It's been a long minute, but one of Australia's best psych-rock outfits, Wolf & Cub, are back after an absence of seven years.
Way back in 2007, the band received an ARIA nomination for Best Independent Release for their record 'Vessels' while they supported a slew of touring internationals including The Killers and QOTSA.Wolf & Cub's new offering is the brutal, hardcore chugger 'Blue State' – the band's first release since 2013 album 'Heavy Weight' – with its driving bassline and shrieking guitars pounding alongside singer Joel Byrne's lyrics about class appropriation and cultural divide.
The track also features the group's new drummer, multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Boulet (remember his 2009 mega hit 'A Community Service Announcement').
"I grew up in a blue collar town; my father was raised to be a working class man," Byrne says, "but my upbringing was very different to his.
"He had expectations for us that we should attend university and have opportunities that he considered valuable because they weren't offered to him, and now this has been flipped.
"We've appropriated his upbringing and his experience, and wear the blue collar tag like a badge of honour. It's interesting to see other artists channel it so overtly."
'Blue State' is the first taste from Wolf & Cub's forthcoming fourth album 'NIL', which will be released on Byrne's own label Part Time Records.
