SpeedWolf Interview: SXSW 2010

SpeedWolf is unapologetically interested in playing metal. Comprised of a bunch of Denver based musicians with a history of thrash and various forms of metal, SpeedWolf lack neither experience nor a clear artistic direction. So far, they've been together for about a year now and are looking to solidify their nerd metal mission at SXSW.

How would you describe your sound in your own words?

We just play rock and roll, just old metal, whatever you would want to call it. We aspire to pay homage to early 80s metal.

How did your band form?

[Drummer] Richie Tice had a band, Chemi-Kill, that didn't work out. So, from there we started jamming, and then we called up the old guitarist and bass player from Chemi-Kill.


What are your musical influences?

Early 80s metal, Motorhead, Venom, Tank, the Hookers, some guys are into groups like WeedEater and Bongzilla, but we definitely agree on the basics: Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, pretty much everything in black and death metal.

How did you come up with your band name?

The bass player, Jake Kaufmann, came up with that. We had a list of like 500 band names; he proposed SpeedWolf and we were all in agreement. We were trying to find something brief and neutral that also kind of described the sound we were going for.

What's your biggest vice?

We're all pretty hardworking people, i guess our vice would be our work ethic, but i think its kind of a good thing.

What's your musical guilty pleasure?

I would say the Grateful Dead, very few people in metal would typically claim any sort of association with them.

What's the craziest thing you've seen or experienced while on tour?

Oh man, well, when I was in my old band we had a gig in San Francisco and we ended up staying with a friend outside of town. A guitarist in that band got a little too wasted and actually pooped himself at this friend's house. It sort of went everywhere, all over the kitchen, and he then went on to straight up lie about it by blaming it on her tiny chihuahua, which, given the size of the turd, could not have been more unrealistic in comparison to the size of the dog. He then buried his soiled pants in her garden in an area that was directly next to the trash can, which I think was also an interesting choice -- I mean the trash can is right there, but I guess he didn't want to get caught. Anyway, feeling bad for their host, this guy's bandmates cleaned up the poo splatter that he still refused to take ownership for. Two weeks later, they found the poorly buried pants in the garden and emailed a photo of the evidence. To this day, the dude still denies any sort of connection to that incident.

Who or what kind of people would you recommend listening to your music?

We're all a bunch of nerd fans of this specific type of metal. So we would recommend it to metal nerds, and people just generally into metal.

What works or accomplishments is the band most proud of?

Having done so many things within the first year, like releases and shows so quickly.

Who was your first celebrity crush?

Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead.

When and how did your musical career start?

It's still kind of starting, but for me, pretty much as soon as my previous band ended last summer.

What key moment made you feel that the band had really 'made it'?

Well, two weeks ago, we got an email from a promoter in Canada that said she wanted to fly us out for some shows this summer. We were pretty excited, and then other things started happening like The Denver Post called to interview us about SXSW, all around the same time. It was pretty awesome.

What's your latest music related accomplishment?

Reed: We're on a few records out on High Roller, and we've got a project through Planet Metal, which will be an album of re-recordings of all the songs that have been released so fa,r plus about 4 other songs. Hopefully it'll be out by August 2010.


Will Justice is a contributor from Seed.com. Learn how you can contribute here.