Thursday April 11 ‘Hear Me Out’ Vinyl Available Friday 4/12/19
By Noe Gutierrez
The critically-acclaimed three-piece rock ‘n’ roll band Reignwolf is headlining Pappy & Harriet’s in Pioneertown this Thursday, April 11th in support of their long-awaited, highly anticipated debut full-length album, Hear Me Out, which was just released March 1st. Providing support for this show only are special guests IRONTOM! Doors open at 7 p.m. and show begins at 8 p.m. You can still purchase tickets at eventbrite.com/e/reignwolf-tickets-58442486049.
Hear Me Out, released independently on March 1st, has been receiving rave reviews across the board, with some critics already calling it a top album of 2019. The album features 10 blistering new songs from the trio including the hard-hitting first single “Black and Red” and newest single “Over & Over.” Mixed by Tony Hoffer (Beck, Depeche Mode), Mario Caldato Jr. (Beastie Boys), Vance Powell (White Stripes, Chris Stapleton) and Tchad Blake (Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys) and mastered by Howie Weinberg (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, Cage The Elephant), Hear Me Out was recorded in Saskatoon, Canada, Los Angeles and Seattle with Cook writing/co-writing/co-producing all of the tracks on the album.
In 2014, Rolling Stone named Reignwolf an “Artist You Need to Know.” Yet over the past seven years, Cook and company only rolled out a handful of singles, racking up over 10 million plays on Spotify.
Coachella Valley Weekly spoke with Jordan Cook (vocalist/guitarist) as the band prepares to head out on a run of Spring and Summer tour dates in support of Hear Me Out featuring a mix of headlining shows and festival appearances, including Woodstock 50, Bunbury, Epicenter, Osheaga and Welcome to Rockville.
CVW: Where are you now and what are you looking forward to most in playing the revered and renowned Pappy & Harriet’s?
Cook: “We’re in Saskatchewan, Canada for a couple days and get back on the road then come over to you. We get in the day we play. As timing would have it, we have a few friends from Europe and Seattle coming to the show so it’s gonna be wild. We’re looking forward to it. I can’t think of a better place to release our vinyl, it feels right. I’ve had a lot of friends play there and the date that Paul McCartney played there of course. I heard about that and then it was just something that I need to do. I’ve never been but It’s gonna be awesome! I’m looking forward to it. Getting into a legendary place like Pappy’s and playing for the first time in the desert It’s gonna be awesome. I would like to add that the amount of buzz that I’ve heard about this show is special and I can’t wait!”
CVW: Tell us about the rest of the band.
Cook: “We’ve had the same drummer, Joseph Braley. The bass player is somebody I grew up with, his name is S.J. Kardash. We used to do two guitars instead of having a bass player and since this record is a little more bass heavy it was just kind of the way it turned out. S.J. has been playing bass for us for a couple of years now. There’s that undeniable connection when we play together it’s been really nice having him out with us.”
CVW: Reignwolf performed at Coachella in 2013. What do you recall about that performance?
Cook: “Yeah, we played Coachella at the very start of Reignwolf and that was great. I remember we played early day. The first weekend, there were a few people there and by the second weekend there were a lot of people, it was awesome man! It was a feeling so good to be at this festival. I remember during our performance I was in the crowd and a friend had loaned me a guitar, and I forgot I was playing his guitar! I was so into the show. I remember, I was in the crowd and I threw it back onto the stage. This guitar was so breakable, usually. It was flying in the air, when it came down and hit the headstock of the guitar and somehow it was perfectly fine and I can’t get over that because every other guitar I’ve ever thrown in the air like that has always been broken; it was kind of a magic set for us.”
CVW: Your new album Hear Me Out is inspired. The day after your Pappy’s show, Friday, April 12th, you’ll be releasing the vinyl edition. And it happens to be Record Store Day on April 13th.
Cook: “We’re kicking it off at this show. It will be released on vinyl at this next show. We’ll bring it a night early to have it at the show. It will be cool.”
CVW: Your sound has been compared to some of the greats, Soundgarden, Black Keys, Queens of the Stone Age, etc.
Cook: “The compliments mean a lot to me. The cool comparisons. It’s nice to be out and have people on our side and be able to do special things that we want to do like the desert show.”
CVW: You’ve had a lot of success since you began Reignwolf and the response has been over-the-top. In addition to Coachella, you’ve performed at Lollapalooza, Austin City Limits, Glastonbury and Download as well as opening for some of the most influential bands including Black Sabbath and Pixies.
How do you stay motivated as a band?
Cook: “Every time we play it’s kind of a new experience. Every time we play it’s bigger and better than the night before and I think with us, we’ve never played a song the same, which might be why we haven’t had a record up until now. It was something about not committing to one version. These are all new songs for us. We’re probably about 8-10 shows in and these songs are so fresh for us. It’s been exciting to have new things to play, people showing up and having heard the record, we’ve noticed people singing along. We’re kind of hanging on the edge ourselves.”
CVW: You have IRONTOM providing support at the Pappy’s show. What can you share about them?
Cook: “If you’re familiar with drummer Jack Irons, he played in the early days of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and also Pearl Jam. His son Zach Irons started this band. They’re an L.A. band. I don’t know them that well but I know they get what we’re doing, we’ll see what happens.”
CVW: Reignwolf claims their home as the Pacific Northwest. What have you gained from being in Seattle?
Cook: “In Seattle everyone helps each other. Within the first two weeks of living in there, I found bands like Pearl Jam and Soundgarden and all these people you want to be checking you out, they actually were really good to us and pushing us. We got to meet Pearl Jam in the studio a little bit. And the Soundgarden guys, if it wasn’t for the bass player Ben Shepherd, I wouldn’t know the drummer in my band, he introduced us. It seems like there’s a little less ego and everyone is trying to help out each other. That’s the vibe I got in Seattle. We’ve been really fortunate in Seattle and KEXP 90.3FM, the local radio station, has been really great to us. It really is one of those places where if people are behind you, they’re behind you.”
CVW: You have a little break after the Pappy’s show. Any Coachella plans?
Cook: “There isn’t a plan to go to Coachella, but at the same time anything can happen. The only thing we have for the next two days is perform an in-store at Fingerprints Music in Long Beach on Saturday. The nighttime is open; I would love to go check it out for sure.”
CV Weekly also connected with IRONTOM vocalist Harry Hayes regarding the show and subsequent plans, “We’re really excited to obliterate the walls and halls of Pappy and Harriet’s along with the great Reignwolf! Also, we’re gonna be slathering the streets of the USA on our co-headline The Midnight Love Tour with The Unlikely Candidates, coming up in May. The tour comes through L.A. on May 19th at Bootleg Theater.”
Reignwolf -Live In-Store Performance Saturday April, 13th
Fingerprints Music
420 E. 4th St.
Long Beach, CA 90802
(562) 433-4996
