New Music Tuesday | Locals Only Edition: Wiredogs "Kill The Artist Hype The Trash"
Happy New Music Tuesday, friends and foes! This month is packed full of new music from some of our favorite local bands, so brace yourselves as last week, this week, and next week are all heavy hitting hometown releases. Last Tuesday we brought you coverage of the new Filthy T album set to debut this weekend, but they’re not the only band who will be bringing new tunes to your earbuds in the next seven days. Local rockers Wiredogs will be premiering their brand new EP this Saturday night at The Marquis Theatre, but we got our hands on a sneak preview this week to tell you all what to expect.
This three-piece from Denver are certainly not new to the local scene, nor to rock and roll. Originally named The Hate (a name so punk that they were forced to change it), the groups first EP titled Resistance garnered interest in Denver and led to shows at UMS in 2013 and 2014, performances with Agent Orange, Residual Kid, The Ataris, fellow rock locals In The Whale and more. This past fall they were one of three local bands asked to play at Riot Fest Denver, but they’ve kept a bit quiet since that show, working hard on this new, EP Kill The Artist Hype The Trash. When we first were introduced to the awesomeness that is Wiredogs, it was inherently apparent that there was massive talent and potential spiraling around, but the band seemed unsure of which direction they were headed musically. Straddling the lines of punk, classic rock and even sometimes ska, the groups live show was so high energy and the tracks so catchy that you couldn’t not love it, but every track still felt different from the next…different enough that it left you to wonder what was precisely at play.
The groups new EP seems to have taken that next step forward, finally locking their sound to a more specific genre, creating a more coherent experience for the listener. Kicking off with the high energy track “Violence”, frontman Dan Aid’s grungy voice elicits a forced awareness from the listener; one can not passively listen to this album. The driving guitar riffs and consistent melodies roll from track to track, complimented by drummer Stefan Runstrom’s choice to hold nothing back. One of my favorite drummers currently playing in the Denver scene, I really appreciate how much this recording allows the listener to hear him playing as hard as he does at every live show - something hard for an audio engineer to successfully reproduce. This magical drum sound happens to be a known talent of The Blasting Room, the infamous Fort Collins-based studio the band recorded at. Aid has always delivered catchy hooks and memorable chorus’, but there’s something new about the writing on Kill The Artist Hype The Trash that I can’t quite place. The ability for the listener to focus on this more might honestly be thanks to the consistency of the music behind the lyrics, although I can’t be certain. My favorite song of the record is the last track, “Fear Is A Lie”, a memorable, anthemic, beat-driven single thats a surefire hit with both new fans as well as those familiar with the group’s past work. To say i’m anxious to hear these new songs live would be an understatement. I’ve always enjoyed the band’s live show, but I finally feel like the group’s music is consistent enough to make their performances what they’ve always hinted at: a coherent build up of emotion and release, driving impassioned fan reaction beginning to end of the set.
If you want to check out this newly revised version of Wiredogs, you don’t have to wait long. The band is releasing this brand new EP this coming Saturday, January 24th at The Marquis Theatre. Tickets are going quick, but I implore you to pick one up quick and not miss out on what will be a strong local release of 2015. For now, check out the group's last single, "Chelsea Hotel" here on SoundCloud: