Band of the Week: Wolf Parade

Hometown: Montreal
Members [L-R]: Arlen Thompson (drums), Spencer Krug (vocals, keyboard), Hadji Bakara (electronic manipulations), Dan Boeckner (vocals, guitar)
Why they’re worth checking out: The recently released Apologies to the Queen Mary is one of the best debuts of the last few years, featuring spiky guitars, infectious keyboards and a compelling dual-vocal delivery.
For fans of: Modest Mouse, The Arcade Fire, Built to Spill

Don't think that since Wolf Parade has reached the point in its brief career where it's playing an Edmonton shopping mall with the Arcade Fire that the members of this ultra-hyped Canadian foursome feel like they've made it big. In fact, electronic manipulator Hadji Bakara and touring bassist/backup vocalist Dante Decaro seem pleasantly surprised.

"I need some shoes, so I'm pretty happy," Decaro says. "And there's a bowling alley, which is rad."

"I never expected to ever be doing anything else besides buying cheap jeans in a mall," Bakara adds, befuddled. "It's definitely a bizarre experience—pretty much a Chuck E. Cheese's minus the animatronic mice. But I guess we're playing the part of the robots tonight."

On the band's first proper record, Apologies to the Queen Mary, it quickly becomes clear that Wolf Parade's music is anything but robotic. "You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" begins the disc with a drum-and-keyboard call to arms, setting the tone for one of the more impressive debut albums of that last several years.

The songs are energetic, bringing to mind familiar indie-rock touchstones such as The Arcade Fire and Modest Mouse. In fact, the singer of the latter (and A&R rep for Wolf Parade's label, Sub Pop), Isaac Brock, produced most of Apologies. But the band plans to handle its own production from here on out.

"It's a waste of money," Bakara says. "The concept of a producer is pretty much a sham. The expenses are ridiculous, considering the fact that for an insane fraction of the price you could buy the equipment yourself and utilize it equally as well as some hotshot producer. We're all recording nerds anyway. Basically, we're going to be the dictators of our music."

In order to put its musical despotism into effect, Wolf Parade is building a studio so it can record subsequent efforts easily and cheaply in its hometown of Montreal. As Bakara describes it, the band currently shares a loft with a screen-printing company, and is in the process of augmenting this practice space with several mixing boards.

Wolf Parade plans to tour the current album and then get back to writing another rather than pulling some kind of Jeff Mangum or Kevin Shields-style indie-exile stunt in an effort to avoid the spotlight for several years.

"I don't think anyone in the band is that precious," vocalist/guitarist Dan Boeckner says. "I just know that we're trying to maintain some level of not feeling ashamed of ourselves amidst all this hype. I mean, I don't want to put a song on The OC—and it's not because we have enough money, it's just principle."

As for that next album, the band tentatively plans to begin working and recording in February 2006. But rather than applying the "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality used by many bands to follow up a hit album (a method that often results in solid, if predictable sales), Boeckner says he and his cohorts will change things up and get by with a little help from their (Canadian rock) friends.

"Nick Diamonds' new project, Islands, is totally inspiring," he says. "They bought a bunch of food and booze and just invited friends to mess around with songs. They wouldn't even tell people they were recording sometimes. When we went into the studio last time it was a little more regimented. This time we're going to go in with bare bones and see how it affects the process. I have a wish list of people I want to bring in. I'd love to have some of the Black Mountain crew. Others, well, it'll be a surprise. I want the vibe to be friends making music out of joy, not obligations. Basically, it's going to be a giant, hippie mess."

(To read Paste's 4-Star review of Wolf Parade's Apologies to the Queen Mary click here)