Howlies are playing lots of new songs
Howlies are doing it right. They played 7 new songs last night at the Earl, opening with 6 of them. At least one had never been played live before. I recognized a few of the new ones from the show they played at 529 back in February where they also played a ton of new material, but at that show the new/old material was split about evenly. Last night, they only played four tracks from Trippin’ With Howlies, the debut album they released a little over a year ago. It’s crazy to think that they’re already moving on to new material. Most bands in their position would tour hard behind their debut and not focus on new songs for awhile, especially when that debut isn’t some half-assed collection of 7”s or glorified basement demos. Trippin’ With Howlies sounds great (much has been written about how they got Kim Fowley to produce the thing) and it seems representative of who they are as a band. So it’s strange that they’re moving on so quickly. Gentleman Jesse’s set opening for Ted Leo last weekend (which I swear I’m going to write about later today) consisted mostly of songs from his 2008 debut. The Coathangers stuck almost exclusively to songs from the year old Scramble at 529 on Tuesday. It’s not uncommon and it’s totally understandable for bands to do this.
So it’s a surprise that Howlies are already so focused on new material, but it’s not a bad surprise. I think it sounds pretty great. It’s more like “Chimera” and “Angeline” than “Sea Level” and “Whiskey Night,” but that’s the side of the band I preferred anyway. How much you like the new songs will probably depend on which camp you fall into. My companion at last night’s show (who will likely be contributing here in the near future) is in the latter camp, and she was less impressed with the new ones.
They’re already recording the album, and if they’re playing this much of it live, I’m assuming (and hoping) it will be out by the end of the year.
deconstructionapplied
Denton
springwardrobe
Little Advances 
While “Angeline” and “Chimera” have a different sort of sound compared to “Whiskey Night” and “Sea Level”, there’s a connecting thread between the songs. The band has the drummer as the obvious lead singer, with the rest of the members throwing in either support behind the drummer or singing different vocals entirely.
Most of the new songs (5/7) sound more like generic rock where everyone in the band simply yells lyrics into the microphone. The two that didn’t sound like that (the ones that I really liked) further explored giving the singers different parts – what I thought gave the Howlies their signature sound and what attracted me to the band in the first place.
I’m all for bands exploring different sounds, but I think most of the new songs went in the wrong direction by losing their signature.