all photos by Morgen Schuler
When he visited KEXP’s studios earlier this year, the one-man shred army known as Reignwolf brought his own fog machine - for a radio broadcast. Once he plugged in and started shredding though, he made every artist without a fog machine look inferior. Visual aesthetics aside, Reignwolf’s visceral stomp is nothing short of a tour de force in 2012. Like a dirtier version of the Black Keys circa-2004, his feral growl of a voice is only outdone by his tastefully mangled guitar playing.
Reignwolf didn’t let the early afternoon hour deter him as he kicked off this afternoon’s live KEXP broadcast from Barboza for the Capitol Hill Block Party. Although starting off solo with his own kickdrum, Reignwolf brought out another guitarist and a drummer to fill out the rest of his set of heavy blues rock.
The sound was remarkably well-balanced: although heavy, scratchy, full, and loud, it was never too loud nor too muddy to hear what was going on. It was definitely a bracing way to wake up for the day, a good strong cup of sonic coffee, black.
His frenetic live shows have earned him show-stealing sets at the 2012 iterations of SXSW, Primavera Sound, The Great Escape, and Sasquatch, among other places, but now that he’s returned to North America, he’ll be playing shows around Seattle every month until November, including his set this evening in Neumos at 6:30.
