Purple Magazine
— S/S 2012 issue 17
Call of the Wild
Brooklyn-based band
text by MATT SWEENEY
portrait by RACHEL CHANDLER
Call Of The Wild, the Brooklyn-based band, blasts out life-affirming rock and roll in the vein of Motörhead, the Wipers, and, if you can imagine it, the band on “The Muppet Show.” They’re a young new band, one with a lightning-in-a-bottle mix of musical ability, blatant crudeness, good songwriting, thoughtfulness, recklessness, and style. Their songs are anthem-like, tough, super-fast, and melodic. They play so well together that they seem more like a gang than a band.
Call Of The Wild consists of Alison Busch on drums, Maxwell Peebles on bass and vocals, and Johnny Coolati on guitar and vocals. The band members spend their days and nights listening to music, watching movies, trading books, practicing, making tapes and t-shirts, and feeding off each other’s energy with a rabid joy. “When we practice,” Alison says, “we end up playing songs twice — not to rehearse them, but just because we want to hear them again.” When the band plays live, the audience experiences their energy in a flash. A line from their anthem, “Choked Out,” is both a heartfelt invitation for you to join in and a stark expression of indifference if you don’t: “Take it or leave it/Win or lose/This is the life we choose.” They live the life they love, and they love the life they live. Call Of The Wild’s first album, the working title of which is “Keep Your Leather On,” will be released by Mexican Summer this spring.
