Formed "officially" in late 2014, I Cried Wolf went through a revolving line-up of sorts before coming together with the members they have today. Having played a successful string of shows throughout last year alongside Zoax, Toy Mountains and The Colour Line, they've already gained a fair bit of traction within the UK DIY metal scene. Their latest EP, 'Hollow Heart', oozes with influences from the likes of Every Time I Die and The Dillinger Escape Plan, with a somewhat tongue in cheek take on metalcore.
While it’s worked in their favour so far, guitarist Alexander Gibbons claims that with their newest material they’ve pushed the boundaries of their eccentric sound even further. “We go back and forth between emails and voice memos but sometimes working against each other ends up creating something new and innovative,” he explains. “When we first started there was a bit of pressure to sound like the bands that we liked, and now we’re trying our best to get our own style out there, we’re all into completely different bands and we all aspire to be better by hating each other so much.”
Frontman Harry Davies admits the ‘party band’ label is something they’ve tried to move away from recently. “We still love to party, but what we love more is bringing elements to our stage shows that other bands just aren’t doing at the moment,” he explains. “With the previous incarnation of this band that might have been the case but we’d rather just let people have a good time at shows rather than labelling ourselves in that way.”
Since the release of ‘Hollow Heart’ in 2015, the group have toured relentlessly around the UK, hopping onto as many lineups as possible; even with non-metal/hardcore affiliated bands such as Sad Blood, Fizzy Blood and Falls. As much as playing with similar bands makes sense from a purely genre based perspective, I Cried Wolf rarely ever seem to fit snugly into any one scene at a time.
“We feel like we can hold our own on any line-up these days,” states guitarist Louie Hodgson. “It used to be a bit weird, we’d play with deathcore bands that would make us sound like Boyzone in comparison. Other times we’d be the heaviest band there and it would weird people out a bit. At the moment I like to think that we just go on stage, throw our instruments and fuck about really.”
Having studied music at University, Alex draws a lot of influence from 20th century composers. “There’s a famous quote from when Schoenberg taught John Cage, that without a sense of melody and progression you’ll come to a wall that you’ll never be able to break through. If the day ever came, Cage said he would bash his head against that wall. That’s how I feel when it comes to restrictions and only playing with bands in ‘our’ scene,” he says. “We never quite fit in with many bills but it’s that old cliche of ‘something for everyone’. We’ve got weird time signatures, fast bits, angry riffs, we’re like pizza, and who doesn’t like pizza?”
As with any band starting out, there’s always a learning curve to touring, and I Cried Wolf are no exception. Slowly but surely, they’re getting a feel for who their audience is and which cities they’ll be returning to.
“We were told by another band that there would be cybergoths in Bridgwater,” Harry explains. “There was only one but he went mental for our whole set, I decided to put a chair in the middle of the room for the last song and he gave me a lap dance!”
With plans to tour next year, the group have already had a taste of exposure outside of the UK. notably when Josh Gurner of Hacktivist wore one of their t shirt designs at Soundwave in 2014. Royal Blood found new fans in their early days when Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders did the same thing. If a non forced viral marketing campaign strategy ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
“One kid told me in America that I’d saved his life,” says Harry. “It was very weird and he got deep into some stuff but it was still pretty touching. We started getting played on a Paris-based radio station the same time as the Bataclan shootings last year. Not sure what the connection was but we felt very honoured regardless of what happened during that time. We got a fairly big following in Italy, Poland and areas of Eastern Europe as well. No idea if any of the shows will reach capacity but we’re gonna go for it anyway!”
After the interview finishes, the band play to a packed out AKA, a culturally imperative venue for Banbury that’s given many big bands in their early days a space to perform. Friends and family come down to pile in at the front, and while it might be chaotic business as usual for I Cried Wolf, there’s a real sense of passion and heartfelt support by giving back to where they started. In typical Banbury fashion, there’s audience members writing lovingly crude messages on the band’s crisp white t shirts in sharpie. Of course, what better way to finish such a wonderful year for I Cried Wolf than drawing phallic symbols on them? ‘Party band’ or not, the riff hungry noise makers of Oxfordshire have plenty to sink their teeth into for 2017.
You can check out I Cried Wolf on Facebook and Youtube.
Photo: Sean Shore