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Interview with Story of the Running Wolf

Brendon Goldwasser

 Any band that references The NeverEnding Story is a friend of GroundSounds! Needless to say Story of the Running Wolf ROCKS, both literally and figuratively.

 The L.A. based duo (Josh D’Elia and Jeffrey Chernick) are quickly emerging as a band to look out for. So if you haven’t already, put them on your music radar.

 GroundSounds recently chatted with SOTRW, check out the interview below. Enjoy.  

First of all, thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us! How’s your Summer in LA treating you so far?

So far so good! Hard to take issue with summer in LA. No barking from the dog. Smog is…minimal. 

Band names are pretty awesome and unique these days. What’s the story behind your band name? 

Josh: My grandfather used to tell me stories about a wolf when I was a kid, and at one point he gave me this name “Running Wolf” (sort of inspired by the Cherokee roots on that side of the family), which I thought was so cool. When Jeff and I were thinking about band names, we were sitting there kind of meditating, and that memory came to me. I mentioned “Running Wolf” and it was instant… we knew we had our band name, just took it to the next level, wanted to add an epic feel to convey a world you could get lost in, a “story” with a sense of adventure. So, Story of the Running Wolf was born. 

On your Facebook page, it says you played your first show at a rooftop party in 2012. How long before that event had you officially been rehearsing as a band and how did it all come into fruition?

We had started writing songs a few months before that first rooftop gig. The idea was to make songs that were melodic but also dance-driven, that was sort of the whole basis of the band.

You guys have a really interesting, memorable sound. Where does the inspiration come to make this 80s-influenced, modern electro-dance music?

Josh grew up on a steady diet of bands like Depeche Mode and New Order, and Jeff came more from the dj/edm scene. So we had a shared love of electronic music, but slightly different backgrounds, so it kind of helped create this sort of retro-future balance. In fact, we actually met on Craiglist, based on Jeff’s posting, which was simply entitled “MAKE THEM DANCE! – If Cut Copy, the Faint, and Muse had a baby, this would be it”. Combined with Josh’s 80’s influences, the result was SOTRW. We were instant musical soulmates. 

You guys have surely been honing your live show. Tell us what it’s like going from working in the studio to performing on stage?

I think most of what we do even in the writing/recording process is done with a live show in mind. Or we’re at least cognizant of the fact that the songs will be part of a live experience, so it’s really important that they work in that way. It’s awesome when the show becomes a giant dance party, when everyone just lets go and there’s that collective feeling in the room, so it’s kind of something we shoot for. And then there’s the part right before we go on stage when we put our makeup on. That’s very important.

Ok, let’s bring up the incredible music video for your first single “Stratospheric”. Describe what it was like being able share your ideas with the Hardy Howl Films team and what it was like working on this visual piece of art?

Yes, props to Hardy Howl Films (director Todd Edwards and producers Katie Hooten and Timothy Hooten), they were at the helm from beginning to end and pulled off an amazing feat with this video. I think we all knew we wanted to make something that felt like videos from decades past, not only in the style of the story, but the fact that there was a such a strong story element in first place. Kind of like, they don’t make ‘em like this anymore! And to create something that was fun and whimsical, but still had heart. I remember when we were kicking ideas around, I think it was Katie that said “Wouldn’t it be awesome if you guys were riding the dragon from NeverEnding Story?” We kind of laughed, like, haha, that would be crazy…then 3 weeks later we’re shooting it. There was a moment on set when we were getting the very first shot (which was actually one of the last scenes in the video, with the parents where it zooms in on them with wind going and lights flashing), and Jeff leans over and says “This looks like a movie.” That kind of summed it up, it’s like a mini-movie.

I’m excited to hear some more tunes from y’all! Are you still working on new songs in the studio and can we expect an EP or album release date?

Yes, we’re wrapping up some things now, we’ll be announcing new release info very soon!

Once released, will there most likely be a follow-up tour to support the debut record?

It would definitely be awesome to hit the road, it would be our first tour. Any bands reading this that would want to tour with us, hit us up! And if it doesn’t work out we can just drive from town to town solving mysteries.

If there was one band or artist that you’d like to collaborate with in the future, who would that be and why?

Jeff: I would personally love to collaborate with M83. I think their sound is so unique, full of depth, and heart, that combined with our 80’s synth vibe, could really make for epic music. In a perfect world, we would bring in Florence from Florence + the Machine on vocals. Holy ice cream, that would be a combo for a queen. 

Josh: Yeah, M83 is great. I really dig what Pictureplane is doing with the sort of dark 90’s house/trance elements, and great melodies and lyrics, so much cool stuff going on in the music. It’s got this feeling where it sort of pools across the floor and drips down the walls around you. I don’t know, it might be cool to mix it up and get like, Pictureplane and Lady Gaga in a room and see what happens. I don’t even need to be involved in that actually, I can just observe from behind glass.

Thanks again for chatting with GroundSounds! Where can fans go to keep updated on all things newsworthy? 

Thank you! When the moon is full in the night sky, listen for our call in a distant howl… Or facebook. www.sotrw.com will take you there. Oh, and twitter. We could use more twitter followers. @sotrw

Thanks Groundsounds!