Iron Pier

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Wild Moth formed in the San Francisco Bay Area in the summer of 2011 when friends Austin Montanari (guitar and lead vocals), Carlos Salas (bass), and Cal Tung (drums) decided to start a new project. Initially conceived as a three-man lineup, they added guitarist Marc Leyda in early 2013 and later that year released their debut album, Over, Again on Asian Man Records.

Over, Again cemented the band's guitar-driven, post-punk sound and earned them local praise from SF Weekly’s Sam Lefebvre, who called them "one of the Bay Area’s most promising young post-punk bands." Lefebvre also noted that part of what makes Wild Moth unique is their willingness to depart from punk's conventional rhythms for a sound that is "more nuanced, structurally intricate, and melodic."

Inhibitor, their 2015 follow-up released on Iron Pier, keeps their trademark sound but treks further into progressive, post-punk territory with help from famed Bay Area producer and recording engineer Jack Shirley– known for his work with Deafheaven, Whirr, and the one-man black metal project, Botanist– with additional studio work by Mac Senna who's worked with Miserable and Commissure. The influence of both Shirley and Senna is apparent as Inhibitor moves away from the catchier sound of Over, Again in favor of darker textures and a pensive, almost jagged tone. Impose Magazine described the lead single, "Mirror," as a "deterrence from punk’s normal furies, replacing harshness with tonal melancholy and pleasantly morbid curiosity." And while these elements make Inhibitor a heavy, saturated record, its tonal gloom is offset with luscious melodies and thought-provoking lyrics.

While you can certainly hear the influence of bands like Isn’t Anything-era My Bloody Valentine, Hüsker Dü, and Mission to Burma, Wild Moth doesn’t imitate the post-punk or shoegaze sounds common to many young bands. By avoiding the rigidity of genre, they've developed their own style while upholding punk's ethos towards social consciousness. Their hard work and creative energy helped them become one of the major figures in the Bay Area DIY and punk scenes. What started as a bunch of friends playing for the thrill of it grew into a respected band that opens for indie darlings The Men, PC Worship, Perfect Pussy, Self-Defense Family, and Speedy Ortiz.

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