Last year as a run for the album
The album “Jauni” by the group “Dzelzs vilks” was released at the end of last year, but it is being more seriously applied only now, when it is also released in a tangible format. “Jauni” is the group’s 15th studio album – the previous masterpiece of the “wolfs” studio “Perfect Tomorrow” was released in 2015, and in 2016 “Dzelzs vilks” released the group’s 25th anniversary selection “Songs on a full moon night. A selection of ¼ century”. The new album was created together with the studio producer Gati Zaķis, the author of the music and lyrics of all the songs is Juris Kaukulis, but of course the other “iron wolves” – Mārcis Judzis, Kaspars Tobis and Kārlis Alviķis – participated in the creation and recording of the musical fabric.
“The whole last year was like a run for this album – meeting with the producer, rehearsing, playing, writing, etc., but in the end we’re moving on. Consequently, a kind of “time before” and “time after” are formed: before – when you constantly worry whether everything will be okay, whether everything will work out, whether everything will be fine, and you wait for the moment when everything will end, and then it will be cool; after – when everything really turns out to be in order, the album is released, everything seems to be over, but then you realize how cool it really was when you ran to this album and lived through its creation,” thinks Juris Kaukulis.
When songs take on a life of their own
Two of the songs from the new album were already known to the listeners – “It’s not the end” (2019) became the title song of the movie “Class Reunion” and has been viewed more than half a million times on YouTube, while “Glaze” (2020) is now inseparable Part of the “Iron Wolf” concerts. However, others have also surprised their authors. “For example, we never expected that the song “You didn’t wait for the morning” would be such a success. Gatis Zaķis said – so what, let’s put this inside as well [albumā], Yes?! We ourselves thought that it could also be a song that will remain outside the album… We didn’t even think that it could be the first single, but we were late with the video for the song “Ir” (it came out only last week – author). At first we had a sleepy feeling about this song, but then we realized that it has been the most played song on radio stations for more than a month! It was an extremely pleasant surprise for us. Of course, we still don’t know how it will be when this and the other songs of the album meet people “live” – we will find out only now at the “Palladium”.
By the way, such miracles with “wolf” songs have also happened before. “For example, we played the song “Oranži mati” at concerts for at least a year – it was an ordinary concert song that no one paid much attention to, but then it started to be played on radio stations. And after a month, we realized that without this song, we will not play a single concert in the future. So there can be all kinds of things,” Juris spread his hands.
From minor to major keys
Many of the songs included in the album were initially heavier, but changed their sound by the time they got to the recording. “An example is “Doorbell”, which is a bit like a disco record,” says Juris. “A lot of the songs were re-experienced and re-experienced on the way to the album, but that’s always the case.”
The song ideas started to be collected three years ago or even earlier. “When it was the time of covid, I mostly lived at home, where I had a studio – everything was roaring there. I come from a rock, even metal background, I like to play something heavier, but the lyrics don’t go with it. But after a while I thought, maybe “wipe off” those heavy guitars, add a melody and play this song again, and – wow, it works! That’s how these songs are reborn,” thinks Kaukulis. The producer also contributed to these transformations. “We sat with Gati in the studio and he said that many of the songs are too dark. Then they were remade in happier tones. It already is – there is too much gloom in the world, so you can’t rely on the minor all the time, you also need the major tones. This is an album with more songs in major than ever before. By the way, the first “wolf” song in major was “Let me accompany you” – we never had any before! On the other hand, there are three or four of them in this album. It doesn’t change anything [“vilku” mūzikā]only at the level of feelings everything is more positive.”
Electronic devices are not a barrier to roughness
“The roughness of “Iron Wolf” has not disappeared anywhere, maybe this time it has also been added to some of Kaukulis’s electronic sound,” Juris Kaukulis promised before the release of the album, and it has come true. However, in general, the “Iron Wolf” album cannot be a failure at all, and it is not like that this time either. Already with the very first song “Jauni” you can feel that “some of Kaukulia’s electronic music” has really been added here, thus drawing parallels with other old masters of Latvian rock, the band “Pienvedējas adhanumumi”. Although in the case of “iron wolves” these “electronic untums” are more inconspicuous, but no less successful.
If Kaukulis’s “electronic noises” do not interfere, then his parallel work in various theater, cinema, etc. projects and in the “Jauno St. John’s Orchestra” does, because the music of the “wolves” also has mixed elements from his side steps. First of all, this can be said about “Tu negīdīji rītas” chosen for the third single – if it had a folk text, it would fit well into the repertoire of the “Jauno Jāņu orchestra”. The same is the case with the song “Ir”, which in turn could be offered for a movie.
The best song of the album is the title track “Jauni”, which contains all the essence of “wolves”: harsh and ominous guitar, gut-wrenching bass (Alviķis is clearly visible throughout the album), sample demonstrations of keyboard instruments, precise drum rhythm and, of course, also apt lyrics and Kaukulis’ masculine vocals. Appreciative words can also be said about “The doorbell”, still not tired of “It’s not the end yet”, besides the slightly theatrical “Ir”, the radio stations could also offer the song “Meitene birsta kā rītdiena”, but the reviewer was left speechless by “Jana” with the divine guitar motif – this already sounds like the good old days!
A productive year is expected. And yet – in the “wolf” sign
Even though the album has been released and will be celebrated soon, as the “wolves” themselves sing – it’s not the end, it’s not all! “We are also thinking about the next concerts – on April 1 we will play in Liepāja, at the “Fontaine Palace Club”, but a longer tour is planned for autumn – about four or five concerts in larger cultural places, where we will play the new material. City festival – no one expects you to play new songs, they want to hear pieces that everyone already knows by heart,” smiles Juris.
Along with the activity in the group “iron wolves”, they are also involved in various side projects from time to time – even the quietest “wolf” Kārlis Alviķis released a rather stylish song “Year of the Cat” with a video version of it in the style of the almost immortal “Communal Blues”. Juris Kaukulis is, of course, the most active in this field. During the pandemic, Juris started holding solo concerts, which gained great popularity, so the question arises, are the others not already looking askance at their leader, that he so often performs somewhere else? “Management hangs up [koncertu] dates, so that the main one is “wolf” and only after that is Juris Kaukulis,” states the musician modestly. “In addition, solo concerts are also often used as a catalyst for the wolves’ new songs, because they are the best way to see how the audience reacts to which of them.”
Juris has gone so far in his solo pursuits that he promises an album this year – some songs have already been recorded, and producer Gatis Zaķis is ready to work on the others as well. “He doesn’t even say it should be done [ierakstīt albumu], but they just ask when I will start doing it,” Kaukulis laughs. “I already have my regular listeners – the audience is also involved in solo concerts, the contacts are much more direct. I like to experiment with various new technologies at these concerts, you can also change the course of the song even in the middle of it, diversify the repertoire, etc.” Also, “Jauno Jāņu orchestra” is writing new material, and it is also planned to be released later this year, maybe even in autumn – Juris calls it “another side of himself”. And yet… “In spite of everything, this will be the year of the wolves. And the next one will also be the year of “wolves”. And next year and all the rest. Because “Iron Wolf” is “Iron Wolf”! There are four of us, and I am like a “wolf pap”, because I was the first and the only one left in this group [no sākotnējā sastāva]but we are all together anyway,” says Juris Kaukulis strictly.
