Here’s a band to watch out for: AutoWolfe.
Actually, you already know them (sort of). Vocalist/guitarist Jeff Markham and drummer/keyboardist Jon Darconte first appeared on the local music scene as rock band Kerouac or the Radio in 2005. That band dissolved in 2007; two years later they returned with upbeat folk rock band The Last Call whose highlights included a stellar debut album and a raucous video shot on the LaZoom bus. Now that band, too, has called it quits: “The Last Call is done for sure, nothing personal between members or anything,” says Markham. “It’s just time to do something different.”
That something different is AutoWolfe (with bassist Johnathan Hamrick). The new trio finds a happy medium between the dark angst of Kerouac or the Radio and the energetic pull of The Last Call. Each note seems carefully placed — the chime of the guitar, the sparkle and glint of cymbals. Markham’s sable vocal delivers the right mix of anguish and suggestion, songs are imbued with comfortable familiarity tinged with a hint of danger.
AutoWolfe will play the Johnny Cash Tribute at Stella Blue on Friday, Jan. 14. For info on future shows and music releases, sign up in the contact section on the band’s website.
Listen to “Terrible Distraction” here:
