Hailing from the Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania area, and fresh off their October tour around the Northeast US in October, sludgy noise rockers WIPES are joining us for a special early stream of their new album “Making Friends”, slated for the official release date tomorrow, November 4th, via Hex Records. Along with the premiere, comes their first hand track by track rundown below, so be sure to scroll down and check it out.
The band started as almost an off-shoot from Tile, who have been blasting eardrums for well over 10 years. When Tile’s guitarist began taking on more adult responsibilities and had less time to devote to the band remaining members Ray Gurz (bass, vocals) and Michael Dumoff (drums) began jamming with guitarist Matt Molchany, who had already been a long time friend and fan of the band. In fact, he was responsible for recording and engineering both of Tile’s full length albums.
Thus Wipes was born and began writing music at a furious pace.
Soon the band demo’ed a few songs, putting up one on their bandcamp page just to give people an idea of what was going on. Not long after the band did a very limited lathe cut 7” on Limited Appeal Records with two more tracks showcasing what they were up to.
During the Winter of 2021-2022 Wipes recorded their debut full length, “Making Friends”. Prepare for more of the familiar noise served up by Tile – heavy sludgy noise rock aggression, but with odd melodies and harmonies recalling everything from Nirvana to The Pixies, or Drug Church. It’s a blast to listen to.
Track by track commentary:
1 – Discarded – don’t throw away your friends. Even in the darkest of times.
2 – Parasite – Some humans are pretty shitty. A parasite can live in or on another human feeding off it’s host. I don’t enjoy this parasite of a human.
3 – Always – it’s always something. Always.
4 – Frogger – I made friends with a frog once. He left, came back, left and then never seen again. Let Frogger know I miss him.
5 – Sick Party – Let’s throw shit. Let’s rage. I don’t want to hear any of your nonsense. And if you are not enjoying the party. That’s not my fault. Let’s throw some chairs!
6 – Happens in 3’s – when it happens, good or bad, it happens in 3’s. Trust me.
7 – Narrows – A painting can speak to you. A half smile from someone, is better than nothing.
8 – Who Are You? – I feel like a alien sometimes and wish I could get the hell off this strange planet called Earth.
9 – Summer – I will never forget the Summer I had my first kiss.
10 – I don’t want to be here – Here are some reasons I don’t want to be here. In the moment, life can really be rough.
11 – Perfect Stranger – I rather just want to get some straight forward answers from a perfect stranger.
12 – Weird Hair – Life is like a haircut with a weird hair that just pops up and is unexpected. I also get so frustrated that I just want to get out of my car, yell, throw my keys and eat a slice of pizza. Pizza is a nice thing.
13 – Scavenger Hunt – The music and fashion industry are vultures looking to feed of the weak. Abandoned. Consume.
Wipes will also be releasing a split tape with Alabama’s Day Job containing three songs left off the LP due to space constraints in conjunction with the full length.
