NOISEY 105: LET'S WRESTLE

Let's Wrestle may traffic in slacker riffs and hopeless immaturity, but this London trio is winning fans with songs that mask intelligence behind a smokescreen of dumb, stupid fun. The band began as three suburban kids with a few instruments and a vague sense of direction. Hapless front man and guitarist Wesley met drummer Darkus at school and they kept bumping into a bass player named Sam at shows. He joined up last year to replace their original bassist Mike who left for University.

While still in their teens, the band recorded its 2009 debut In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s. The record was recorded underneath a ukulele shop in less than 24 hours. The songs are raw and unpretentious, with raucous nods towards Sebadoh’s finest moments. The 2011 follow up, Nursing Home, saw legendary grunge producer Steve Albini cranking the dials and helping the trio craft a tighter and crunchier set of tracks.

Ok, critics have understandably lumped Let’s Wrestle in with the 90s revivalist movement. The difference is that the band’s got better songs than most of the noisy guitar bands coming from Britain right now. That’s not surprising for a bunch of guys who claim influences ranging from Amon Düül II to Steely Dan and Sly And The Family Stone. “I’ve never felt we really fit into the East London scene,” Wesley explains, “[but] bands like Veronica Falls, Mazes and Male Bonding have the same ideas on music as us.”

Their next record will be influenced by The Byrds, The Beatles and Neil Young, claims Wesley. It’s no surprise then that he finds it hard to describe the band’s sound to other people: “I usually just say we’re a punk band. We may not be in sound, but we are in ethic. That’s all I feel they need to know.”