Naked wild

Blue-eyed-cottage-soul, bringing the groove and the vibe. The Naked Wild sure are. Bare, super-clean production, and great energy make for some superb late-night, laid-back party songs you could play all day long. Throwing back some mean guitar licks and air-tight rhythm, the boys make the record sound fun, and like they had fun recording it. “Brett’s Song” has lead singer Nick belting out some fun-rhyme schemes coupled with some real-rock out moments, with brother/lead guitarist Mitch really ripping through the whole tune. “Neighbour” calls back to a 50’s pop-groove, coupled with a modern-ambience that makes you wonder why you haven’t it heard a million times already, as the bassline pops and skips around them. “Rabbit Proof Fence” has some beautiful melodic moments, even a post chorus “la-la-la” that I dare you not to catch yourself singing later. Last but not least “Summer” finds Mitch taking over the mic, with a raspier take on a song that begs to be played as a backdrop to the start of a night-to-be-remembered. The mellow verses and rock-chorus serve as a great close to the short but sweet EP. All in all, Beauty Fools catches the essence of what playing music with friends is supposed to be, fun, and hopefully loud. Make sure to Check out their full EP, and keep up to date with their facebook for up-coming shows. - Cody Wright - the deli toronto, cody wright

The Naked Wild is a folk/indie rock band out of Toronto. I think it's also the website I was watching late last night...but that's a different story. Their tunes are pretty chilled out but they can fire it up when they have to. They have a bunch of live tunes available for stream on their soundcloud. The first tune I listened to was "Neighbour". The acoustic rhythm guitar gets you in a very campfire like setting. The lead licks over top bring you to the point when your buzz kicks in and you're ready to drift away. The walking bassline keeps the party going and the drums are thumpin away giving you reason to stomp. So that pretty much sums up most camping trips...in the wild....naked. Canadian folk rock for sure. I'm interested in hearing what they come up with in the studio. The Naked Wild play the Rivoli on July 16th.-Kris "Big City" Gies - the deli toronto, chris "big city" geis

Best Indie: The Naked Wild - Alan Cross

What was the first thing that came to mind when you learned you were nominated? Super validating after putting in a lot of hard work over the past couple of years. Time to tell mom music isn’t just a hobby anymore – also maybe quite our day jobs?

What will you do if you win? Step 1- acquire beer, Step 2- get naked, Step 3 – go back to the studio because we have a lot of new material that we are excited to share.

Why should you win? We should really only win if people want to hear more. But we are very eager young men who are addicted to engaging live audiences as often as we can. Despite professional advice to not overplay the city – we can’t help it. We love doing it. No matter how big the audience, we cant stop playing. We have so much more to share.

If you weren’t nominated, who would you be rooting for? Gammage is pretty awesome and we’d love to see them live. Also Birds of Bellwoods are a great band from our area who are doing a lot of cool stuff right now so I can’t see them not winning. - razmatazz magazine

The Naked Wild – Recently named “Best Indie Band” at the 2015 Toronto Independent Music Awards, The Naked Wild blend elements of folk, indie, and rock into their music and pour their souls into their live performances! Their recently released debut EP will appeal to artists as diverse as Burt Bacharach, The Doors, and The Shins! - dave bash

9/10

There’s a lot to say about The NAKED WILD‘s debut EP Beauty Fools. For starters, it’s extremely cohesive. The songs all stand out on their own, but together the listening experience is very rich. They build and crumble, swell and shift, like natural storms. The intertwining melodies provided by guitar and vocals are always engaging in their dreamy execution.

The band is led by brothers Nick and David Burton, and rounded out by bassist Micah Lowenstein. I can tell you that Lowenstein is the guy with the dreadlocks, but in all of my research could not figure out which of the brothers is which; I therefore couldn’t tell you which one is singing, but I know they both play guitar. I can also tell you that whomever is singing has a voice caught somewhere between country croon and rock and roll yelp, and it positively shines on this record.

“Brett’s Song” is an instantly catchy ditty that mimics dirty rap in a very tongue-in-cheek way. Burton (one of them) sings, “Young money, blood money, booze money, whose money anyway?” (Or who’s, because sometimes you just wake up feeling like money. Isn’t art fun?)

The track “Neighbor” starts like something softer out of Weezer’s back catalogue before shifting into an earnest chorus more akin to the likes of Young the Giant. Lowenstein’s bassline steals the show for half of “Rabbit Proof Fence” before more twists bring the song into a prog-style breakdown à la 30 Seconds to Mars, before coming back to a Beatles-style sing-along of “la la las”. “Summer” is the most straightforward song here, a folk rocker not far off from something that big name Canadian Sam Roberts might do.

Beauty Fools never loses momentum during its thirteen-minute run. For a first release, this is extremely impressive. This is a band for any rock fan to keep an eye on. - bucketlist music reviews, syd ghan

Indie rock, what are you? Who made you? To me it’s one of the most convoluted words in music. Does it mean a band that’s signed to an independent label? Is it Mumford and Sons? Modest Mouse? Lately I’ve been feeling like it’s better to just not ask these soul sucking questions. Suffice it to say, when I saw the genre “indie rock” tagged on Toronto-based Naked Wild‘s latest album Pocket Whiskey (released June, 17th, 2017), I had no idea what to expect.

Okay, okay, I can understand how Pocket Whiskey is in essence an indie album, but then again it’s also much more! Let’s pretend for a second that the word “indie” never existed. How would I describe this album? It’s psychedelic rock. Guitarist Mitch Burton’s solo on opener “Funk Yourself” reminded me of something that Carlos Santana would have whipped up back when he was popping acid tabs like Tic Tacs.

There are also elements of folk rock and country. Nick Burton opens up “Stay Girl” with the lyric, “Hey hey, my my,” a clear tip of the cap to Canadian country and folk-rock legend Neil Young. “Willing Man” continues along the country theme with its beautifully soft acoustic guitar openig and hushed, whispery vocals. Even when the bass and drums kick in for the song’s explosive chorus, the country vibe is not lost. For me, this is the band truly at their best. Let’s keep the comparisons going! “Arcade” sounds like it came straight out of the mid-90s, with Burton sounding freakishly similar to late Blind Melon front man Shannon Hoon (pour one out!), although the music itself reminds me more of Stone Temple Pilots. You could throw “Arcade” somewhere on STP’s Purple, and I’m almost certain people wouldn’t question it.

Overall, the album suffers slightly from a lack of cohesiveness. There are just a few too many style deviations for my liking; as I said, the band is at its finest when they tread the line between indie and country. I’d like to hear much more of that. The songs are well produced and the musicianship is aces. I’ll give the nod to “Willing Man” for my favourite track. Also, points for putting a racoon on the album cover, those things are cute as fuck. - Lee furguson