Wavves

An unlikely success story, Wavves were the undisciplined, ramshackle, lo-fi brainchild of San Diego counter-culture hero and skateboarder Nathan Williams. He was 21, working as an office clerk and writing a hip-hop blog when he started making primitive bedroom recordings of his songs on an old cassette recorder and circulated them on the Internet. Their raw DIY charm and crude energy, offering resentful messages of disenchantment and gloom, caused a major stir online and Williams released a constant stream of new material to further fuel interest. With Williams joined by drummer Ryan Ulsh, it resulted in the debut album Wavves (2008) which included tracks like "California Goth" and "Beach Goth" attacking goth fashion. Second album Wavvves followed in 2009, although Williams' erratic behaviour on stage caused some notoriety. There were line-up changes, too, with Wavves becoming a trio of Williams, Stephen Pope and Billy Hayes (soon to be replaced by Jacob Cooper), releasing their surprisingly sophisticated third album King of the Beach in 2010. Afraid of Heights was released in 2013 followed by V in 2015 and the collaborative album with Cloud Nothings No Life for Me. They recorded their sixth album You're Welcome in 2016 and released it the following year on free streaming, before embarking in a US tour, the last with drummer Brian Hill, replaced by Ross Traver in 2019. After celebrating the 10-year anniversary of King of the Beach by a tour, Wavves returned to the studio for the recording of Hideaway (2021), followed by the archival release Babes in 2023, and their ninth full-length Spun in 2025.

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