By Keith Walsh
Austin-based WeirdWolves features Raphaël Colantonio and Ava Gore. Colantonio is the founder of game developers Arkane Studios and WolfEye Studios, while Gore is the daughter of Depeche Mode’s Martin Gore and a phenomenal vocalist and instrumentalist in her own right.
Their single “Perfect Storm,” released last year, highlights Gore’s sultry vocals and bass work, Colantonio’s guitar playing and additional vocals (and drums by Alec Cabrera who joins them when they play live). It’s the remix of “Perfect Storm” by Julian Shah-Tayler that transforms the track from a post-punk treasure into a synth-pop masterwork. The tune itself explores gender politics and the dual vocals of Gore and Colantonio deliver perfectly.
The remix came as the result of a contest by the duo, which was a chance for WeirdWolves to get feedback about their music, and for artists to offer their interpretations of the song. I asked Gore and Colantonio what it was about Shah-Tayler’s remix that stood out.
“Well, it was so different from the original one, and it’s impressive how he took it and changed it completely and it’s kind of got a groovy thing to it,” Gore told me, in a phone conversation with the two of them. Colantonio added: “It’s a little more dancey, and it’s got kind of this ’80s vibe, which is something we like to explore, so it’s cool.”
Colantonio and Gore were introduced in 2018. “We met through a mutual friend,” Colantonio told me, “and she knew I was looking for someone to sing and Ava was wanting to join a band. It’s not that the band was started to do video game music, but the first music we did was actually for one of my video games, that’s why I was looking for a singer back then, so we tried it, that song called ‘Realization,’ and we jelled well over that song and decided to try some more stuff. She had some songs that she wanted to do, I had some I wanted to do, and that’s pretty much how it worked.” (“Realization” was from the soundtrack to Arkane Studios’ hit video game “Prey.”)
Music has been a part of these players’ lives for seemingly forever. Colantonio says he first played bass professionally after joining a local band in his native France as teen, though guitar was his first instrument. “I was a fan of this local band in France, in my city, in my hometown, and somehow they lost their bass player, and I was always there so I said ‘hey let me try it!’ It was only later when I started to investing time into learning to play more intricate stuff.” He says that it was the bass player of an American band that inspired him to develop his style. “I think Red Hot Chili Peppers was the one that got me into more interesting bass lines,” he said. The French band that gave him his start was called Lady Winter.
For Ava Gore, who grew up the daughter of an established synth pop trendsetter, music has always been important. “Music has been in my life since I was born — I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember,” she said. “And I wanted to play the guitar when I was about twelve, and I asked my dad to show me a few chords, and I then was impatient, so I just looked it up myself, and I went from there. I taught myself how to play the guitar.”
The talents involved in this project almost guarantee that more special music will be forthcoming. For the rest of my Q and A with Raphaël and Ava and to see a live video of the guitar-based version of “Perfect Storm, ” please visit www.punkrockbeat.com
WeirdWolves On Spotify
Julian Shah-Tayler On Spotify
WeirdWolves On Bandcamp,com
Julian Shah-Tayler On Bandcamp.com
WeirdWolves.com
WeirdWolves On Facebook
Ava Gore On Facebook
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