Humble Wolf

If you see some of the latest band photos of Humble Wolf, you might be slightly intimidated. They’re all wearing sunglasses and have immaculate rock ‘n’ roll hair.

But it’s not long before bassist David Albertson humbly says, “We’re all nerdy musicians, you know… What you see is what you get.”

Perhaps he means nerdy in the sense that he and the band’s lead man Jayson Angove have software engineering backgrounds, and that drummer Jesse Sherwood is an IT guy. After all, Angove was instrumental in troubleshooting Skype so that he and Albertson could video chat with Submerge.

Or, perhaps it’s because the Roseville-based band, comprised of Angove on vocals, guitar and keys, Chris Winger on backing vocals and guitar, Albertson on bass and Sherwood (Kit Coda) on drums, spent the last two years laboriously perfecting their latest album Black and White side-by-side with their engineer and producer Sean Stack.

“I think I speak for everybody in the band when I say we take pride in our craft,” Angove says. “It’s two years of hard work finally coming to an end, where we can finally show people what we’ve been working on for so long.”

They will have the opportunity to do so at their CD release show at the Shady Lady in mid-January.

The album was recorded at Fat Cat Recording Studio in Sacramento, and it is an intentional move away from the more pop feel of Paper Thin, the last Humble Wolf record, and a step closer to rock ‘n’ roll.

“Paper Thin is really more on the mellow side,” Angove reflects. “I would say it’s more easy listening.”

“I’d probably say we’re like the Foo Fighters meets the Black Keys for this new record,” Albertson adds.

It’s any band’s hope to meet a funding goal via crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, and it’s any band’s fantasy to exceed it. Humble Wolf did. In fact, that’s how the band funded the completion of Black and White. Just a month after they posted their funding campaign in July, they exceeded the pledged amount by $270.

“It kind of spread around like wildfire,” Angove says. “I can’t express enough gratitude for how much it helped.”

Thanks to the extra cash, the band could finish mixing and mastering the album and get more physical copies made. They also could make up T-shirts, posters and custom sunglasses to give to their funding backers and to sell as merch at upcoming shows.

Black and White is solidly rock ‘n’ roll, featuring Winger’s rocking guitar solos, with the occasional tastes of indie folk, like the song “9 a.m.” The song that perhaps shows off the band’s strengths the most, however, is “Through the Walls,” Angove and Albertson agree.

“This Should Scare You” is arguably the dominant song on the record, and a searing critique of mainstream culture. Angove’s vocals ride a simple guitar riff before cutting into a bridge where he resentfully sings, “There are too many ‘I’s in this generation/They are blind to the world around them/Their minds are starving and their hearts are empty/I am sick that I am a part of you.”

By definition, these guys are full-time musicians. They’ve played in various projects together. Currently, Angove, Winger and Albertson are in the cover rock band Guitar Head, and Angove also plays with local singer Rebecca Peters, a project that Albertson was formerly a part of. Angove, Winger and Albertson teach private music lessons, and Angove is also a recording engineer at One Eleven Studios in Roseville.

As far as Humble Wolf goes, the band’s beginnings go back to 2010. The name was originally for Angove’s solo recording project. He completed his first recording, Never Mind This Resistance (no longer available), in his apartment with Albertson and a few friends before he moved to Australia.

He moved back home a year later. Paper Thin came next, which mostly featured Angove playing. That was recorded in about 10 days.

Angove had already known Winger and Albertson for years, since middle school. They all grew up listening to a lot of classic rock, and eventually decided it was time to start playing music together. Sherwood came into the picture later on, after he met the three at a drum-off at Guitar Center.

Since they’ve become a four-piece band, they’ve played all over town, including Concerts in the Park, Tap Folsom and the California Brewers Festival.

This year is looking good for the band already. Not only do they have lots of shows lined up, they’re aiming for tours throughout the spring and summer with plans to hit Portland and Eugene, Oregon, in April. They’re hoping to play the Knitting Factory in Reno, SXSW and Outside Lands.

And, they are working on new material, at least 10 to 15 songs’ worth, that they hope to release this summer. Save your ears for that.

Humble-Wolf-Submerge

How has it been being a band in Roseville, or forming a band in Roseville?
David Albertson: The suburbs are fairly involved in Sacramento all the time because it’s not that far. We do have a good following, and we play a lot of places locally in Roseville, like Bar 101 and the Trocadero Club. But we also play at Harlow’s, the Shady Lady and Ace of Spades. We play in Sacramento pretty regularly. It’s just this big melting pot; there’s a big scene… I think if anything it kind of helps to work our way into the city.

Which song or songs would you say were most difficult to record and why?
DA: When we go into the studio, all the songs have been worked out… The mix, I think that’s what we spend the most time on… It’s probably the most challenging thing when you’re blending all the different instruments and recording takes.
Jayson Angove: I often say that Sean Stack is the fifth member of Humble Wolf because he takes great care, and he really makes us sound fantastic.

Rewording that question, which songs were most difficult to write?
JA: I definitely have a philosophy to not write overly complicated music. It’s not that we’re unable to do that, it’s just that when we play a show, we want to put on a show, too. If you’re playing something that’s technically demanding, you’re going to spend a lot more time focusing on your playing, and it’s harder to move around and be energetic when you’re just shredding away on your instrument. It’s more fun to have a song that’s not overly complicated, that’s enjoyable to play, so you can move around and put on more of a show.

How did you come up with the lyrics for “This Should Scare You?”
JA: I’ve worked a lot of retail and a lot of minimum wage jobs, and I like to read a lot about what’s happening in the country. There was a report that was released recently about how many hours you would actually have to work a week on minimum wage to actually meet livable standards. And it was something like, in no state working 40 hours a week would you actually support yourself on minimum wage. It was more like 80 to 100 hours a week was more realistic. Also, a lot of people don’t really talk about what’s happening. Or, if they do, they don’t actually do anything about it, they just talk about it, accept it as though it’s kind of how it is, and just let it happen that way. I wish people would pay more attention.

Are you guys the same offstage as you are onstage, or do you have a Humble Wolf persona?
DA: We’re all nerdy musicians, you know? I think the music’s pretty honest. We don’t wear spandex. What you see is what you get, which is what I think people grasp, what they like to see. I don’t think any of us have any Axl Rose personas going on or anything like that.

But you guys do look pretty rock n’ roll in your profile pictures.
JA: Well I appreciate that. I try to be as rock n’ roll as I can all the time!

Check out Humble Wolf’s album release party for Black and White at Shady Lady in Sacramento on Jan. 16, 2015. Check out Shadyladybar.com for more details, or hit up the band on Facebook (Humblewolfmusic). - Submerge Mag

Jayson Angove isn’t very good at sitting still. Aside from playing in his band Humble Wolf, he also performs as a solo artist and drums for Thunder Cover. Not that long ago, he was in five bands.

He insists that he saves his best material for Humble Wolf, though. The driving force behind his debut solo record, 2015’s King of Vacant Spaces, was to record the music that wasn’t quite good enough—or rocking enough—for Humble Wolf.

And certainly, Humble Wolf has made a noticeable splash in the local scene in the past few years. The Roseville band played to 5,500 people at Concerts in the Park in May, and to twice that number while headlining Deschutes Brewery’s Street Pub in Midtown last November.

Angove attributes some of the enthusiasm to the band’s hard sound: moody, riff-heavy and guitar-driven, similar to Foo Fighters, Led Zeppelin or Tool. This is a big change from Humble Wolf’s more indie debut, Paper Thin, from 2012, which Angove recorded by himself with friend Paul Bates on drums. Now, on the cusp of putting out its third release, Fiction For Liars, Humble Wolf has solidified the thickly distorted powerhouse energy that now drives the band’s music.

“The first Humble Wolf record has some pretty mellow stuff—we’ve never played those songs,” Angove says.

The group beefed up its sound with its sophomore album, Black And White. Fiction For Liars, which should be released by the end of the year, is similarly driven by brutal guitars and big-sounding drums. The biggest difference? While Angove wrote Black And White, the members of Humble Wolf—Angove (vocals, guitar), Chris Winger (guitar), David Albertson (Bass) and Jesse Sherwood (drums)—worked together on Fiction For Liars. The result is a more concise, dynamic album with stronger chemistry.

“When I write a song, I know what I would do on drums, bass, keyboards, guitar and vocals,” Angove says. “When you have multiple people working on a project, fun surprises you may not have thought of can appear, and most of the time they do. It is becoming more of a multidimensional project.”

On Friday, July 29, at the Opera House Saloon in Roseville, Humble Wolf will release its first single off Fiction for Liars, “Number.” While the rest of the album is packed with hard rockers, “Number” shows the group’s range, particularly for folks unfamiliar with the more scatterbrained Paper Thin.

Of course, the circumstances for that record were much different. Angove got a surprise call from Bates in 2011, who showed a friend some of Angove’s earlier recordings, which impressed him so much that he flew Angove to Indiana to record an album for his label, Unboxed Records. This became Paper Thin.

“I had just lost my job so anything sounded good at the time,” Angove says. “I got flown out to Indiana to record in a huge studio. I felt like a rock star for two to three weeks.”

Almost immediately upon returning to Roseville, Angove called up some friends to make Humble Wolf a live, working project.

It’s all about timing, and so far Humble Wolf has had its share of good luck in that respect. When Angove got the call to go to Indiana, he was considering quitting music altogether.

“I felt like I didn’t know if I can do this anymore,” Angove says. “Maybe I’ll just do this for fun. … It’s funny how the human mind works because that’s not where I’m at anymore.” - Sacramento News and Review

Roseville’s Humble Wolf thrives on momentum: live music, bustling creativity and constant pairings of sound and ideas for its sonic brew are the course du jour for its members. Humble Wolf recently played at Sacramento’s ‘First Festival,’ a grass-roots local music celebration held Father’s Day weekend that featured 40 local music acts spanning genres from acoustic indie-folk to grimacing death metal and everything in between.

While the festival became something of a regional controversy, Humble Wolf is keeping on its upward trajectory and pushing for more musical output; the band has already played Sacramento’s widely popular Concerts in the Park series, and has an upcoming E.P. slated for release at a Roseville show July 29. It’s also hoping for a full-length album launch the next year.

Despite First Festival’s lackluster turn out, Humble Wolf brought the same presence and power to the stage that they put into all the work they do.

“Humble Wolf will play the same regardless of if it’s five people or five thousand,” said lead vocalist Jayson Angove. “I think it’s an energy thing. It’s nice to play to larger groups who are excited, but it’s also good to play to smaller groups who are excited.”

At the Father’s Day show the band was included alongside a plethora of Sacramento area favorites including The Nickel Slots, Drop Dead Red, Whiskey & Stitches, and Be Brave Bold Robot. Three stages, art displays, local vendors, food trucks and craft beer created an inviting atmosphere for a weekend music festival that was challenged by poor timing and miscalculation. Ignoring the drawbacks, Humble Wolf made the most of the day; howling notes off of crunchy rock n roll guitars over South Side Park, and embodying to many who were there what live music is all about.

“More than anything I love a good live band,” Angove said. “There are a lot of bands who record great music — there’s lots of tricks you can do in the studio to make you sound better than you are. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I think I just really enjoy the challenge of a live show because it’s multiple people working together to achieve one goal, which is to perform a song and have fun with it.”

Next on the horizon for Humble Wolf is its E.P. release show, July 29 at the Opera House in Roseville. The E.P. will have five songs, and is tentatively titled “Fiction for Liars,” according to bassist David Albertson.

“We’ve been going back and forth on the title,” Albertson observed. “We’ve been recording it locally at Fat Cat Studios. (The release show) will be the last Friday in July. We’re playing the whole night, 9:30 to 12:30 p.m. We’re going to play new music, we’re going to play some covers and we’re going to raffle a guitar. That’s our big end of summer show.”

More information on Humble Wolf and access to their music can be found at www.humblewolf.com. - The Press Tribune (Roseville)

Heading into a show for the band Humble Wolf means facing a four-headed musical chameleon — a quartet of creative explorers whose songwriting taps any genre or style that speaks to them.

Now, as the Granite Bay and Roseville performers break out across the valley, fans are beginning to see there’s a certain excitement in supporting a group that takes versatility to the next level.

Humble Wolf is comprised of Jayson Angove on vocals and guitar, Christian Winger on lead guitar, David Albertson on bass and Kit Koda on drums. Angove lives in Granite Bay while Winger, Albertson and Koda hail from Roseville. The band was formed in the summer of 2012 and had recorded its first album by the end June.

As Humble Wolf has started to haunt clubs from Sacramento to Chico, music fans have taken notice of the sweeping range of sounds its album has to offer. On a Wednesday night in mid-January, a large crowd at the Powerhouse Pub in Folsom had just such an experience.

Humble Wolf took the stage, getting an enthusiastic introduction from 98.5 Rock DJ Andy Hawk. As the audience cheered, Humble Wolf launched into the steady pop power-slides of its song “Paper Thin.” Drawing the audience to the stage, the band transitioned into the rock-laden guitar march, “Monster,” with Angove’s bright voice driving through waves of reverberation.

Next in the line-up was “I’m Not Like You,” a dark, soulful waltz of electric blues and menacing organ swirls. The song prompted two women in the audience to do an impromptu tango across the crowded dance floor.

When the band switched gears by playing “Through the Walls,” Winger took center stage with an edgy and fevered guitar solo.

Even when Humble Wolf offered a taste of country-twang with “Life is a River,” Kota kept the atmosphere high, his drum sticks slamming a strong, spirited beat full of contagious energy. Humble Wolf concluded the evening with the snarling acoustic jam, “No Envy.” The entire crowd danced as the metallic punch of Albertson’s bass bounced along, throwing some serious low-end muscle on top of the kick drum. The show ended with rousing applause. Angove was happy with what he’d seen.

“I’ve always loved playing on Sutter Street,” he said. “The Powerhouse Pub is a really great venue.”

Humble Wolf continues to find new bars to play in cities including Auburn and Woodland. But, as Albertson can attest, cracking the regional club scene can be difficult.

“I’d really like to get Humble Wolf playing in Davis,” the bass player told The Press Tribune. “But so far it seems really locked in to a small rotation of groups.”

Albertson has a college degree in music business and brings a unique insight into how to navigate the nebulous industry of clubs and record labels. While he can list the challenges that face any band trying to make a name for itself, he doesn’t think being from Roseville or Granite Bay is one of them. ... - The Press Tribune