Alex Brown Church of(is) Sea Wolf and he dissects his South By Southwest experiences over the years:
“SXSW has often been described as, “spring break for the music business,” and I have to say it’s an apt description. Lately the University of Texas’ spring break has coincided with SXSW, so it’s truly taken on on the semblance and debauchery of Lake Havasu or Daytona. These days, there is not only an army of skinny, tattooed, black-wearing indie rock dudes and dudettes parading around the streets, competitively sizing each other up, but the more traditional drunken vomiting jock, and scantily clad, tanned blonde just raring to ‘go wild’. Having done SXSW a few times before in another band, I have to say that the novelty and excitement of the event is giving way to exhaustion and anxiety. But I don’t have a problem with the ‘indie-kids’ or the college spring breakers, just the sheer size of the crowds. Overall though, it is worth doing at least once, as it’s unlike anything you’ve ever been to before. Just don’t forget your Xanax.”

Sea Wolf was recorded Wednesday, March 14th at Big Orange Studio in Austin, Texas. It was our second day of recording. We weren’t overly smelly and spirits were still high. It was a lazy morning with SOUND Team rehearsing and recording a song in their home pad before John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats came by for his noon session. Darnielle asked that the schedule not be too cramped when he came and left so Alex and his Sea Wolf posse came at 3 p.m. and we raged. – Sean Moeller

First song
You're A Wolf (Sea Wolf) [3.39MB] [3738 downloads]


– original version appears on Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low
This song almost never saw the light of day. I showed a half finished version to Scott McPherson, who was playing drums with us at the time, and he immediately wanted to play it. I didn’t have the chorus, so I just sort of made it up on the spot. I always wanted to change it, as it sounded a bit too Elliott Smith (the chorus), but I never had time to change it. I like the chorus a lot now. It does have a little Elliott Smith to it, but it’s not like any of our other songs sound like him. Also, I always loved these lyrics. It’s a very personal song that I think a lot of people can relate to. Anyway, this song has hooked a lot of people on Sea Wolf, so thank you Scotty for making me finish it.

Second song
I Made a Resolution (Sea Wolf) [3.67MB] [3705 downloads]


– original version appears on Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low
This is the newest song we play. I wrote it last spring while in Chicago. It’s my current favorite. Maybe because it’s the newest, but I also think it’s because I dug a little deeper to write this one, and it means a lot to me. It’s a heavy song, but also very optimistic. I definitely wear my heart on my sleeve here, but I think you have to do that if you want to effect people emotionally.

Third song
Ses Monument (Sea Wolf) [4.12MB] [3605 downloads]


– original version appears on Get To The River Before It Runs Too Low
Since we’ve been playing this, the guitar part is always different. The version on the record has Patrick Park playing guitar and the one we did for you has Aaron Robinson playing guitar so it’s kind of a unique version. Aaron’s in another band called Messes that’s really good.

Fourth song
Middle Distance Runner (Sea Wolf) [3.21MB] [3968 downloads]


— unreleased
This is a lot of people’s favorite song. It took me about an hour to write, from start to finish, one winter night a couple of years ago. I think the best songs always just spill out of you like that. They tend to have a real coherency. A beginning, middle, and end where everything almost gets tied up. I never like to tie things up entirely at the end.