Wavves is the moniker of San Diego slacker-punk Nathan Williams. His effortless songs blend a distorted lo-fi guitar with undeniable catchy hooks. The songs are messy in the best ways possible and his lyrics are honest of most kids in their early 20s. Weed, video games, skateboarding, and satire fuel the lyrical content of the songs, making up exactly what you think a 21-year-old former former Music Trader would write about. Due to Williams lack of recording chiops he wound up creating a unique recording sound by completely overdriving his inputs. Rather than scrapping the material, he embraced the in-the-red aesthetic and started promoting the songs online, reminiscent of something Dinosaur Jr. might have done in their early days if the internet had existed. Wavves was quickly embraced by bloggers and critics touting him as 'the buzz band' of the minute and launching William's career.
Williams D.I.Y. aesthetic was a welcome change, with bands like Vivian Girls also beginning to gain ground as a super lo-fi acts. Williams would keep himself in the spotlight by continuously uploading free digital versions of his music through 2009—including two 7" singles, a cassette, and an EP—all with simple self-drawn artwork or scanned photos for cover art.
Wavves' first LP, simply titled Wavves became available and released in a limited run by New York Label Woodsist. The more confusingly titled Wavvves (three "Vs") followed just after, and was released by former Dinosaur Jr. label Fat Possum. After the track list was revamped, the release date was pushed back a month and Wavvves was officially made available on March 17, 2009. The album received great reviews, and propelled Williams even further into the spotlight, perhaps maybe too quickly. He would experience a memorable meltdown in the spring of 2009, leading him to take some time off for a while.
He has toured sporadically leading up to 2010, even expanding his band with two new members formerly of Jay Reatard's band, Billy Hayes (Drums) and Stephen Pope (Bass).
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