As far as music genres go, indie rock and hip-hop are on far ends of the spectrum, but the band WHY? is able to fuse the two unique styles of music.
The one-of-a-kind group took to the stage Wednesday night at local bar and music venue the Spanish Moon as a part of its international tour to promote the new LP “Mumps, etc.” The group has been on the road since the end of August and will be hitting up the renowned Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin next week. The tour will also be taking them overseas to European regions including France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands.
WHY? comprises two brothers, Jonathan “Yoni” and Josiah Wolf, along with longtime friend Doug McDiarmid and Josiah’s wife Liz Wolf. Josiah Wolf is a master of many instruments, but he drums for WHY?.
“As a child, you do things that you’re kind of good at, things that make you feel good about yourself and things that you enjoy doing. So, I guess that’s how you start,” Wolf said.
His first instrument, unsurprisingly, was the drums. Wolf said his father and his brother taught him to play the drums from an early age, and their love of music grew from there. However, their approaches were slightly different.
“I took music more seriously in school and stuff, while Yoni was doing more art stuff,” Wolf said.
Because of WHY?’s complex nature, it’s difficult to neatly arrange the group in terms of genre. Wolf wants to keep it that way and said he tries not to label their sound. He joked about the “genres” he and his bandmates have made up to define their style, such as hazy gaze core and psychedelic vampiric.
After being on the music circuit since 2004, Wolf discussed how the band stays inspired and relevant.
“Well, as far as drawing inspiration, I don’t know how that happens. It just happens. But staying relevant, that’s not up to me, really. It’s just kind of like you hope you stay relevant,” Wolf laughed. “I guess to stay relevant, you have to keep touring and keep playing.”
Wolf said he was excited to be playing on Halloween and thought Baton Rouge would be a good city for the band. He said the band would be dressing up in matching costumes, but he didn’t reveal what the surprise garb would be.
He also mentioned that the band was going to host a costume contest and the winner would receive a free T-shirt or a CD.
Wolf said he has fond memories of Halloween. He recollected one particular show in Cincinnati about 15 years ago where the band staged a fight during the set, clippers were brought out and Wolf had his head shaved during the gig.
