A few hours ago, Wolf Parade played its last show, a gig in Vancouver with Frog Eyes opening, before going on indefinite hiatus. Apparently, the last song they played together was Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.
By now all of the members have other projects going on and are scattered across Canada, and I found the later material a tad stale, so it makes sense. I get it. I mean, I understand. I don’t have to like it though.
I remember clearly when I first heard Wolf Parade. On a forum I troll, someone had posted a thread entitled: “Wolf Parade – I don’t get it.” Inside was a link to the Myspace page, which was featuring the video for I’ll Believe In Anything you see above. I clicked play, watched it, and thought, “I sure as hell get it.”
It feels too off-the-cuff to be that catchy. Spencer’s shirt is ripped at the armpit, Dan and Hadji both look like they’re going to spazz out and injure themselves, and no one seems to be paying enough attention to each other to possibly be in synch. But it’s tight, it’s tight as hell, man. Yeah, I got it.
As I listened through the song for the second time, I opened a tab to Amazon.com and bought Apologies To The Queen Mary and, because it was listed as similar, Modest Mouse’s The Lonesome Crowded West.
Those two bands immediately became huge influences on my listening and aesthetic choices. I’ve seen Wolf Parade and its various side projects in four different states across half a decade. When Spencer put out Random Spirit Lover as Sunset Rubdown, it came at one of those crucial junctures of my life when, looking back, I can see how willing and earnest I was at the time, and I opened up a slab of my heart and it slotted right in there. I still consider it my favorite album of all time.
Sunset Rubdown is gone now too. Cognitively, I know all the bands I enjoy will split up or turn shitty or go on indefinite hiatus and then never resume or have members die. Mentally, I understand that. But it still feels awful raw when one of the first bands I ever fell for does it. [R.I.P..]
A little sad I’ll never get to see them live now. I can remember having the very same reaction first time I heard “I’ll Believe in Anything”.
Apologies to the Queen Mary is just timeless, and I’ll Believe in Anything is a legitimate stroke of genius. Their later stuff did get a little half baked. I’m glad we got what we got of them.