John Olson, Nate Young, and Jame Baljo are keeping the Detroit-do-it-yourself movement alive with their band Wolf Eyes. Organic, feral performances and haphazard recordings led to nationwide tours with Sonic Youth and Andrew W.K.
John Olson talked about Wolf Eyes and their upcoming Friday set at BERSERKER, a four day fest featuring fast, heavy, extreme and weird music in Ferndale.
How has Wolf Eyes evolved since the band started in 2000?
We’ve had two members change. Now we have a new guy, playing guitar. So the only thing that’s changed is now we have a real instrument in the band in the form of a guitar player. There have been some pretty subtle changes I guess. When Wolf Eyes started it was just a duo. It started with Nate, and then Nate and Aaron, then the three of us. There’s been some subtle changes but the mission remained consistent: Make weird music.
The most changes have been with our new member ‘Crazy Jim’. He’s more of a riff player and less of an improviser or cosmic explorer. It’s more like ‘trip metal’. It’s more song based. So when we blast out songs there is a lot more structure.
Trip Metal?
Before we were more percussion based, now it’s more relaxed. It’s more rocking.
How do you put your music together?
We start with beats, and then we come up with rhythm ideas, Jim comes up with the riffs around that and then we jam it and flex it a little. We flesh it out that way to get a better feel. We work out the songs live a lot. We put them through the ringer on the road because it develops a more natural, cognoscente feel. Pretty different from a rock and roll band.
It’s kind of like African music where its based on a rhythm and then you embellish the roots. Same thing with reggae. We called the first album Dread for many reasons. Kind of a rough period going on, but we love African-American music. The big strong rhythms in hip-hop, stuff like that.
At the time Detroit had WLJB and 101.5, stations that had the hip-hop. You could turn on your radio and hear these amazing songs. “Shake it fast” by Mystikal and all that stuff.
What are some of your favorite Detroit acts?
I do, but they’re from the 80s hardcore scene. I’m a big skate punk head. The touch and go record scene that had Blight, and The Meatmen. Detroit bands man, like The Allies and Stoogies and all that stuff. The old school guys who don’t have too much going on these days. There was an old band out of Detroit called Slaughterhouse that was really amazing in the 80s.
What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of being a band from Detroit?
It’s kind of like an island, and there’s a certain amount of claustrophobia that goes along with being on an island, but the history. Michigan music is the best in the country, almost the world. Going back to garage rock, Motown, Hardcore, the layout is amazing.
Grand Rapids had a big scene. It’s definitely an advantage. But it comes back around to the whole island atmosphere. It’s easy to get caught up in a Michigan style.
As a successful musician, what advice would you give up and comers?
Do something you love so much it doesn’t feel like work. And that’s a downhill journey. Everything falls into place. It’s a cocktail of inspiration, consistency, and originality. There are plenty of bands I’ve been in that didn’t take off, you just gotta keep doing it. If you keep doing it, it’ll happen.
