Howler

Emerging from the same noisy guitar-pop tradition that runs through the Ramones, the Strokes, and the Drums, Howler took shape in Minneapolis as the project of singer and guitarist Jordan Gatesmith. Prior to the group’s formation, Gatesmith had already become a familiar presence on the local circuit through stints in the noise-rock outfit Gay Animals and the folky indie-pop band Total Babe. Only after composing the track “This One’s Different” at seventeen did he sense he was creating music that felt genuinely his own. He kept developing material in that style and soon recruited guitarist Ian Nygaard, bassist France Camp, keyboardist Max Petrek, and drummer Brent Mayes to round out the lineup. The resulting EP, This One’s Different, appeared in 2011. Around the same time, a writer who had spoken with Rough Trade founder Geoff Travis for a piece marking the tenth anniversary of the Strokes’ Is This It? forwarded Howler’s demo to Travis, who promptly signed the band. Momentum built quickly in Britain: the group supported the Vaccines on tour and was listed among NME’s best new bands of 2011 as well as one of the magazine’s Top 100 bands of 2012. America Give Up, the band’s first full-length, arrived in January 2012. Later that year France Camp left to focus on solo work. While preparing songs for a follow-up during 2013, the remaining members brought in drummer Rory MacMurdo. Reuniting with America Give Up producer Chris Heidman, Howler drew on the sounds of the Replacements, the Smiths, Hüsker Dü, and Thin Lizzy for the scrappy yet wide-ranging World of Joy, released in 2014.