Slim Wray

The duo play a stripped down hybrid of aggressive blues that combines punk, pop and garage thrash into a larger than sum-of-its-parts sound. “I Gotta Girl (With A List Of Needs)” hearkens back to early-era White Stripes, alternating hyper-passionate verses with muscular instrumental breaks. “Bear” is built around a “whooo hooo” vocal hook, while stretching out over chunky chords and thrashed cymbals. 12 solid tracks in all, the album includes a cover as well, with a delightfully faithful rendition of the Van Morrison (and re-interpreted by Patti Smith) classic “G L O R I A.” - The Deli

Especially for those of us in the music journalism industry, it can seem nowadays like Brooklyn has become a self-sustaining facility for the mass production of deep, dreamy indie pop. With their debut LP, Sack Lunch, Slim Wray is a two-course meal that shatters that mold and attempts to light their home borough up with amplifier-frying fuzz and gravelly vocals fitting for a blue-collar bar fight.

It is much too easy to vaguely draw a connection with other garage rock duos like The Black Keys, and saying that a band “sounds like The Black Keys” doesn’t lead to much stimulating discussion, but it is impossible to deny that Slim Wray builds on a similar aesthetic. After all, they are a pair of guys who slam on their drums and guitar while paying homage to their roots through covers of songs like Them’s “Gloria” and The Sonics’ “Strychnine,” the latter of which sounds like it could be on Nirvana’s In Utero. In direct succession on the track listing, the two covers take over their own little section of the album that can easily be considered a highlight. The closing song, “Take A Number,” is a culmination of the full-length’s groovy riffs and barking vocals, perfect for highway hot rod cruising.

Chris Moran’s consistent drumming and backing vocals alongside Howzr’s sure-fire strumming and heavy metal-ready voice turn Sack Lunch into a great sign of things to come from Brooklyn, and serve as a beacon of hope for those who have little interest in listening to guys write entire albums about their heartbreaking existential crisis. - The Aquarian

Especially for those of us in the music journalism industry, it can seem nowadays like Brooklyn has become a self-sustaining facility for the mass production of deep, dreamy indie pop. With their debut LP, Sack Lunch, Slim Wray is a two-course meal that shatters that mold and attempts to light their home borough up with amplifier-frying fuzz and gravelly vocals fitting for a blue-collar bar fight.

It is much too easy to vaguely draw a connection with other garage rock duos like The Black Keys, and saying that a band “sounds like The Black Keys” doesn’t lead to much stimulating discussion, but it is impossible to deny that Slim Wray builds on a similar aesthetic. After all, they are a pair of guys who slam on their drums and guitar while paying homage to their roots through covers of songs like Them’s “Gloria” and The Sonics’ “Strychnine,” the latter of which sounds like it could be on Nirvana’s In Utero. In direct succession on the track listing, the two covers take over their own little section of the album that can easily be considered a highlight. The closing song, “Take A Number,” is a culmination of the full-length’s groovy riffs and barking vocals, perfect for highway hot rod cruising.

Chris Moran’s consistent drumming and backing vocals alongside Howzr’s sure-fire strumming and heavy metal-ready voice turn Sack Lunch into a great sign of things to come from Brooklyn, and serve as a beacon of hope for those who have little interest in listening to guys write entire albums about their heartbreaking existential crisis. - The Aquarian

Garage rock band Slim Wray’s latest single “Bear” immediately snaps you into its infectious blues machine with a throbbing drum beat and dirty guitar riff. You can almost imagine enjoying it muddled through the walls of an apartment. - Brooklyn Paper

A scintillating scythe of percussion cleaves the air to announce the arrival of Slim Wray, this is rock as it should be played. Reflecting on relationships, the lyrics take the classic angsts of boy meets girl and delivers them inside a resounding maelstrom of well delivered riffs and rattles.




The energy palpably hammers against the walls and the tracks deliver everything you could want for an evening of rock and roll. Slim Wray also manage to deliver it without the sound distorting levels which takes much away from many new bands and the delightful fuzzed guitar work layers in all the nuances required to emit both the power and the glory of it all.

I wonder whether they will end up with a full time bass guitarist as without it the sounds would be too tinny, so it is good to find that all the material currently around does include that all important four stringed instrument – time will tell.

The tracks work superbly well as they don’t try to reinvent the wheel, rather concentrating on what they know and enjoy and Slim Wray ably define why working to a bands strengths and not attempting to stretch skills beyond the limits works so well, providing the ears with a delightful moment in time. - Emerging Indie Bands

A scintillating scythe of percussion cleaves the air to announce the arrival of Slim Wray, this is rock as it should be played. Reflecting on relationships, the lyrics take the classic angsts of boy meets girl and delivers them inside a resounding maelstrom of well delivered riffs and rattles.




The energy palpably hammers against the walls and the tracks deliver everything you could want for an evening of rock and roll. Slim Wray also manage to deliver it without the sound distorting levels which takes much away from many new bands and the delightful fuzzed guitar work layers in all the nuances required to emit both the power and the glory of it all.

I wonder whether they will end up with a full time bass guitarist as without it the sounds would be too tinny, so it is good to find that all the material currently around does include that all important four stringed instrument – time will tell.

The tracks work superbly well as they don’t try to reinvent the wheel, rather concentrating on what they know and enjoy and Slim Wray ably define why working to a bands strengths and not attempting to stretch skills beyond the limits works so well, providing the ears with a delightful moment in time. - Emerging Indie Bands

Brooklyn-based Slim Wray wants to shatter the lenses of every Ray Ban wearing, limp cigarette holding hipster staggering through Williamsburg. Chris Moran (drums/backing vocals) and Ryan Houser (vocals/guitar), also known simply as Howzr, are the duo that comprise Slim Wray’s loud and abrasive garage rock outfit. Immediately reminiscent of such duet acts like The Black Keys and The White Stripes, the band succeeds in mixing gritty vocals with bluesy, power chords. The result is the single “Bear”, the first cut off of a debut album titled Sack Lunch.
Howzr is Glen Danzig sipping on serotonin, crooning and growling in “Bear” against Moran’s toe-tapping beats. As the song drops, the syncopation of the two is met with a resounding chorus of “woo-hoos”, which only further illustrate the cool energy the band extends. “Bear” is the track that plays when a voluptuous vamp crawls into your bed and leaves you with nothing but the seductive memory of her curves. - Speak Into My Good Eye

Monthly Jamoff! winners for RELIX Magazine, which awarded inclusion in that issue's CD sampler. - RELIX Magazine

There’s something about hearing the squeal of fingers heard running up and down the fretboard on Slim Wray’s song “House of D” that summons visceral responses of other senses—the feel of boosting yourself onto a bar stool, the taste and smell of cigarette smoke hanging in the air, and the sight of sweaty musicians prancing and performing on a small stage as if it was Madison Square Garden. Slim Wray, known individually as Chris Moran and Howrz, is every cool garage band that you love and still like no one else. The sound shifts like the colors on a vintage Wurlitzer juke box from melodic (‘I Gotta Girl (With a List of Needs,”)), Rolling Stones’ nasty (“Cutout”) and Memphis Blues (“Sunshine”) without ever straying too far from its wailing guitar and pulsating drum roots. This Relix JamOFFwinner rocks it outta the park. — NANCY DUNHAM - RELIX Magazine

There’s something about hearing the squeal of fingers heard running up and down the fretboard on Slim Wray’s song “House of D” that summons visceral responses of other senses—the feel of boosting yourself onto a bar stool, the taste and smell of cigarette smoke hanging in the air, and the sight of sweaty musicians prancing and performing on a small stage as if it was Madison Square Garden. Slim Wray, known individually as Chris Moran and Howrz, is every cool garage band that you love and still like no one else. The sound shifts like the colors on a vintage Wurlitzer juke box from melodic (‘I Gotta Girl (With a List of Needs,”)), Rolling Stones’ nasty (“Cutout”) and Memphis Blues (“Sunshine”) without ever straying too far from its wailing guitar and pulsating drum roots. This Relix JamOFFwinner rocks it outta the park. — NANCY DUNHAM - RELIX Magazine

Slim Wray, a ripe, raw and powerful rock n’ roll duo from Brooklyn, New York display their unique blend of an organic yet old-school feel mixed with the staple of the music of the younger generation – an alternative rock sound that can be found on their debut album, Sack Lunch. Yet punk-inspired riffs, distorted rock vocals, blues-ridden, classic rock, or beachy melodies, and instrumentals as tight as those in heavy metal give this small group a big personality. They tie in inspiration from what seem to be eras and genres of music and influence that could not be more different. While their music contains the melodic simplicity of a good pop/rock song, it has much more depth and complexity than that. Incredibly catchy and mesmerizing, yet carefree and passionately put together with numerous natural, unfabricated qualities, the group has an air of something different, refreshing, and certainly worth listening to. With the duo only in it’s formative years, they will undoubtedly grow into something to not only notice, but also to remember.

Sack Lunch starts out tricking a person into believing they have just put in a heavy metal record when they soon realize the sudden Black-Keys-like distorted guitar riffs with matching vocals in the opening track, “I Gotta Girl (with a list of needs.)” “Reaction” has a completely different feel, a piece placed together with remnants of ’80s influence and fabulous harmonies. “Bear” embraces characteristics of classic, badass rock n’ roll, from driving, powerful instrumentals and a clean guitar solo to gang vocal harmonies. “House of D” is an acoustic, upbeat track written for listening with a beer in hand and for the purposes of a good laugh, as the chorus sings, “When you spend a second night in a cell, you know it’s for real.” “Long Long Way” is a catchy tune with a California-rock vibe mixed with the Nashville hipster/house-show music scene. Female harmonies make this song stand out amongst the others. The sixth song, “Gloria,” is sung like a familiar blues story, but with an expectant Slim Wray twist.

“Strychnine” takes one back to the Pixies and scenes like those of underground punk rock, with guitars wailing as if they were truly screaming alongside the vocalists. “Cutout” uses sharp and syncopated rhythms that drive the song while the vocals give it that necessary overlay of undeniably contagious power and free-spirited rock n’ roll. “Sunshine,” the ninth song on the record, is a blend of Oasis-influenced songwriting and Alice In Chains-inspired harmony and bellowing main vocals. “Mr. Hunter” is a groovy and heavy track, with empowering ’80s choral harmonies and an edgy guitar solo that rips through the bridge of the track. The bass carries this track rhythmically and, at times, melodically, throughout the song, and the piece ends with a classic rock jam outro. “Abilene” is a song that has the ability to stay in one’s head for an unhealthy length of time, with lyrics like “I shake and I shout / To get those demons out / Oh, I know I will see you again.” The album ends with “Take a Number,” an angsty track and one final punch and blow for the album’s closing.

Slim Wray are certainly a unique mix of renowned favorites made their own, claiming their unique sound and putting together something original on the oftentimes very mundane current music scene. Emotional, energetic, and stimulating due to its uniqueness, this group has, in its infancy, already proven what talent two men can have, and what they are able say and accomplish when they follow where their passion lies. - Blues Rock Review

Slim Wray has all of the grit and grime of a true American rock band. The duo, comprised of Chris Moran and Howzr boasts a sound that's bluesy and punchy, reminiscent of established duos like The Black Keys and The White Stripes. Their 6-track self-titled EP was released online in November, and features uniquely infectious melodies and an equally hard-edged sound. “I Gotta Girl (With a List of Needs)” starts out with a fuzzy surf-riff reminiscent of Little Barrie’s “Surf Hell” and plunges into pounding drum-heavy solos. “Abilene” is a slower-paced track, complete with drawn out guitar solos and bluesy riffs. Look for their upcoming show at Brooklyn Bowl on March 19th. - The Deli

This two-man band from Brooklyn harness a guitar sound that’s a cross between a thousand angry hornets and a busted tailpipe on your uncle’s long neglected BSA. More restrained and laid back, they focus their power on a blustery, powerful backbeat that makes everything else possible. And they have alternately clever and/or snide lyrics; Howzr’s vocal delivery on “Abilene” is creepily sincere in a Ted Bundy-esque way that he still manages to pull off.

“I Got a Girl (with a List of Needs)” feels like 1971 Black Sabbath slapping around a forgotten Bo Diddley number.

Sleazy, greasy and clearly bad for you, this band is more fun than a highlights reel of COPS. Clearly, great things are afoot here as Slim Wray develops into a dangerous machine before our very eyes.
- Thrust Magazine