Randy Reimann is experiencing punk differently these days. The former frontman of classic Australian 80s hardcore band Massappeal and founding member of electronic pop group Tralala Blip, Randy has been reborn in new electronic project Wolf Shield.Influenced by his love of early house and industrial, Randy started decomposing old tapes from Massappeal practices until they became drones. In what he describes as his post-hardcore comedown, Wolf Shield's single "Alone Tonight", lends itself to his influences: Coil, Suicide and early Ministry, without the vocal harshness of a later Al Jourgensen.Watch the video below and read a chat we had about 80s Sydney warehouse parties and embracing pop music as a former punk.Noisey: Little is known about you online, other than your single on the Tenth Court '16/'17 Sampler. Who is Wolf Shield?
Randy Reimann: Wolf Shield is Randolf Reimann. The name Wolf Shield comes from the old Germanic translation of Randolf:What led you to start Wolf Shield? Are you involved with any other bands?
I started Wolf Shield as a kind of personal project that I wanted to share with my old punk/hardcore friends who often still ask me if my old band Massappeal will ever reform. I would express to them that I have no desire to redo that stuff but that the spirit of that music will always dwell in me.I mined my old journal from the same period for lyric content and then I synced the drones to my drum machine. Once a tune was done, i would share it with one of my old punk friends and say, "this is how I experience punk now."I'm also the founding member of the experimental electronic pop band Tralala Blip.Your music differs from the regular output of Tenth Court. What should we expect from your upcoming cassette?
Melted thrash drones, resembling the sound of a skateboard rolling down the sidewalk, with EBM and house inspired beats.It's refreshing to hear dark indie pop being embraced in Brisbane. What pop artists do you admire?
For the Residuum cassette, I was looking back at the electronic music I was listening to when I was in Massappeal. This was the late 80s and early 90s and I was very much into industrial bands like Front 242, Coil, Skinny Puppy, Lead Into Gold and other bands like Suicide (who were introduced to me by Henry Rollins when Massappeal were on tour with the Rollins Band in 1989) and a lot of stuff on WaxTrax Records.By the end of the 80s, I would finish gigs with Massappeal and would be going straight to warehouse parties around Sydney. So, early house and techno influences can be heard too. I was really into the slower BPM stuff on labels like Rising High. Artists like Walker and Khan and The Black Dog were very big for me in my post-hardcore comedown.'Residuum Cassette' is available March 23 on Tenth Court Records.
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Randy Reimann: Wolf Shield is Randolf Reimann. The name Wolf Shield comes from the old Germanic translation of Randolf:What led you to start Wolf Shield? Are you involved with any other bands?
I started Wolf Shield as a kind of personal project that I wanted to share with my old punk/hardcore friends who often still ask me if my old band Massappeal will ever reform. I would express to them that I have no desire to redo that stuff but that the spirit of that music will always dwell in me.I mined my old journal from the same period for lyric content and then I synced the drones to my drum machine. Once a tune was done, i would share it with one of my old punk friends and say, "this is how I experience punk now."I'm also the founding member of the experimental electronic pop band Tralala Blip.Your music differs from the regular output of Tenth Court. What should we expect from your upcoming cassette?
Melted thrash drones, resembling the sound of a skateboard rolling down the sidewalk, with EBM and house inspired beats.It's refreshing to hear dark indie pop being embraced in Brisbane. What pop artists do you admire?
For the Residuum cassette, I was looking back at the electronic music I was listening to when I was in Massappeal. This was the late 80s and early 90s and I was very much into industrial bands like Front 242, Coil, Skinny Puppy, Lead Into Gold and other bands like Suicide (who were introduced to me by Henry Rollins when Massappeal were on tour with the Rollins Band in 1989) and a lot of stuff on WaxTrax Records.By the end of the 80s, I would finish gigs with Massappeal and would be going straight to warehouse parties around Sydney. So, early house and techno influences can be heard too. I was really into the slower BPM stuff on labels like Rising High. Artists like Walker and Khan and The Black Dog were very big for me in my post-hardcore comedown.'Residuum Cassette' is available March 23 on Tenth Court Records.