100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 17: Wild Powwers
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, hello and welcome back to our third annual year-end daily countdown, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Follow the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter as well. Some days the featured act could be an established and locally-adored northwest-based musician that perhaps you haven’t been turned onto yet, and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new local favorites. Today we’re bringing our journey to the Emerald City to explore one of the scene’s most promising names in rock, Wild Powwers!
Given Seattle’s rich history of churning out rock music with dingy guitars that sound like they were found in a Seattle gutter after being left to collect dirt and grime for decades, it should come as no surprise that we have a myriad of contemporary Seattle bands trying to keep that torch burning. However, few are able to pull off this easily-replicable sound with as much taste and finesse as the trio that calls themselves Wild Powwers. And trust us, ‘Wild’ is certainly accurate when it comes to this band. It’s simply impossible to listen to a Wild Powwers song sitting still. Whether it’s Lara Hilgeman’s buzzing, room-filling guitar, Jordan Gomes’ proficient, groove-setting bass, or Lupe Flores’ skull-cracking drumming, something in the Powwers formula is bound to get you head-banging and shaking it like a Polaroid picture and/or like a salt shaker, depending on your preference.
After already leaving an impression on the Seattle scene through their work in other bands, including The Grizzled Mighty and Peeping Tomboys, Wild Powwers first broke onto the scene through a sparkler bomb of a debut record, Doris Rising, released late in 2014. Doris Rising forecast the trio as one with a lot of chops and versatility in their playing and songwriting. You would have songs that would start out slow, emotional, and instrumentally sparse, and later escalate into intense and noisy jams, and you would have songs that would throw subtlety to the wind and burst right out of the gate with shit-wrecking ferocity. This formula was further established through their March 2016 record Hugs and Kisses and Other Things, an album which we commended for proving that “practice makes dirty but beautifully composed Seattle sounds,” thanking Wild Powwers for “making Seattle rock again.”
The lovable energy of Wild Powwers is felt both in their studio recordings and in their adored live performances, whose welcoming extremity needs to be experienced first-hand to be believed, so definitely don’t miss out on the opportunity to see this trio next time they roll through a venue near you. Wild Powwers are the real deal, and cannot be overlooked if you’re down for some endearing extremity.
You can keep up with Wild Powwers through Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or through their official website, wildpowwers.com, where you can find dates for upcoming live shows, among other pertinent information. You can find all of their music available for streaming or purchase in various formats through wildpowwers.bandcamp.com. Watch the band perform live on Audiotree Live below via YouTube.
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submission. If you would like to have your band submitted for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.
