WhiteWolfSonicPrincess & A Witch For A Girlfriend

Graphic taken form WhiteWolfSonicPrincess MySpace page.

WhiteWolfSonicPrincess has been evolving over the past year, recruiting new members and beefing up its avant garde indie rock approach. Guitarist-singer James Moeller, who founded the band with vocalist Carla Hayden, has been encountering some intriguing, though positive feedback from audience members, usually based on some sort of comparison to a combination of recording artists or genres. Moeller and Hayden are also the freethinking brains behind Black Forest Theatre, and they approach drama and music with the same witty, imaginative spirit.

So it should be interesting to see what WhiteWolfSonicPrincess brews up for its The Devil and The Vixen Halloween Bash next Friday, October 29th. The party will be held from 7 to 10 PM at the Invision School for Psychics, which is located at 3340 N. Clark Street. In addition to the WWSP performance, there will be Psychic Readers, a costume contest, a DJ, dancing, and comedy. Individual admission is $20, $30 per couple.

And now, here’s another choice from last year’s 31 Songs For Halloween collection. I’m reposting some of the profiles for those who might not have seen them the first time around.

“My Girlfriend Is A Witch” by October Country is just one of the many cool audio artifacts to be found on the Rhino CD compilation, Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets: 1965-1968. Recorded in 1968 by a band that never found success beyond the West Coast, this is classic garage rock, with fun, spooky lyrics like, “Riding high/Leaving trails of smoke across the sky/On a broom/Glad that I am safe within my room.” In this case, having an other-worldly significant other doesn’t seem to have any ill effects, but it does inspire a bit of competition. “What a fate/A worshiper of magic for a day/But tonight I become a warlock just for spite.”

The song was written by record producer Michael Lloyd, who also provided lead vocals and some high-powered psychedelic guitar strumming, along with Marty Arsenault. Almost half of this catchy song is taken up by the musicians’ spirited jamming, which creates a live performance at a 1960s go-go club ambience. There’s no indication that the band took its name from Ray Bradbury’s collection of creepy short stories, The October Country. Instead, “My Girlfriend Is A Witch” has more of a 1960s TV theme feel. In fact, according to the book that comes with Where The Action Is, Lloyd recorded a second version in 1969 for the Saturday morning hillbilly feline cartoon series, The Cattanooga Cats.

Album Review: White Wolf Sonic Princess - This Car Available

photo from White Wolf Sonic Princess MySpace page

White Wolf Sonic Princess is comprised of Carla Hayden and Jimmy M., who also founded the avant garde theater group Black Forest some years ago. In live performances, they’re often backed by other musicians, but on This Car Available, a digital album for sale on iTunes, it’s pretty much Carla on vocals and percussion, and Jimmy on vocals, guitar, bass, and percussion. They drift through 13 indie rock songs like a couple of hipsters.

In many ways, White Wolf Sonic Princess is a natural progression from the duo’s theater group. In recent years, Black Forest’s shows have morphed into multi-media affairs that combine drama with live music and film. Even when you weren’t sure what was going on in a Black Forest production, Carla and Jimmy’s engaging stage presence and clever dialogue pulled you in. This Car Available likewise offers consistently fun and imaginative word play, usually set to slinky, sparse arrangements. Carla does most of the singing, affecting a seductive drawl on the title track, while crooning beautifully on the acoustic “Surfer Boy From Illinois,” which also features Bacchus Blue on harmonica. Jimmy sings lead on the funny “My Baby’s In The CIA” as well as the Hollywood satire “Elston Gunn Is Banished From Eden,” a song taken from a Black Forest play. “Behind Closed Eyes” is the most theatrical track on This Car Available, spinning spiritual imagery via Carla’s spoken word delivery and a jazz arrangement.

Carla Hayden and Jimmy M. can be seen at the Mary-Arrchie Theatre’s Abbie Hoffman Died For Our Sins Festival, as Black Forest presents its newest production, The Drugs, on Saturday, August 15th at 7:50PM and Sunday, August 16th, at 3:45PM.