Wolf Bites Boy - Family Isn't Always Blood

Fight To Live Records (LP) / Crowd Control Media (CD)

 

Formed out of the ashes of bands such as Senseless, AWOL and Living Dead, British Wolf Bites Boy is a brand new three-piece outfit formed in March of last year (2014) out of Stoke On Trent / Sheffield. Earlier this year the band unleashed their first full-length album “Family Isn’t Always Blood” (love the title) through their Bandcamp page, and this October / November it’s finally getting the vinyl treatment through Spanish label Fight To Live Records.

 

Musically the band’s twelve tracks of ‘vicious’ UK punk rock strongly reminds me of a mix inspired by Schleprock, Rancid and the Bouncing Souls, presented with some British flair. The energetic punk rock, mixed with elements of ska (“Gotta Get Away”, “Big Man In A Small Town”, “I’ll Be There For You”) and streetpunk influences sure make you want to sing –and dance along to catchy originals like the title-track “Family Isn’t Always Blood”, “Back Street Kids” and “The Streets That I Call Home”, or the tasty Buzzcocks cover “What Do I Get?”, introducing female vocals to the band’s sound!

 

All in all, Wolf Bites Boy deliver a good first release with “Family Isn’t Always Blood”. The variety in sound, the surprising female vocals in the middle of the album, the use of an organ in the ska tracks and the melancholic piano finale at the end of “My Friend”, the last song of the album, gives the band its own face, resulting into a solid debut LP!