The Dublin Castle, London
04.07.08
Two years ago London club favourites Mad Dogs & Glory disbanded on the eve of jetting off to California to trash it out on the Vans Warped tour. This left vocalist The Captain and the aptly named Hudson-Upon-Bass in purgatory. After months heavy drinking, weed smoking, bowl skating and jamming sessions with various like minded individuals something happened. Somewhere deep in space and time, atop a high, stormy mountain….from the ashes of dogs came wolves.
Thirteen Wolves have punished the North, South, East and West London pub circuits for almost a year now, unleashing their own brand of sonic rock’n’roll amongst denim clad rockers, metal heads and hippies alike. After recruiting two new axe-men in the form of Ollie, Affe and drummer “Slick” Andy Sinner, they are now taking things to a new “spiritual plane”.
They certainly do at the Dublin Castle, exploding out of the starting gates with seminal track Thirteen Wolves. The Captain lives up to his name, commanding the stage and losing his mind to the music his crew are making. He drops to his knees every so often to his effects box to sprinkle the already pummelling tracks with sounds from the deepest caverns of space and time.
Affe and Ollie shred through crowd pleaser Sandstorm Woman with ease and finesse. Hudson (who, by the way, has a fucking awesomely colossal beard) dominates the bass and is a huge driving force behind the band. The thundering track Row and Conquer was the highlight of the night. A song that has an almost Saint Vitus undercurrent to it and shows off The Captain’s vocal talents go far beyond “wolven howls”.
Andy, who kicked the shit out of his kit all night, culminates the ‘wolves set by diving into the crowd sending beer and people to the ground much to the delight of everybody who he missed. The rest of the band make a swift exit to the bar to pound some well deserved beers.
Thirteen Wolves are a band that ooze charisma and talent. They constantly put on a great show that is ever changing and relentlessly intense. Keep your eyes peeled for these dudes. There are big things are on the horizon. In the words of The Captain, “Peace, love ‘n’ heavy artillery!”
Tom Lindsey