It’s hard to dig up many details about Indian Wars. Hailing from Vancouver, these young garage punks are pretty much just getting started. As far as I know, they only have four recorded songs to their name, though a 7-inch is supposed to be coming out this month or next. Two of the songs are available below; the other two can be found on Indian Wars’ MySpace page. In addition to the four tunes, in the course of my, er, research, I also came across an interview with the band on a blog I’ve never heard of, and a couple of pictures.
With a sound and lo-fi style reminiscent of the Black Lips or the King Khan & BBQ Show, whom regular readers know I also love, this quartet of Canadians bashes out a sloppy, upbeat garage groove that’s as fun as it is fuzzy. They claim influences as diverse as the Band, George Jones and the Dead Ghosts (another Vancouver garage punk band I’ll now need to check out). But, admittedly, their music sounds about as far away from Big Pink or Nashville as you can get. They’re also enamored of such ’60s garage rock stalwarts as the Seeds and the 13th Flood Elevators, obvious influences whose vibe you can actually hear as these skate punks bash and crash their way to a glorious noise.
They used to be called Strange Hands (hence the MySpace URL), but a ”rad French band” already had claims to the moniker. So they changed their name to Indian Wars. Why Indian Wars? ”Because Indians are badass.” Love it.
Indian Wars hasn’t been around long, they might not last past the time it takes to listen to their entire recorded output, and they may turn into an alt-country band before the new year, but for now, I’ll take what I can get.
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