The Punk Rock Roots of Wolf Eyes

Wolf Eyes have been firing out powerful statements of dissidence and intent since 1996. Originally the solo project of Nate Young, the process reached critical mass with the addition of Aaron Dilloway and John Olson (AKA Inzane Johnny) a few years later. As well as official releases on Bulb Records, Sub Pop, and Olson’s American Tapes, their barrage of tapes, CD-Rs, and lathes have won them such fans as Sonic Youth and Henry Rollins. Their mixture of industrial noise, death metal, free jazz, experimental electronics, and hardcore all funnel into one cacophonous noise, that they call trip-metal. In this excerpt from their recent RBMA Radio interview, Nate Young, Inzane Johnny and (relatively new Wolf Eyes member) Crazy Jim talk about the punk rock ethos behind the group’s work.

Inzane Johnny

As a band, and with our performance base, Mug, we think like skaters do. Skaters get together because they’re outsiders, but then they’re able to hang out together and exchange ideas in a social setting. I think this is a tangent of punk in that it’s a bunch of people not being able to communicate so good socially, but then they have a message and they’re able to do it through music. I think that is utopia. I think saying something is “utopian” is naïve, but for outsiders to be able to express themselves in a social setting not only validates what they’re saying, but is utopian in its process. I think that’s the best thing about music – being someone who has problems socially.

Crazy Jim

I wouldn’t say that Mug is a “collective.” It’s a proper showcase, where noise, electronic, or experimental music can be curated. As a “collective,” it transcends wherever you are. I could be in California, Nate could be in Florida, and John could be in Michigan, but we’re still working together. Modern technology allows for new creative approaches because when you finally get together at Mug, it adds another thrill to it all. Before then, we haven’t been able to express that vibe face-to-face, head-to-head.

There is a sense where we have a “venue,” though. We all put our mind, money and efforts into where we can do that. A big philosophy of the place is to house and feed artists that come through, whether it’s just for one night or for three weeks. America doesn’t really have that unless you’re in with a very well-to-do crowd. My upbringing was more of a hippie, commune, bottom-of-the-barrel affair.

Nate Young

Mug is a good place.

Crazy Jim

There’s no place that I’ve been to in America like it.

Inzane Johnny

There are a lot of places for punk bands and rock bands to play in Detroit, but there aren’t that many places that will tolerate – and I straight up emphasize, tolerate – what we are interested in. I find that when we started out, there were even less places that will tolerate what we were doing. That’s why I’ve said the beginning was about seeing what we could get away with. That was very juvenile, but also thrilling in its own way.

Nate Young

It’s a mind-set that’s lasted years.

Crazy Jim

Yeah – and maybe even helped to open some other people’s minds. I don’t know.

Inzane Johnny

The whole idea of Mug, and of our performance and recording, was modelled after European places, but what we were trying to achieve wasn’t necessarily organization. We really just wanted to give back to people because we felt so… I hate to say “guilty,” but it’s hard not to feel something in line with that when you’re so fortunate to be able to travel; to go to these beautiful places, do what we want to do and be supported. That doesn’t happen in the States. It’s still a struggle for us to travel from one end of our own country to the other, and consistently be able to eat through our music.

That said, that is what we want to achieve; to give back to people who have hooked us up, and to our friends; to show people that things can be better, that the right way to do things is to feed and house your visiting musicians. Not just to show them the stage, kick them out after the gig and hardly talk to them, which is primarily what bars are. When we play in bars, we’re the soundtrack for beer sales 90% of the time. The bartenders hate us.

Basically, it’s turned out to be a support group for socially retarded individuals who are interested in electronic music primarily – or, as we like to say, “unconventional sound.” Basic survival skills do actually get learned there. I didn’t know how to chop wood or split a log, because I’d never had to, but because we have this space now, we have to. Jim takes us out and we cut down trees.

Crazy Jim

I have a chainsaw and a truck and a few wood-burning stoves. We need to stay warm, and keep the others warm. It’s fun.

Inzane Johnny

I personally love hanging out with damaged people because that means they got to find their way out of their rat trap, and that makes for a more interesting person. I’m not really interested in people that have led these happy lives. I like people that have scars and problems, who are broken. I remember Richard Pinhas said one of the most intense things ever to me: that there’s no creation without death, and that’s why youth is so amazing. The youth are killing something. The avant-garde should always be killing something.

Nate Young

Destroying.

Inzane Johnny

Yeah, destroying. I don’t think what we do should be based upon tradition. I think the underground should always be a mind trap of old things, dying, for new things to grow.

Crazy Jim

The past is the only dead thing that smells sweet. Either you make yourself miserable or you make yourself happy, but the amount of work is the same. Go so far away that you stop being afraid of not coming back. And remember – despise your teachers.

Inzane Johnny

That’s right on. When we encounter situations where people would have expectations and demands of us, we would shut our phones off and just be like, “Whatever.” This is from early on, as well. But we don’t do that anymore. We try to work out our problems as best as we can, but back in the day we did not understand or care about any of the logistics of the industry. We’re interested in our artistic minds, our output. I don’t like to put people in an obligated situation. I don’t really like contracts. I like handshakes. I like verbal agreements. I like to know and look someone in the eye – and that’s just not how the industry works.

Crazy Jim

We’ve never been good at playing the industry game at all. We’ve never done SXSW or any of that shit. We just want to jam. That’s our love.

Inzane Johnny

The whole noise politics, it exists and it’s really odd. We don’t really adhere to any of those political correct ways of thinking or whatever. They may think their politics are, correct or…

Crazy Jim

To climb the ladder to the noise jackpot.

Inzane Johnny

Or to stay so far buried that you feel pure. “I am truly underground.”

Crazy Jim

Legitimized in your own, solitary world.

Inzane Johnny

I like to say this: “It’s not mine, I ripped it off.” This is how it goes. We aim to capitalize on confusion as a means of communication and connection, rather than a threat to authenticity. This is truly how we feel. There’s no wrong way to do something. The only thing that we really all have in common is confusion. Everyone can relate to that. It’s important. The whole idea of being authentic is bullshit, anyways.

Crazy Jim

You should never worry about that. You don’t tag yourself as authentic, or even worry about it. My parents were crazy hippies and they let me do whatever the fuck I wanted. They had their own problems, too, in those days. I was 15 was when I moved to Tucson, Arizona, and 17 when I moved back to Michigan. At that time, I don’t even know what I was doing. We were poor. I was literally eating at homeless shelters and skateboarding, crashing on couches around Ann Arbor.

I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household with a father that was a hobbyist musician, so he had guitars, drums and synthesizers lying around. He didn’t show me how to use them at all. He just said, “Here’s the On/Off button. Here’s the C chord. Have at it.” I find it to easier to learn by figuring it out yourself, and then also feeling it. The guitar is a very standard instrument. You can’t play it unless you know what sounds good. Sure, you can play a detuned guitar, but you have to find a melody and a flow to it. A lot of my guitar playing comes from jamming with other guitar players, or just trying to translate whatever I’m daydreaming in my head. I really learned how to play guitar in prison, though.

Nate Young

Why were you in prison?

Crazy Jim

Stuff.

Nate Young

Much bullshit.

Crazy Jim

Never ask a prisoner what they went to prison for.