Wavves may stay underground, but that's alright

By Aitor Zabalegui

San Diego native Nathan Williams of the band Wavves is surprisingly productive as of late.

He released two arguably self-titled albums -- one of them is called "Wavvves" -- since September, and has become somewhat of a headliner in the lo-fi punk scene that is permeating from the Los Angeles-based band.

Like No Age before them, critics have unexpectedly accepted Wavves into the cannon of cool bands. I say unexpectedly because most people would have a hard time listening through their shortest song, which clocks in at a snippy minute and a half.

Wavves is no-fi music, a garbled mess of distortion, feedback and noise. The accessibility factor here is very low, but what saves the music is Williams' pop sensibility.

There are some pretty crisp harmonies amidst the muck and it becomes easy to tell that the cheap sound isn't a gimmick -- Williams just doesn't care.

Wavves played the Bottom of the Hill this past Monday, and I had the opportunity to be in attendance. I came in a little late and missed opener That Ghost's set, but was able to catch all of Vampire Hands. The Minneapolis-based band, consisting of late-twenty-ish art-rockers, managed to stir the crowd a few times in their set with fairly crafty songs, but their music was ultimately limited by indiscernible, whispered vocals.

The highlight of the show was the percussionist/keyboardist who looked a hell of a lot like Tim Harrington and acted accordingly.

After Vampire Hands, I expected there to be a long set break in order for Wavves to set up their equipment. I was standing at the side of the stage when a noticeably short figure in flannel, skinny jeans and converse high tops walked by me and hopped on stage.

While I was standing there, shocked by how short Williams is in person, he proceeded to roll out a Marshall stack amplifier, plug in with a single foot switch pedal and start to tune up. Set break time í-- three minutes.

After seeing No Age at the same venue about a month ago and having dealt with tinnitus for a week, I came prepared with earplugs for the Wavves show.

It turned out that Williams cleans up his sound for his live show. I was surprised by how fresh everything sounded, and wasn't about to let my earplugs deprive me of any of it. Of course, the set started off with some jerk yelling, "Play 'So Bored'!" but Williams took it in stride, this being his first tour, after all.

Funnily enough, "So Bored" turned out to be the best song of the set, with what Williams probably would have referred to as "California Goths" in the crowd thrashing about with their long, greasy hair illicitly slapping unwitting hipsters in the face.

It became apparent that some people were not excited to be in the mosh, and it became very clear that one girl wished she was more appropriately-dressed as she stumbled out, battered from the whitewash of the crowd.

The set closed with "Wavves," the underlining surf-punk track from the band's first record. The crowd naturally "ooh-ed" along to the fittingly simple lyrics, "I wanna see the moon, I wanna be with you, I wanna be a punk, I wanna sink the sun, I wanna be victorio."

Wavves may never get huge, but I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a T-shirt and a vinyl for 20 bucks again.

Don't forget that Record Store Day, when bands release special 7-inch singles on vinyl, is this Saturday, so go support the music scene. Get yourself a Wavves album.

Contact Aitor Zabalegui at (408) 551-1918 or azabalegui@scu.edu.

A correction has been made to this story.