The Wolfmen
Encyclopedia
The Wolfmen are a rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

 band formed in 2004 and centres around Marco Pirroni
Marco Pirroni
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer...

 (guitars, co-writer) and Chris Constantinou
Chris Constantinou
Chris Constantinou is an English musician. Famous for being the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for Adam Ant. He is now the lead singer and bassist of the band, The Wolfmen.- Childhood and early bands :...

 (bass guitar, lead vocals, co-writer). The Wolfmen’s line up also includes Zelig Preston Heyman (Massive Attack, Kate Bush) on percussion.

Background

Constantinou began as a bass guitar player with Diz Watson until the late 1970s when he formed Drill, who worked extensively with Chas Chandler
Chas Chandler
Bryan James "Chas" Chandler was an English musician, record producer and manager of several successful music acts....

 and then Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...

, who he joined in 1982.

By that stage, Pirroni, who has worked with Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Models
The Models
The Models was a short-lived punk band formed in Harrow, London, England. It consisted in Cliff Fox on vocals and guitar, Marco Pirroni on guitar, Mick Allen on bass and Terry Day on drums....

 and Rema-Rema - had joined Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...

 to worldwide acclaim, co-writing five number one singles and co-writing a further four top tens, with Ant. When the Ants disbanded in 1982, Marco remained as Ant's co-writer, starting off with a number one single ("Goody Two Shoes
Goody Two Shoes
"Goody Two Shoes" is a popular song by Adam Ant. The song was released on the album Friend or Foe in 1982. The title phrase is a disparaging term for someone who is overly virtuous or conformist.-History:...

") and album (Friend or Foe
Friend or Foe (album)
Friend or Foe was the first solo album by Adam Ant, released after Adam and the Ants disbanded in early 1982. Friend or Foe also became Adam Ant's most successful solo album giving him the hit song "Goody Two Shoes" which peaked at #1 on the UK charts, and at #12 in the USA; along with the...

), followed by nine more top 20 hits. The former gave Pirroni and Ant their second shared Ivor Novello award.

Constantinou and Pirroni went their separate ways in the mid-1990s, with Constantinou forming the Miles Copeland
Miles Copeland III
Miles Axe Copeland III is an American entertainment executive, best known for founding I.R.S. Records. His brother, Stewart Copeland, was part of the pop-rock trio The Police, which Miles managed...

-managed SF Go with Danny Kustow
Danny Kustow
Danny Kustow is an English guitar player best known for his work with Tom Robinson Band.- Career :Kustow grew up in North London and started his professional guitar playing career as a member of Tom Robinson Band in January 1977...

 (TRB
Tom Robinson Band
Tom Robinson Band were a British rock band, established in 1976 by singer, songwriter and bassist Tom Robinson...

, Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock is an English bass guitarist most famous for being in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. Drummer Paul Cook has said that Matlock came up with much of the music for the band's songs and most of the lyrics, while lead singer Johnny Rotten made some adjustments...

), followed by a co-writing project with Bow Wow Wow's
Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow were an English 1980s New Wave band created by Malcolm McLaren to promote his and business partner Vivienne Westwood's New Romantic fashion lines.The group's music is described as having an "African-derived drum sound".-History:...

 Annabella Lwin
Annabella Lwin
Annabella Lwin is an Anglo-Burmese singer, songwriter and record producer best known as the lead singer of Bow Wow Wow.-Biography:Lwin was born to a Burmese father and an English mother in Rangoon, Burma .Medina, Maximillian Mark; ChopBlock.com Her birth name in Burmese translates to "High,...

, which led to the hit single "Do What You Do" (Sony, 1994), complete with Farley & Heller and Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez
Junior Vasquez, , is an American club DJ and remixer/producer.-Career:...

 mixes. This led to a song writing partnership with multi-Ivor Novello winner Guy Chambers
Guy Chambers
Guy Chambers is an English songwriter and record producer, perhaps best known for his long partnership with Robbie Williams.- Biography :...

, before Constantinou took centre stage with post-punk outfit Jackie On Assid, releasing two albums (2001's 4Play and 2002's Zip Me Up), touring extensively, soundtracking award-winning British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 filmmaker Paul Hills
Paul Hills
Paul Hills is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Essendon in the AFL during the 1990s.Hills usually played on the wing and after being recruited from North Ballarat he joined Essendon for the 1991 season despite not having played a reserves game...

' 2003 movie The Poet and supporting Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop
Iggy Pop is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. Though considered an innovator of punk rock, Pop's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years, including pop, metal, jazz and blues...

.

By the time they came back together to form The Wolfmen, Pirroni had added co-writing and performing credits with Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

 to his CV, as well as releasing the acclaimed SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die
SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die
SEX: Too Fast to Live Too Young to Die was a compilation album edited by Marco Pirroni, which was compiled from the records on the jukebox at Malcolm McLaren's shop SEX.- Track listing :#Psychotic Reaction - Count Five#Through My Eyes - The Creation...

 and Biba: Champagne and Novocaine albums on his own label, Only Lovers Left Alive.

History

August 2006 saw their first EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...

 released – a limited edition 10" vinyl and download on Damaged Goods. Its four tracks include a cover of Brian Eno
Brian Eno
Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

's "Needle In A Camel's Eye". Lead track "Jackie Says" had a film noir video by Paul Hills that was premiered on Slash Music, Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...

's music website. They received strong media support for "Jackie Says", including Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross
Jonathan Ross may refer to:* Jonathan Ross , English television and radio personality* Jonathan Ross , United States Senator, Justice of the Vermont Supreme Court* Jonathon Ross , former Australian rules footballer...

 (BBC Radio 2), Mark Lamarr
Mark Lamarr
Mark Lamarr is an English comedian, radio DJ and television presenter.-Early life:Lamarr was born in the Park South area of Swindon and has three elder sisters. His father is Irish...

 (BBC Radio 2), Phil Jupitus (BBC 6Music), Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley
Gary Crowley is an English broadcaster and DJ.When he was at school in the late Seventies Crowley started a punk fanzine titled The Modern World, interviewing some of the most important bands of the day including the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Jam.After leaving school he took up a junior...

 (BBC), Steve Jones
Steve Jones (musician)
Stephen Philip "Steve" Jones is an English rock guitarist, singer and actor, best known as guitarist and founding member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols.-Childhood:...

 (Jonesy's Jukebox) and the BBC's music website which asked "Is (Marco and Chris') music as necessary in 2006 as it was nearly 30 years ago? In a word, yes. In more words, too fucking right it is."

A second limited edition single appeared in October 2006 on 7" vinyl and download. "Kama Sutra"/"TV's On John Wayne's Been Shot Again" became iTunes’ Rock Pick of the Day and won rave reviews including Metro and Mojo which said: "...Marco and Chris do growing old disgracefully moves with style. With thumping Suicide-alike beatbox and glam-rockabilly guitars, the A-side is exuberant filth…" As part of the promo for the single, the band visited the USA where they appeared on Jonesy's Jukebox, hosted by ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones and the CMJ Music Marathon where Pirroni was a guest speaker. An extensive interview with Pirroni on his life, times and The Wolfmen appeared on SuicideGirls
SuicideGirls
SuicideGirls is a website that features softcore pornography and text profiles of goth, punk and indie-styled young women who are known as the "Suicide Girls"...

 in January 2007. US radio picked up on the band with ‘taste-maker’ stations including KROQ Los Angeles, KDLD Los Angeles and KVGS Las Vegas playing tracks. As a result, "Jackie Says" entered the FMQB's MediaGuide airplay chart which monitors specialist, college and tastemaker airplay, beating new releases from Babyshambles
Babyshambles
Babyshambles are an English indie rock band established in London. The band was formed by Pete Doherty during a hiatus from his former band The Libertines, but Babyshambles has since become his main project . Babyshambles has released two albums, three EPs and a number of singles...

 and The Good, The Bad And The Queen
The Good, the Bad and the Queen
The Good, the Bad & the Queen is the album by an ostensibly unnamed British alternative rock supergroup also commonly referred to as The Good, The Bad & The Queen, and made up of Damon Albarn, Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was released in January 2007...

 to make one of the highest ever entries in the chart, remaining in the top five for three weeks and the top 10 for five weeks.

A third single, "Cecilie" was released on November 12, 2007 on CD single, limited 7" vinyl and download. The B-side is "Do The Ostrich", cowritten by Constantinou and Pirroni's with Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

. The CD included the bonus track, "Look Like Tarzan Sing Like Jane".

Their fifth single "Needle In The Camel's Eye", was released on 5 May 2008 on 3-track extra-hard 7" vinyl and as a digital download on Damaged Goods records. Immediately selling out its vinyl run, the single generated a double-page spread in Word magazine and reached number one in Mojos Playlist chart. "This is one band whose energy and vigour craps out of my speakers. 9/10," reported Atomic Duster.com. "Marco Pirroni and fellow ex-Ant Chris Constantinou do a fine mix of ESG beats and old school glam that holds a knife to the throat of pretenders," said Teletext. The single was launched with a live date at Smoky Carrot Sessions at 333 Motherclub, Shoreditch, on 17 April.

They released their first full-length album, "Modernity Killed Every Night
Modernity Killed Every Night
Modernity Killed Every Night is the debut studio album by The Wolfmen, released in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2008.-Critical reception:Modernity Killed Every Night has garnered glowing reviews from music critics...

", September 1, 2008 on the Damaged Goods label. It includes most of their previously-released singles.

"Better Days" from the debut album was featured in the 2011 version of 2K's MLB2K11 baseball video game for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

They released their next single "Marilyn Monroe (Wam Bam JFK)" in November 2010. It is taken from The Wolfmen's prolific 2010 sessions with The Dandy Warhols 'Courtney Taylor-Taylor' in the producer's chair. Tracks from 'The Dandy Sessions' form the nucleus of band’s second full-length offering, "Married To The Eiffel Tower". The album was released digitally in May 2011. It will also be released on physical formats via Howl Records on August 22.

The Wolfmen will be playing live at the 100 Club
100 Club
The 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club.The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942....

 in London on July 14. The event is sponsored by Vive Le Rock magazine and it will serve as the album launch party for Married To The Eiffel Tower.

This forthcoming performance will mark the start of the new and refreshed Wolfmen lineup which will see Ciaron Marlow's inaugural performance as live guitarist for The Wolfmen. Marco Pirroni
Marco Pirroni
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer...

 has now retired from live duties. He will, however, continue to work Chris under the moniker of "The Wolfmen" for studio work.

Starting in September, The Wolfmen will take up monthly residence at London’s Alley Cat.

Collaborations

Pirroni and Constantinou finished co-writing with Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...

 in June 2006. A twisted remake of The Primitives
The Primitives
The Primitives are a British indie pop band from Coventry, best known for their 1988 international hit single "Crash".-Biography:The Primitives were part of the indie music scene of the mid-1980s alongside bands like The Jesus and Mary Chain, Primal Scream, My Bloody Valentine, the Soup...

' 1964 cult classic "The Ostrich".

The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...

’ comeback record, The Revenge of the Killer Slits appeared in September 2006 which featured both Pirroni and Constantinou.

In spring 2007, The Wolfmen first collaborated with Daler Mehndi
Daler Mehndi
Daler Mehndi , born August 18, 1967, is an Indian Bhangra pop singer.Mehndi was a student of traditional Punjabi music and his first album broke sales records in India. Since 1995 he has recorded several highly successful albums in India, and also sung as a playback singer for several Hindi movies...

 and Pirroni provided guitar for Primal Scream
Primal Scream
Primal Scream are a Scottish alternative rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie and Jim Beattie and now based in London. The current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes , Martin Duffy , and Darrin Mooney...

's cover of Screaming Jay Hawkins’ "I Put A Spell On You", a special commission for an Alexander McQueen
Alexander McQueen
Lee Alexander McQueen, CBE was a British fashion designer and couturier best known for his in-depth knowledge of bespoke British tailoring, his tendency to juxtapose strength with fragility in his collections, as well as the emotional power and raw energy of his provocative fashion shows...

 fashion show.

In October 2009, The Wolfmen released "Jackie, Is It My Birthday?", a duet between Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....

 and Chris Constantinou
Chris Constantinou
Chris Constantinou is an English musician. Famous for being the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for Adam Ant. He is now the lead singer and bassist of the band, The Wolfmen.- Childhood and early bands :...

. It is the first release from the band's prolific 2009 sessions with The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols
The Dandy Warhols are an American alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in 1994. The band was founded by singer-guitarist Courtney Taylor-Taylor and guitarist Peter Holmström, with keyboardist Zia McCabe and drummer Eric Hedford later joining. Hedford left in 1998 and was replaced by...

' Courtney Taylor-Taylor
Courtney Taylor-Taylor
Courtney Taylor-Taylor is an American singer-songwriter from Portland, Oregon. He is the lead singer and guitarist of alternative rock band The Dandy Warhols, a band he co-founded. The vast majority of the band's songs are written by Taylor-Taylor, including hits "We Used to Be Friends" and...

 in the producer's chair. As Taylor-Taylor says of his new charges, “These guys are fucking brilliant... I guess The Wolfmen just sound like heavy weights because they are.“

The Wolfmen wrote and recorded track with Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson is an American actress, director, and producer, perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels...

, from the now defunct band The Long Blondes
The Long Blondes
The Long Blondes were a five-piece English indie rock band formed in Sheffield, United Kingdom in 2003 by Dorian Cox , Reenie Hollis , Emma Chaplin , Kate Jackson and Screech Louder .After several critically...

, called Weightless. They have also worked on some other tracks for her forthcoming debut album.

Album Discography

  • Modernity Killed Every Night
    Modernity Killed Every Night
    Modernity Killed Every Night is the debut studio album by The Wolfmen, released in the United Kingdom on 1 September 2008.-Critical reception:Modernity Killed Every Night has garnered glowing reviews from music critics...

     (Damaged Goods) (2008
    2008 in music
    2008 was a huge year in music history with the emergence of pop superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry into the mainstream. Also, this is the year that is widely agreed upon by critics as the start of the fall of hip hop from the mainstream and the rise of Synthpop into the mainstream due to acts such...

    )
  • Married To The Eiffel Tower
    Married to the Eiffel Tower
    Married To The Eiffel Tower is The Wolfmen's second studio album. It was released digitally on 2 May 2011 and will be released in August 2011 on Compact Disc and vinyl.-Track listing:# Cat Green Eyes# Mr Sunday# Jackie, Is It My Birthday?...

     (Howl Records) (2011)

External links

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