Chattanooga Pulse

The Howlies are a garage doo-wop four-piece from Atlanta you can catch at Discoteca this Saturday night. Their first full-length album, Trippin’ with Howlies, came out this time last year and is jam-packed with fast, fun jams that stick in the brain like candy in your teeth.

“Sea Level” is a crowd-friendly chant with a surf beat, “Angeline” takes a more straightforward rock route, and “Aluminum Baseball Bat” (my personal favorite) is a Four Seasons-style ballad about beating up an ex’s new boyfriend. But the real selling point for this band is their live show, which gets equal points for energy and dancibility. Last week, The Pulse hit up all four members—drummer Aaron Wood, guitarists Justin Brooke and Brandon Morrison, and bassist Matt Forsee—to chat about recording and life on the road.

Alison Burke: How did the Howlies become the Howlies? How long have you been working together?

Justin Brooke:  I’ve been in bands with Brandon and Aaron since I was 14 or 15 years old. For most of that time we were just kids messing around, experimenting, learning how to play. There was a raw kind of magic there, but we hadn’t figured out how to hone it in. We all wanted to make a living at music, but we never toured, and the music we were playing was just too all-over-the-place. So we decided to call it quits. Then a funny thing happened. We accidentally wrote “Sea Level” together. Now that was something completely different. It was FUN. Suddenly, we were all jumping around the basement, drunk on our own song. To me, that was the birth of Howlies.

AB: How’s your current tour going? Any good stories?

Brandon Morrison:  We unknowingly left Aaron at a gas station somewhere in the middle of the country. We had been driving down the interstate for at least ten minutes when he called. We were by that time stuck in a construction-zone bottleneck and it took us another half hour just to get back and pick him up. We all thought he was asleep under the sleeping bag in the back seat. If he hadn’t called or had left his phone in the van when he got out, we could have driven for hours before we realized he wasn’t there.

AB: So, I hear that you guys all share a house together in Atlanta. What is your songwriting process like when you’re so close?

JB: Actually, I don’t think we could write the way we do if we weren’t so close. All ideas are welcome but not equal; the bad ideas get ripped to shreds.

I think our BEST songs happen when somebody has a good half-idea—like maybe verses and a melody but no chorus—and the other half of the idea comes from collaboration.

AB: How is the new record coming? How is this time different from recording your first one with Kim Fowley? Are you going in a new direction?

JB: It’s been different in almost every way. The first record was ultra-rehearsed and ultra-rushed. It was a whirlwind of junk food and hotels. Kim Fowley’s presence was electrifying but also nerve-wracking. He had lots of brilliant suggestions, and I learned so much from him, but you will never win an argument with Kim Fowley.

This time, we’re self-producing. More like the way we recorded the first Howlies EP in our basement, except in a real studio. And painstakingly analogue. I think it’s a natural step forward. The early rock ‘n’ roll influence might be a bit less obvious this time around, but only because we’ve learned to make it more our own. Some people might think it’s a new direction, but you can still have sex to it. That makes it a Howlies record.

AB: What are you listening lately? Do you currently have a favorite band?

Aaron Wood:  I don’t currently have a favorite band and my musical taste is quite scattered at times.  I am really diggin’ on some Scott Walker right now and other singers that have this “in-your-face-shoot-from-the-hip-talking voice” kind of singing.  Echo and the Bunnymen’s “Angel’s and Devils” popped up on my shuffle the other day and that song f***ing rules. Ian McCulloch sort of has that same singing style going on and I wouldn’t be surprised if the uninformed listener mistook him for Lou Reed because it really has a Velvet Underground feel.  I think that “Along came Jones” by the Coasters is genius.

BM: I have been digging on the newest carnation of Beck’s Record Club. They are doing Skip Spence’s record “OAR”. James Gadson is playing drums on some of the jams. I think he totally kicks ass. Also I have been spending a lot of time with Sam Cooke recently.

JB: Those Darlins are my favorite band right now. I’ve been in love with them since I first saw them in 2007. That was before they had a drummer. I just saw them at the Earl two weekends ago. I have to say, they’ve become truly amazing songwriters, musicians, and snake charmers. I see big things in their future. We tried to get them to come down and sing on the new record, but they’re always on tour. Ladies: the invitation stands.

AB: If you could use one word or phrase to describe your sound, what would it be?

Matt Forsee: Loquacious as a Mutha-F&$%*!!

JB: “The Howl of Love”.

The Howlies
$4
9 p.m.
Saturday, February 14
Discoteca, 304 E. Main Street