The music that influenced Steel Wool’s eponymous debut EP
Steel Wool, the self-titled debut EP from rising Los Angeles shoegaze band Steel Wool, is out now via indie label Bug Body. Recorded in drummer Evan Landi’s bedroom studio, the EP captures the band’s reverb-heavy, feedback-soaked sound, honed through explosive DIY shows across L.A. Singles ‘Fading’ and ‘Eyes Closed’ offer a glimpse into their dreamy yet chaotic aesthetic, while tracks like ‘Another Sunday’ and ‘Heaven or La Brea’ balance pining vocals with bursts of distortion.
The following songs are the records that influenced this latest project.
“Steel Wool is a collision of sound experiments wearing the borrowed work uniform of rock music. With a DIY punk bassist, a college indie pop guitarist, a metalhead drummer, and a singer-songwriter up-front, the band has always been more of a sonic game of tug-of-war than a regiment in lockstep. Stepping outside these orthogonal backgrounds in search of common ground, we’ve ended up somewhere that isn’t quite home turf for any of us. The EP is a first step in five directions, sidling towards shoegaze, jangle pop, screamo, folk, and something else we can’t quite figure out a name for. With this record, we’ve crystallized the collaborative efforts of four new friends and bandmates, staking our flag in land we’re still yet to entirely survey.”
— Steel Wool
Yuck – ‘Rubber’
SAM: That first Yuck album changed my life when I was 15 with just a Boss DS-1 for a pedalboard. I’d max out the volume in my older brother’s Prius, lean the seat all the way back, and sink into a warm bath of noise. It changed the way I look at the guitar, and with some of the songs on the EP, I tried to channel that totalizing, skull-boring fuzz sound, like in the chorus of ‘Another Sunday’ or the breakdown in ‘Heaven or La Brea.’
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Muse – ‘Hyper Music’
SEAN: Muse was one of the first bands I really loved; they toured Europe pretty much every year so I saw them a lot with my dad growing up. ‘Hyper Music’ is such a loud, propulsive track and in my opinion it’s actually home to the best bassline in their discography. There’s so much anger and vulnerability in Matt Bellamy’s delivery but the track is so melodramatic and theatrical. I don’t have a huge amount of experience as a vocalist and it’s been fun stealing stuff and experimenting, I’m probably more influenced by early Muse than is cool to admit.
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Parannoul – ‘We Shine at Night’
EVAN: I love a song that takes you for a ride. This song takes the epic peaks and valleys of a Tool or Rush song and filters it through a shoegaze and psychedelic lens. Every detail is executed to perfection and is truly a north star for what Steel Wool aims to do. Also, it has a sick GONG in it just like Tool’s ‘Lateralus.’ Hopefully a gong makes it into a Steel Wool track one day.
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Mazzy Star – ‘Halah’
JADEN: I think a lot about the first Mazzy Star album. Even She Hangs Brightly’s sincere nods to rock americana are swept into Hope Sandoval’s wave of furious melancholy. It’s a diverse and complicated album, though melodically its opener ‘Halah’ could be considered a pop song. It’s a sweet tune with a subtle rhythm and a real fun little walk-up leading into the chorus. But what makes this one of my favorite songs is how Sandoval’s performance and lyrics so authentically capture both the warmth and bitterness after something falls apart. Steel Wool attempts to pack intensity and raw feeling into all our songs, and ‘Halah’ is a great blueprint.
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Yves Tumor – ‘Meteora Blues’
EVAN: This song is what happens when beautiful songwriting meets incredible production. I love how the chorus is elevated with a fuzz guitar that seemingly comes out of nowhere. It feels like being slapped in the face. It’s a technique we tried to implement in ‘Heaven or La Brea.’ That dynamic range, going from sparkly and light to brutally heavy, is really important to us.
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