Lazer/Wulf howls at the Buff

Lazer/Wulf, Flagpole Magazine’s Band of the Year, stirred up the downtown Milledgeville scene at Buffington’s last Thursday night.

This three-piece thrash metal band, based out of Athens, Ga., brought a different genre of music than what this small town’s bar typically plays.

To win Band of the Year in 2008, Lazer/Wulf played at Athfest against groups such as Modern Skirts, Dark Meat and Elf Power.

Lead guitarist Bryan Aiken, 23, graduated from University of Georgia with a bachelors of arts in journalism.

“We’re like a trampoline ready to explode. Fun for everyone but likely to kill you at any moment,” said Aiken.

Michael Christopher, 20-year-old biology major, logged onto their website to hear the band before the show.

“This band is really impressive,” Christopher said. “It’s great that a metal band is coming to play in Milledgeville.”

The band started instrumental with two members and has added and dropped musicians along their way. One of the members acquired during its rise in Athens was a vocalist who was talented but untrained. The band recently fell back to its instrumental roots due to the polyps that formed on the musician’s vocal cords. The style of music, if not performed correctly, can be dangerous to practice for extended periods of time.

Sean Peiffer, bassist, is the only original member of the band left. His inspiration comes from the bands Death and Atheist.

“A lot of people tell us we sound like Between the Buried and Me,” Peiffer said.

Mathius, 25, holds the spot as Lazer/Wulf’s drummer. His favorite bands Meshuggah and Radiohead heavily impact him. He also feels Beethoven influences his beats.

“We play funk-metal-jazz-fusion,” Mathius said.

Aiken looks to The Mars Volta, Radiohead and Animal Collective to become a better musician.

Lazer/Wulf played its first show outside Georgia in August. Pensacola, Fla. allowed them to test new waters with their music.

Different locations provide a different type of audience. They have played bars full of old men one week and the next week an audience comprised of mostly teenage girls.

While Aiken and Mathius hope at any show that the audience will participate, Peiffer wants the crowd to shed a tear.

The name Lazer/Wulf comes from Mathius’s talk with the hardcore metal band Every Time I Die’s guitarist Andy Williams.

“I love Every Time I Die, so I just asked Andy what would be a good name for a band. He told me Lazer/Wulf, so we went with it,” Mathius said.

Lazer/Wulf’s new album titled “The Voice That Isn’t” is their first full-length release. It is comprised of six songs lasting a total of 32 minutes. The recordings will be available to listen to on Sept. 20 on their Web site. They will also sell CDs at their upcoming concerts.

To listen to their music and find out more about the band visit www.myspace.com/lazerwulf.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 12 2008. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry