So everyone on the planet has heard of Wavves by now, right? *Insert eye roll* Nathan Williams, alias WAVVES, has been a buzz child within the blogosphere for the past several months. He’s an overnight superstar in the underground indie world, having only played his first show on Halloween 2008, according to Spin Magazine.
photo by Jillian Mapes
I should not have been surprised by Wavves’ behavior because of his instant fame, but somehow I was. The San Diego lo-fi surf rocker, who seems to have a Kurt Cobain complex, took the stage at the French Legation Museum on Thursday afternoon two and a half hours late, demanded that his posse bring him more whiskey and fumbled with the chord progressions in his own songs. Wavves delved into his biggest track, “So Bored,” second, and I realized how appropriate a song title it is, given my mood at the time. Seriously, it was snooze-ville, mostly because it was Wavves sans-drummer, which is typically Williams’ live style. Wavves sounds much better on his full-length, titled Wavvvess, which he told me in a post-show interview was recorded on Garage Band by himself because he’s a “musical control freak.”
After playing three tracks, Williams looked up and drunkenly asked if he had time for one more. He had played three two-minute songs and asked if he had time for one more. Are you serious?, I thought. He begrudgingly made his way through a new track. Seriously, why is the indie rock community embracing such pretentious figures?
photo by Jillian Mapes
As surprising as his performance was, it was just the tip of the iceberg. Following the show, Wavves made his way down to the valley at the French Legation Museum where a hand-made piñata was waiting. A clearly intoxicated Wavves, who was chasing his whiskey with a can of Sprite, was blindfolded (much to his dismay) and started whacking away. He beat that thing to death and threw down the murder weapon — an orange stick. Bad things happen when people give drunk hipsters wooden objects for violent purposes, and that’s all I can say about that.
So then Palestra Music Department producer Nick Jones and I waited…and waited for Wavves to ready himself for our interview. We eventually sat down with him in an ice cream truck, during which the drunken 22-year-old blew cigarette smoke into the camera and commented on his favorite “Seinfeld” episode. We were ecstatic with the outrageous results, to say the least. Keep an eye out for our on-camera with Wavves coming soon — you will not be disappointed by the hijinks. – Jillian Mapes
[...] this week’s craziest-interview award goes to … 23 03 2009 WAVVES. See for yourself, [...]
[...] absolutely lovely (and only a block from where we were staying!) — big, green lawn, trees, WAVVES beating a pinata. I didn’t have time to catch much live there, but the time I spent just hanging out felt [...]
I know this dude and he’s definitely a terrible, terrible person. I can’t believe he’s even famous. So undeserved. And Insane. Well done review.
[...] Bonus Coverage. It’s sad, but our most popular ever feature is our interview with a drunken Nathan Williams at SXSW. He was hiding in an ice cream truck. Dick. The video is missing from our servers (we’re moving and some stuff is…. misplaced, but here’s a rundown on that. [...]
All good things eventually should lead to a party pinata for a smashing fun time. Take out your frustrations and excitement and beat the pinata until it bursts open spilling the prized loot found inside.