"Musically, It’s As If Johnny Ramone Joined The Strokes:" Canadian's The Alpacas Unleash "Wax" from The Best Is Behind You (Willow Music)

"The Alpacas are Nick Harper, Greg Lee, Brett Garner, and Brent Lee: a four-piece Rock "N" Roll band from Barrie, Ontario. The Alpacas aim to write honest, hooky, and heavy tunes that strike a balance between raw and refined. The Alpacas' live show is loud and quiet, fast and slow, tidy and unkempt—but above all, The Alpacas look to create some good time vibes and entertain an audience," reads a fragmented chunk of Canadian Pop-Punks The Alpacas' on-site Willow Music band bio. "Born in the year of the Horse, Greg Lee can sing like a bird and scream like a wildcat from Northern Ontario. Brett was naturally gifted with the calloused fingers of a sea-faring gentleman. His leathery paws give him the ability to produce very low frequencies on the bass guitar. Nick's timing is impeccable, he’s never been late his entire life. Some drummers practice to metronomes, but metronomes practice to Nick Harper’s drumming. At the tender age of 11, Brent Lee lost his ability to see far distances. No longer able to watch re-runs of Full House, he abandoned television and turned his attention to the family guitar," continues The Alpacas' rather fictitious, yet utterly hilarious, formation story. Its members readily cite The Who, The Replacements, Hüsker Dü, The Strokes, [Death from Above 1979], Nirvana, Queens of The Stone Age, Jack White-fronted The Raconteurs, The Rolling Stones, and Ryan Adams amongst their greatest sources of personal influence.


"Musically, it's as if Johnny Ramone [The Ramones] joined The Strokes as a third guitarist. Lyrically, it's also inspired by the song "Left of The Dial" by The Replacements from their 1985 album, Tim," read a particularly intriguing cold-sent email I miraculously received a couple days ago titled, "Listen Now: Wax." I would liken The Alpacas' latest single, "Wax" to something along the lines of a sonic hybrid of their fellow early 2000's Canadian Pop-Punk brethren Simple Plan and Sum 41 mixed with Take Off Your Pants & Jacket-era Blink-182 melded with the nostalgic 1950's greaser aesthetic of New Jersey's own The Gaslight Anthem. "Wax" is merely the first in a series of planned singles, music videos, etc. expected to roll-out ahead of The Alpacas' Kevin Dietz (Nelly Furtado, Placebo, The Cranberries, Alexisonfire)-produced The Best Is Behind You, which will be released world-wide on Willow Music October 14th. It may be a little bit too early to tell, but The Best Is Behind You may very well feature a handful of Alpacas compositions influenced by additional "Artist [They] Also Like" Attack In Black, Black Sabbath, The Black Keys, Black Flag, Frank Black, and one-time Paul Simon collaborators Ladysmith Black Mambazo... Ahead of their long-awaited Willow Music debut, The Alpacas have graciously made their entire 10-song discography on their Bandcamp and Soundcloud pages, including (but limited to) The Alpacas EP, Good Luck EP, "Mezzanine," and their latest piece of "Wax" for your streaming pleasure and general enjoyment!