in a punk band for years and was set on one genre. Then he picked up a banjo and now jams with that in this rock/bluegrass group.  This taught him many things about both music and life; “Keep an open mind, be watchful for new experiences and opportunities, and don’t shut them down before giving them a chance. You’ve got to be ready though, you can’t force change – you just need to be open to it.”

They are passionate. Joyful. Fun-loving and hard-working.  There is a sense of magic within their rehearsal space (which they have been working hard to build for two years).  They are wolves. Wild and free. However, they are also people with jobs and families. Behind the band, they are normal people (who knew artists were people too?) And family is important to them. Sitting down with Pete for this interview in his home allowed for me to experience a slice of his life outside of work and outside of the band. As well as how all of these things intertwined. I was able to learn so much about him and the West Coast Wolves (and not just his talent of knowing how to open a beer with a highlighter). The interview was filled with children running around and making everything really chaotic and joyful, much like the energy of their live performances. Life is chaotic, life is messy, life is joyful. And let’s be honest, life is just better when you have fun and go with where it takes you. 

The West Coast Wolves know this really well. They know how to have fun. Fun may be their main focus but they also consider themselves to be deeply, deeply grounded people.  Admittedly, they don’t jol as hard as they used to and that’s okay. They’ve found a good balance, “We know our limits, and when we cross them it’s quite deliberate.”  Even as they’ve grown, they try their best to still nurture the wilderness inside of all of them.

That’s how ‘Don’t forget to Howl’ was born. A line taken from one of their songs, Knuckles Tight, it resonated with them because of the realization that they’ve grown up a lot, but they’re still howling! Speaking of Don’t Forget to Howl, that’s also the name of their 11-track album which is being released in a few months. However, a song from it is being released on Friday the 3rd. And believe me, the song – Crow’s Foot- is awesome. (You can catch sneak peeks on their Instagram page and don’t forget to stream it upon release!). The songwriting process for this piece was quite unique. “Somewhere along the line while messing around on the audio software we overlayed the banjo intro onto the punk strumming, and it just worked perfectly… Pete and Galen looked at each other like it was an epiphany.”

Much like the band itself, this song is a special mix of genres with an important message.  The first line, “No single-use plastics, I want fuller lips now, click and you collect, can’t wait I need this now” is about the juxtaposition of elements of society that seem to be opposite. There is a much-needed global drive to use less plastic, then people put “plastic” in their lips, but everything is urgent and needed right away. It’s just odd. The lyrics for “Crows Foot” circle around these ideas today which can be summed up as either the necessity for instant gratification and/or other forms of almost hypocrisy. 

To end off an article about a band with so many distinctive characteristics, I thought it would be best to share where they get their inspiration from; “I get goosebumps when I hear good music. So I just want to make stuff that gives me goosebumps to be quite honest – the music is the inspiration itself. To be able to create something is always the most amazing part of the process. To be able to make something that’s beautiful… that’s why we’ll release 1000 songs and if none of them do well we’ll release another one because we enjoyed making it. There’s always a chance that one song is gonna be that BIG song, so I find that very inspiring.”

With a solid foundation built from years of work, more and more music coming out, some concerts lined up, and big dreams to play in America one day… it’s safe to say, watch this space. Oh, and don’t forget to howl.

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