Garbage Days Revisited #30: Wolfsbane - “Wolfsbane Save The World” (2012)

 

“We were young, we were fast, it was never gonna last...” - Wolfsbane - Smoke And Red Light

Unlike a few of the other early '90s Britrock bands I've covered in these pages like the Dogs D'Amour, the Quireboys and the Almighty, I wasn't particularly aware of Wolfsbane at the time of their (admittedly much more modest than the other three) commercial success. Widely hailed as "one to watch" in most of the metal mags as the '80s turned into the '90s, for some reason they never got anywhere near the Top 40 (their biggest hit, the anthemic Ezy peaked at a lowly number 67) and despite seeing clips of their videos on the ITV Chart Show's rock chart and hearing a really bad quality live bootleg courtesy of a mate's older brother in the early '90s (the songs were decent but it sounded like someone had chucked a dictaphone in a waste bin and left it at the back of the venue which didn't exactly inspire me to investigate further) I was generally pretty unaware of them.

The group formed in Tamworth just north of Birmingham in the mid-'80s and somewhat incongruously ended up signed to Rick Rubin's Def Jam label which, aside from Rubin producing the Cult's Electric album, was still more known as a rap label at the time. Similar to the Almighty, they were a very down to earth group, arguably a bit punkier than their peers (listen to the thudding riffs and frenetic drums on Manhunt or Loco for proof) and with a hardcore rabid following known as the Howling Mad Shitheads. In short, they were fun - a much needed antidote to the uptight blues rock of bands like Thunder and the stadium balladry of the likes of Little Angels.

Wolfsbane would put out three albums during their initial run - 1989's Live Fast Die Fast was a fun collection of punked-up scuzz-rock only spoiled slightly by Rubin's flat production (which he duly corrected on the subsequent mini-album, the excellently unhinged and brilliantly named All Hell's Breaking Loose Down At Little Kathy Wilson's Place), 1991's Down Fall The Good Guys saw them striking into heavier waters on the likes of Smashed And Blind and You Load Me Down while their self-titled 1994 effort was released shortly after the band had broken up.

The reason for the split was that they supported Iron Maiden on tour in 1992 and when Bruce Dickinson bailed out of that particular band soon afterwards, Steve Harris and co quickly came knocking for Wolfsbane's lead singer Blaze Bayley as his replacement thus putting an end to Wolfsbane. Blaze would end up fronting Maiden for two albums, 1995's The X Factor (better than history would have you believe especially the ominous Man On The Edge) and 1998's Virtual XI (which unfortunately saw the formula running out of steam and Bruce returning to the fold soon afterwards). Of the other three members, bassist Jeff Hateley would briefly fill in for the Wildhearts (who'd supported Wolfsbane a few times on their way up) just before Mark Keds joined (he was in the video for If Life Is Like A Lovebank and appeared dressed as Paul Stanley playing the mandolin on the infamous Top of the Pops performance of Geordie In Wonderland) before linking up with then ex-Wildhearts guitarist CJ in the Jellys as we've mentioned in a previous SFTJ. Drummer Steve Danger was also mooted to be in the running for joining the 'Hearts after Stidi left but lost out to Ritch Battersby and guitarist Jase Edwards would go on to be a tour manager and later a part of Ginger's solo band for the Valor del Corazon tour and his acoustic gigs in the mid-noughties which I'm sure is something we'll touch on in future Wildhearts SFTJ entries. Blaze, meanwhile, would go on to a solo career following his split from Maiden.

The end of the noughties however, would see the group reforming, initially supporting their old mates the Wildhearts on tour. To my shame I missed the tour in question (I seem to remember I'd just moved to London at the time and was well and truly skint!) but I remember a friend who did go telling me that the gig began with Blaze wandering onstage and declaring "Ladies and gentlemen, Al Gore cannot save the world, he is shit. A Spice Girls reunion cannot save the world. A Led Zeppelin reunion cannot save the world. There is only one band who can save the world...WOLFSBANE!" I mean, you've gotta love that haven't you?

The big shock came though when the band released their first album in 18 years, 2012's Wolfsbane Save The World and it turned out to be, I'd argue, the strongest of their career. Don't get me wrong, I like the first three as well but given how many of their one time peers had made comebacks around this time which had turned out to be well south of disastrous (Motley Crue's Saints of Los Angeles anyone?), this was the sound of a band playing to their strengths with a couple of decades' added experience and coming up with something genuinely brilliant. Kicking in with the breakneck charge of the light brigade that was Blue Sky and the gleefully sleazy Van Halen soundalike Teacher, you knew that this was the sound of a band who meant business.

It was also the sound of a band picking up a few new tricks and executing them well - while the frenetic Buy My Pain and the anthemic album highlight Smoke And Red Light proved that they could still pack a punch, the surprisingly tender balladry of Starlight, the gently psychedelic of Child Of The Sun and the overblown but still awesome Meatloaf soundalike Illusion of Love really upped this from being a good solid comeback album into something genuinely great and listening to it again as I write this, it still sounds bloody fantastic now. Seriously, if you somehow missed it you really need to put that right.

Wolfsbane have continued to tour every year or two in the intervening decade and continue to be an awesome live band with Blaze fronting the band in tandem with his solo career but apart from an EP, there hasn't been any new material to speak of. Well, until now - earlier this year the band broke the news that they were planning on recording a new album once lockdown is over, hopefully to see the light of day in early 2022. Personally, I can't wait - if it's anything like as good as this one it's almost certainly gonna be in contention for next year's Nite Songs Album Of The Year. All hail the lords of the HMS - they may well have been regarded as Britrock's clown princes back in the day but Saves The World proved beyond a doubt that they're a more than vital part of that most enduring of scenes. Long may they reign.