Laura Zastrow
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Schneider at Coney Island Studios.
In the 1990s, Wendy Schneider fronted Bugatti Type 35, a Madison post-punk band that was active until the early 2000s. Since then, she’s been involved in countless creative projects, but she didn’t play much music until last year when she debuted her new project, Howler.
Featuring Schneider on guitar and vocals and Joe Bernstein (The Kissers, Cribshitter) on drums, Howler picks up where Bugatti Type 35 left off — the music is dark and driving with a lo-fi edge. The band will release its debut EP, Howler, on Aug. 3 at Mickey’s Tavern, with Russell Hall on bass. Written entirely by Schneider and recorded at her Coney Island Studios, the six-song album (available on cassette and CD) is a meditation on her past as an artist — and a celebration of a new beginning.
“I feel relieved I was able to do it,” Schneider says. “There was a period of over a decade where I just didn’t feel like I had any more music in me. It was very depressing.”
Howler begins with the steady, urgent thrum of bass and minimalist guitar before Schneider’s vocal line kicks in, understated and almost restrained. The opening song, “Demons,” reflects almost longingly on hardships from past and captures the feeling of being pulled in two directions. The melancholy mood continues on “Clouds,” which has a similarly dark, drone-like quality and persistent, forward-moving rhythms. There are surely stories behind these songs, and the unmistakable pain of loss, but the lyrics build narrative in broad strokes.
Instead of being specific, Schneider excels at creating moods — the standout track, “Millions,” is stoic and resolute, with her perfectly deadpan vocals delivering a brutally honest anthem about identity, self-awareness and expectations. “If you walk away, I can handle the hit / if you’re bored with me, I don’t give a shit,” she sings. On “Never Here,” she rehashes past mistakes and dreams up a speculative future, switching between the two as the intensity of the song builds.
Though squarely in the realm of post-punk indie rock, Howler draws from jazz and even classic rock, especially on “Waiting,” which starts sultry and launches into a sludgy, wailing guitar solo. Again, the song captures the feeling of being caught between two places — the seduction of surrendering and the pull to get on the road again. “You don’t get what you don’t want,” she sings. On the forward-looking “Into The Fire,” Schneider takes the plunge, launching into a metaphorical journey across the country. Again, no specifics here, but perhaps it’s about her return to music. “We search for glory,” she sings over the driving drums and guitar. “We search for glory on the way.”
