by Sosefina Fuamoli / photo by Eletrum Photography
Alpha Wolf have had a lot to roar about. A year on from the release of their huge third album, Half Living Things, the Melbourne-based metalcore group have been able to take a much needed breath; following on from one of their busiest years as a touring band.
This is a band that has developed a fiercely loyal following in Australia since their debut album Mono arrived in 2017. In the years that have followed, Alpha Wolf have earned their stripes internationally, touring consistently throughout the larger markets of Europe, North America and the UK, while also determining a space for their music in less-travelled territories including Asia, and New Zealand.
To chart the growth of this band, it pays to listen to the evolution of the Alpha Wolf sound. Music that crushes while also showcases a sharp emotional intelligence can be found embedded in each breakdown and rhythmic rumble.
Specifically with Half Living Things, Alpha Wolf engaged with some of their tightest and most entertaining music to date, without compromising their authenticity or central sonic vision.
The record reaffirmed to Alpha Wolf the type of band they are and the direction they want to keep exploring.
“As long as what we’re writing is authentic, that’s all that matters,” guitarist Sabian Lynch says.
“We found that, a couple of albums ago, as soon as we just left it on the floor and made it as authentic as possible, that’s what worked. We didn’t need to copy any successful strategies, we’ve just always done us. We’ve seen success in us, so we’re going to keep doing that.”
Sitting with Lynch and fellow guitarist Scottie Simpson, we catch the musicians at the end of a planned period of downtime; four months spent recuperating and reconnecting with family and loved ones at home over the Australian summer.
Though for some, this much time off can feel like withdrawal, it has been necessary for Alpha Wolf to dedicate time to regenerating and charting their next creative arc.
This year will see the band back on the road not only in Australia, but North America once more, where they will tour with a mammoth lineup featuring Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, Beartooth, I Prevail and more. These opportunities are ones the band doesn’t take for granted, though they do recognise the position they have now found themselves after spending years grinding it out as a touring band.
Says Simpson, “We had our busiest year ever last year, and then we had about four months off. We’ve had time to reflect, but it’s been crazy. We’ve been non-stop for three or four years, so to have four months off has been wild.”
“We feel very lucky, in that we get to choose what we do now,” Lynch explains. “We chose to have this time off that we’ve just had, because we’ve been so full on lately. With touring, we love to make sure everything gets done and everyone is looked after; everyone will get to see us play, and we have fun along the way.”
“I think it [touring] feels more normal than being at home sometimes, for me,” Simpson adds. “It’s easier to be in that flow, sometimes, than the home flow. But there’s a happy balance somewhere in there…I’m just not sure I’ve found it yet.”
Choosing their own adventure has been part of the Alpha Wolf ethos for many years now. While their career as recording artists has brought them to international acclaim and has elevated them to new levels of profile at home in Australia, they’ve also been conscious of the wave of artists coming up around and underneath them, and how important it is to champion such a community where they can.
With this in mind, the band’s curated festival - CVLTFEST - was born; a way to spotlight the bands that they love, see the potential in, and want to put on radars for Australian audiences, the event has solidified Alpha Wolf as one of the country’s most important heavy bands.
Its growth in the years post-COVID also speaks to the band’s own diversity in sound and influence, with bands like Crossfaith, Emmure, Paledusk, Diamond Construct and more fleshing out the festival bills.
CVLTFEST (Photo by Third Eye Visuals
The band spurns the notion of being pigeon-holed, instead wanting to follow sounds and different ideas wherever they may take them. Such a mindset ultimately leads to a stronger chemistry within the band and for the fans, an electrifying live experience.
“[In our catalogue] we have the staple songs, then there are songs that are more out of the box; the ones that are always pushing boundaries. That’s where we’ll always be,” Simpson says.
“We know what we’re good at, we’ve very good at being a heavy band. But we’re also good at expanding, and seeing how far it can go outside of just being “a heavy band”. I do think that a cool thing about us is that we can fit on a lot of cool lineups. We don’t have to just play with heavy bands.
We just did a US tour with Dayseeker, which is hardly a heavy band anymore; they definitely have heavy sections, but their fanbase is a lot different, and we still fit in really well. People might call us a 'token metalcore band' but it’s like, we can fit into different boxes, which is cool.”
The band’s rapport with American audiences is one that the guitarists are proud of, and are looking forward to expanding on in the near future.
Knocking off bucket list achievements including sold out shows, headline tours and even a Grammy nomination in 2024 (the Half Living Things boxset was nominated in the “Best Box or Special Limited Edition Package” category, alongside releases by Nirvana, John Lennon and others), Alpha Wolf’s return to North America feels less foreign, more like a mini-homecoming.
“I remember the first time we went there it felt like, “Damn, we’ve made it. We’re going to America.” It still feels like that,” Simpson says.
“Every time we go back, it feels like home. I don’t know if we got lucky in the sense of Americans just really connecting with the music. I love playing there, it’s like playing at home for us. I don’t know what we did to deserve that, but I’m very happy it worked out.
I think they [American audiences] also respect that we have come a long way. There is a part of that where the crowds do realise that. It seems that with a lot of the new wave of Australian bands, they all have that respect either from American bands or fans, or just American people in general. A lot of us get respect because they realise it’s not easy to come to their country.”
“Our team said we skipped a couple of steps,” Lynch adds. “The fanbase just stuck, the moment we first touched down. Every tour we’ve done has been better than the last; getting to headline across North America last year and selling out shows…that was crazy.”
While new music and performances are already in the pipeline, being formed and planned, Alpha Wolf continue to stoke those flames of inspiration for themselves. For Simpson and Lynch, their sidequest in developing their own pedal – ‘The Noise’ – has turned into a much bigger project than either had originally anticipated.
To mark the one year anniversary of Half Living Things, Alpha Wolf and Tallon Electric have announced a new edition release of the pedal, which is already expected to fly.
As Simpson says, creating a pedal was initially something they did out of necessity; not as a new hustle.
“In my brain, it wasn’t part of the plan to begin with, It just happened. The idea for the pedal came because we needed it. It didn’t exist. We had a way of creating “the noise”, as it’s called…we had a way of creating it that isn’t easy, it’s not technically possible live.
We knew that if we were going to do it, it had to be done well and properly. We found Tallon, the company who made the pedal, and got along really well with the guys who work there. They nailed the vision we told them we wanted.”
“I think they hated our vision at the beginning,” Lynch laughs. “We were telling them to make it sound as fucked up as possible. They were trying to put in all these safety measures and we’re like, “Nope, no safety measures. Make it brutal, make it fucked!” We heard it for the first time, and it was perfect.
They gave us this really dodgy version of the pedal to hear it for the first time live and we loved it instantly. We put it on our pedal board mid-tour and they freaked out, like it wasn’t ready for a live show. We were like, “We need it now! It sounds so good, we’re gonna use it,” and they just freaked out that we were using a prototype model on tour. But it worked, and it was sick.”
The popularity of the pedal has further connected Alpha Wolf with music lovers, while connections to bands such as Korn have brought “The Noise” to some of their idols and fellow musicians.
“I remember us talking about it before it came out like, “This could either go really well, or no one is going to care,”” Simpson says. “If it went badly, then we have it and I’ve always wanted it. But it went really well, it shocked all of us, so we started reaching out to our friends. Somehow, it’s gotten to people who have inspired the build of the pedal! Now they have one. How did that happen?!
“It goes back to our whole ethos as a band,” he adds. “We needed it and it was something we wanted to do.”
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Alpha Wolf is set to join Beartooth, I Prevail, Parkway Drive, Killswitch Engage, The Amity Affliction, The Devil Wears Prada and more on the mammoth 2025 Summer of Loud Tour across North America. The run begins in June and extends through the end of July.
See a complete list of dates and cities below. Get tickets - HERE
SUMMER OF LOUD TOUR
6/21 — West Palm Beach, FL — iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre
6/22 — Tampa, FL — MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre
6/24 — Atlanta, GA — Lakewood Amphitheatre
6/26 — Dallas, TX — Dos Equis Pavillion
6/27 — Austin, TX — Germania Insurance Amphitheater
6/28 — Houston, TX _ The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
7/1 — Phoenix, AZ — Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre
7/2 — San Diego, CA — Gallagher Square at Petco Park
7/5 — Irvine, CA — Great Park Live
7/6 — Concord, CA — Toyota Pavilion at Concord
7/8 — Salt Lake City, UT — Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
7/9 — Denver, CO — The JunkYard
7/11 — Somerset, WI — Somerset Amphitheater
7/12 — Green Bay, WI — Capital Credit Union Park
7/13 — Tinley Park, IL — Credit Union 1 Amphitheatre
7/15 — Toronto, ON — Budweiser Stage
7/16 — Clarkston, MI — Pine Knob Music Theatre
7/18 — Mansfield, OH — Inkcarceration*
7/19 — York, PA — York State Fair*
7/20 — Wantagh, NY — Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
7/22 — Mansfield, MA — Xfinity Center
7/23 — Camden, NJ — Freedom Mortgage Pavilion
7/24 — Holmdel, NJ — PNC Bank Arts Center
7/26 — Bristow, VA — Jiffy Lube Live
7/27 — Charlotte, NC — PNC Music Pavilion
*Festival
