Wasted Wine
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Wasted Wine

Greenville, SC | Established. Jan 01, 2006 | INDIE

Greenville, SC | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2006
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"All Songs Considered: "Strangest of Eyes" Review"

Published March 5, 2015
by BOB BOILEN •
If you're attracted to the strange, then you must watch "The Strangest Eyes." The music video for this song, by Wasted Wine, feels like a bastard child of David Lynch and Nick Cave. There's humor, but damn it's dark.Wasted Wine is from Taylors, South Carolina. You can hear the southern drawl in the band's sound but there's also strands of Eastern European and Romani music and a taste of John Lennon's "Workingman's Hero." This song, "The Strangest Eyes," comes from an album called Wasted Wine vs. The Hypnosis Center. You can hear more of their eclectic dark and fun sound here. - NPR


"Wasted Wine - "Fall Upon Me" (video) (Premiere)"

Wasted Wine hails from South Carolina, but upon hearing the band’s darkly romantic music, one is transported not to the American South but rather to an imaginary Eastern European cabaret where wine is aplenty—far from wasted. Evoking the macabre hues of Matt Elliott and the Black Heart Procession, Wasted Wine’s minor key-centric songwriting is lush and enveloping, with the ability to fog one’s mind in shadows. This is plenty evident on “Fall Upon Me”, a track from the group’s forthcoming LP Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center. The song opens with a sensuous and foreboding violin intro, which then gives way to an intense chorus driven by distorted guitars. The video to “Fall Upon Me”, which you can watch exclusively below, only adds to the tune’s air of intrigue, with mysterious gazes and drawn guns creating an opaque narrative.

Frontman, violinist, and multi-instrumentalist Robert Gowan tells PopMatters, “‘Fall Upon Me’ is one of those songs that, no matter where we play it, people seem to be truly awestruck. When the chorus kicks in it washes over you and pushes you in deeper than you meant to go.” - Pop Matters


"Junior's Cave Music Interview with Indie Rock Band, Wasted Wine"


Sometimes we come across a band that certainly represents the rewards of being an indie performer. Making music on one’s own terms is a great selling point for any indie musician. Making great music is even better. Meet Wasted Wine who has created a hauntingly bizarre and interesting sound that easily sets them apart from the average indie bands currently out in the market today. If you are interested in something original, unique, and different, then Wasted Wine fits the bill perfectly. Here is their fascinating story we discovered from our online meeting.

Isaac: Music is so important to many cultures. Why is music important to you?

Robert: Music is important to me because it allows me to express myself and connect to others in a way that words can’t define. There’s a kind of obsessive, emotional build up that happens and it’s nice to be able release this while creating links with fellow musicians and listeners. With our music, I find it’s very much a love/hate kind of thing, so when we connect with people it usually in a big way. That always makes it very rewarding.

Isaac: What do you believe is the one element that makes your music, lyrics, and voice stand apart from others in the Indie Music Industry?

Robert: It’s hard to pick just one, but I’d go with form. Our lyrical and musical forms are unconventional from the typical music you’d find today. Sometimes, we’ll have two choruses; sometimes we’ll skip the chorus all together. Lyrically, we’ve been experimenting with a type of improvised lyrics where the sentiment and certain bigger ideas are always present, but the details change from show to show.

Isaac: If you have to name a few of your musical influences, who would they be and why?

Robert: As far as the songwriting is concerned, my biggest influence is Kurt Weill type “cabaret” mixed with Eastern European chord progressions and Middle Eastern melodies. Each band member then adds their own flare transforming those ideas into an even denser package. Buck for example is heavily influenced by Prog Rock Giants King Crimson and Gentle Giant, and that comes across and blends very well with our atypical musical forms.

Buck: King Crimson, Gentle Giant – because they were not afraid be true to their own vision even if it hindered their commercial success.



Isaac: What makes being an Indie Performer great in your opinion?

Robert: Being an indie performer is great because it allows us to write exactly what we want without having to change our music to fit some executives’ idea of “mainstream success”.

Isaac: What do you believe will it take for indie performers to gain the recognition as their mainstream counterparts?

Robert: The Internet has made it possible for indie performers to “make it”. Yet it still requires that people become willing to support and share in your successes. This can be difficult and it would take a more general shift in human nature. As Buck says:

Buck: People will need to learn to value and appreciate art and to celebrate the differences that exist between us as human beings.

Isaac: Why do you believe that mainstream radios are so reluctant to play indie music?

Buck: Because mainstream radio is a business and businesses are generally conservative. Their primary goal is to make money – not play music.

It takes time and effort to become familiar with new music. New music is challenging and can, on occasion, ask people to work harder than they are interested in working. Radio stations are aware that the average listener will simply change the channel if they are asked to step outside of their comfort zone. From the perspective of a commercial radio programmer, playing new, creative and innovative music is not a good commercial business model.

We have found Europe to be more progressive and open minded with regard to new (and new types of) music.

Isaac: What do you believe is the main reason why your music is creating a buzz in the Indie Music Scene?

Robert: Our music stands out because it is different. We’re different even among indie artists. People notice that and sometimes it works to our advantage.

Isaac: If you had an opportunity to work with anyone in the music business, who would it be and why?

Robert: I know this is cheating, but I actually have two. I’ve always felt that if we could be exposed to either Nick Cave, or Tom Waits’ audiences we’d be home free. Plus, I’m a big fan of both artists work.

Isaac: How would you describe your music to others who are not familiar with your band?

Buck: Great music!

Robert: Prog Rock mixed with Hungarian folk music.

Isaac: What are you currently working on at the moment with respect to your music?

Robert: We’re currently working on Wasted Wine’s 5th LP “Wasted Wine vs. The Hypnosis Center”. It’s such a monolith that we’ve been considering releasing it in two waves. Also, to accompany this, we’ve been filming music videos, and recording some covers to release. We als - Isaac J Davis Junior


"Greenville Indie Fest: Wasted Wine"

Wasted Wine writes music that is meant to speak to you. Dodging the traditional four piece set of some bands, Wasted Wine uses a combination of modern sounds and middle eastern instrumentation to create a world of creeping waltzes, cryptic messages, and spontaneous revelry.

The words aren’t predictable, the arrangements are surprising, and the atmosphere is undeniable. Violin notes string together, dancing with a trembling bass background , as the guitar loops in and out like a needle with thread, every note weaving together a pattern of clues. By staying away from the explicit, Wasted Wine achieves something more sublime. While you don’t always know what they’re saying, you always listen.

As the violin rips through from down high on the beginning seconds of “I Told You,” it’s hard not to. The reoccurring melody strikes at you like lightning several times throughout the song, pulling you in, while a foreboding distorted bass makes up the thunder that sets the storm into place, a backdrop for a tale of obsession and rejection. The lightning from on high returns at the end, but this time it is soft and distant, plucked instead of screamed. The storm has moved on.

The song “Fall Upon Me,” on the other hand, sees a slow pan of the surroundings during the opening credits before we get the meat. Soon enough, the storm clouds build again, however, and the main lyrics lurch into a moaning lament.

While the dark mood presented above is certainly there, the gang’s music is also a bit goofy, so if you’re looking for some serious meditations on life, look elsewhere. If you’re looking for something quirky and fun and original, though, Wasted Wine is your bag. Songs like the cover “Gin” especially show off this side, and project a different, more upbeat energy. Vague, strange, non sequiturs pervade the showy carnival sounds of the track, bringing a certain delightful charm to the song.

“Shoreline Seniorita” could be an existing American folksong if someone told you it was. Carving one’s own mark into the American landscape is an ambitious task, and while Wasted Wine probably isn’t attempting such a thing, the combined European influences that go into their music give them a certain authentic flavor.

If that is what they’re getting at. Let’s catch up with the band and find out.

*So how did Wasted Wine happen?

Wasted Wine started in 2006 born from opportunity and isolation. Adam and I ended up roommates, had sensibilities that fit, and didn’t have any outlet for music other than Coffee Underground where we played as an acoustic duo for around 3 years. Then, when Adam moved to NYC to pursue his doctorate, I took our existing material and formed the full band as it stands today.

*Where does the knowledge of your respective instruments come from? Are you classically trained?

I graduated from USC with a bachelor’s in music. Adam has some classical training but most of his experience comes from playing in Pentecostal/Charismatic churches. Buck Dollars is a punk guitar player from the obscure 80's group “The Beef People” (contemporary with Minor Threat), Lou Buckingham was a teenage folk star who went on to form the band “The Carbon Yard” who according to internet bloggers “invented grunge”. Judy Wong never played growing up, but she was a killer rock band (the video game) drummer once at this party. Things just fell into place.

*Storytelling is a very important aspect to your music. Is there any overall story being told, or is different from song to song? How about an overall theme?

With a few exceptions, I think we generally try to suggest stories rather than tell them. This is probably even more true in our new stuff, since we’ve been experimenting for a few years with “automatic” and improvised lyrics. We’re super conscious of themes on the album level, spend a lot of time talking about how the songs, sequencing, and sound of an album contribute to some overall effect.

*The new upcoming album especially has a kind of haunted forest feel. How does mystery play into what you do?

I don’t know about a haunted forest, but most of the material on this album was worked up in–and almost of all of it was recorded in–a huge old South Carolina house that Bucky and Lou bought and are fixing up. We’ve shot 4 different music videos in different parts of the house at this point, so I think it’s safe to say its atmosphere has a huge influence on our music.

It also has a kind of concrete and practical element of mystery: whenever you live or spend a lot of time in an old house, you’re really living with ghosts–not necessarily in the sense of malevolent spirits from horror movie, but in the sense that there were people who came before and did things before you. Some of those things affect you now whether or not you know exactly how.

The other big element of mystery, particularly on the upcoming album, comes from the human mind and body. We’ve been experimenting more heavily with improvised - wordkrapht Benjamin Rathbone


"Wasted Wine: “Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure”"

Is this music? Is it cinema or cabaret? Or are we at the local opera house? Well quite frankly, it’s all of those things.

Wasted Wine are a band of creative spirits who work their trade at 360° degrees. They are deliciously wicked and talented craftsmen who do not simply write conventional music, but more appropriately sculpture and forge it into aural cabaret pieces. “Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure”, is the band’s fifth album.

The album opens with “Perpetual Spirals,” an effulgent and macabre musical adaption, featuring intimate and arid vocal interchanges, accompanied by an elusive vibrato string arrangement and a music box sounding tone which could so easily have been played by horror movie director, John Carpenter. The track’s effectiveness is highly depended on it’s atmospheric ambiance which is so skillfully crafted by the band.

“10th Of October” and “Her Brother, He Gave Me Some Words To Remember” takes the band beyond it’s Southern Carolina borders, and into a myriad of influences. Drawing from their Eastern-European inspired melodies and use of Middle Eastern instruments. The band develop a 10-minute musical opus, filled with colorful textures, tempestuous moods and varied time signatures. Gowan’s sinister and grouchy vocal tonality is a perfect foil for the poignant modulation rendered by Murphy. If you could imagine Patti Smith and Tom Waits duetting, you could almost certainly start to hear what I’m talking about…now throw in a pinch of a hallucinatory Jim Morrison…

Wasted Wine stand miles above traditonal pop music forms and even though they may also use simple consolidated rock riffs and rythyms, as in the song “White As Snow” for example. They cannot be fully appraised and appreciated, using the same listening criteria as one would on the common 3-and-a-half-minute pop song.

Track after track, you get the sensation that the album resembles a dark muddy pit of quicksand that draws and drags you in slowly, but steadily.

The start of each new song is precise and decidedly evident, yet each subsequent ending seems to misteriously fade into oblivion, transforming itself into the following song almost indistinctly. A recurring sensation that had me restarting each track more than once, after apparently missing the introduction. Apparently…

On “Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure”, Wasted Wine deal out their picturesque storytelling and bravado role-playing, in the best of Troubador traditions. To individually analyse each track and song, would be a total injustice to this consumate work of eclectic art. Like separating and critizing each single frame taken from an epic movie. It is only when you have witnessed the complete works set before you, that you are able to fully grasp the magnitude and intention of it’s content. And so be it, with “”Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure”.

Save to say that without a doubt, on “Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure”, Wasted Wine present 11 tracks that are certain to capture the imagination of anybody with the slightest craving for an album not produced to the common vagaries of commerce.

Wasted Wine have produced an album that blatantly and overtly depicts compassion, anger, sorrow, humour and obsession in it’s most grotesque forms. All within a recorded project that has not succumbed to compromise or trepidation of any kind whatsoever.

The album itself, is a bold statement from this South Carolina band, amidst the almost total commercial drudgery offered by their contemporaries and peers alike. - Jamsphere: The Indie Music Magazine and Radio Network


"ALBUM REVIEW: Wasted Wine – Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure"

Wasted Wine’s Robert Gowan and Adam Murphy are no strangers to many purveyors of the Upstate music scene. What began as humble duo of traveling troubadours has evolved into a gypsy collective of iconoclasts, continually pushing their dark musical cabaret to its limits with the inclusion of bellydancers, circus folk, art exhibits and a variety of artistic mediums for the band’s live acts. I would not at all be surprised to find this band in the favor of Amanda Palmer or fans of her work, as the love for genuine theatric styles in both composition and performance seems to be lacking these days. For Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure, the band’s fifth album, Wasted Wine pulled out all the stops, delivering not only their best release to date, but one of the most finely crafted albums this year.

The album begins with “Perpetual Spirals,” a gloriously creepy yet simple introductory track, featuring Murphy’s light voice accompanied by subtle string arrangements and what sounds like a child’s antique music box. What makes this initial track so effective lies in it’s authentic ambiance. Murphy’s voice conveys a lost innocence, yet the music plays like a broken overture rather than set pieces to show off any sort of gimmicking aesthetics.

And this is what sets Wasted Wine apart in general. Each song features deliberate, careful orchestration. Few things come in as whimsical or loosely planned. Think of each note played as a textural brush stroke in a Van Gogh painting. Wasted Wine’s meticulous treatment towards how the music is composed, played, and arranged within each track resonates a certain focus, so that while some pieces stick out, there remains a cohesiveness to the whole work, a cohesiveness that easily feigns away any potential insult of “kitsch” or “gimmick” one might throw at other acts attempting such theatricality.

As the opener segues into “October 10th,” we find Wasted Wine’s European musical roots. The Roma leaning serves as a cool refresher in a time when it seems every upcoming independent act is simultaneously rediscovering Americana. However, the band doesn’t remain content replicating a proven formula, and begin to incorporate electric rock guitars and bass, performed by Robert “Buck Dollars” Buckingham and Lou Buckingham respectively, charging the song with an additional jolt.

The following ten minute opus “Her Brother, He Gave Me Some Word,” begins to unfold all of the cards on Wasted Wine’s table. More prominently do you hear the duality between Murphy and Gowan’s vocals, both of which are key players on the theatre stage set by the music. Murphy’s lighter vocals belie haunted innocence, a lightness, and a less sinister joviality at times whereas Gowan’s Tom Wait-esque performance portrays a dark, gruffer, more tarnished narrator, whose intentions could at times come off more sinister. Now neither of these voices are “parts” of any concept that I’m currently aware of, but something I certainly picked up while listening. Nor are these any sort of rule to go by as they both have their own moments on opposite sides of the coin. Generally, however, the dichotomy between the voices Murphy and Gowan seem expertly played out as these two magnetic forces.

As the album moves forward, a sort of pace becomes set that eases the listener into Wasted Wine’s style. It’s not repetition, exactly, but there is a melodic tone of sorts that seems to ghost in and out of the beginning of the album and carries the pace with it. A pace that the band shatters along with potential expectations in the fifth track, “White As Snow,” where the electric rock instruments command the forefront and add a thunderous symphonic ambiance.

From this point on, anything goes. Mixtures of the variation of styles, tempos, and themes are sprinkled throughout the remainder of the album, painting vibrant tapestries of characters caught in odd situations and great ballads of downtrodden men and women through misfortunate decisions. Childlike creepiness is touched upon once again with more thoroughness in “You, Instead,” and we get a full sing-song carnival in the tradition of the traveling bards of old in “Caroline.”

Played by true raconteurs, Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure richly offers up eleven tracks that are guaranteed to entertain and thrill those with an ear that yearn for misbegotten tales of scraggly vagrants, twisted streets, shattered lives, and broken dreams all wound together in a merry bunch of melodies in one digestible sitting. Though colorful as the cast of their album may be, none of them hold a candle to the raw storytelling talent of the tellers of tales themselves. Wasted Wine further prove themselves to be one of the great hidden treasure troves of not only Greenville, but South Carolina. Without a doubt, Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure is my favorite release so far this year, and upcoming releases have had the bar set considerably high.

Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure - We Are The Upstate - Review Written by Myles Griffin


"ALBUM REVIEW: Wasted Wine – Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure"

Wasted Wine’s Robert Gowan and Adam Murphy are no strangers to many purveyors of the Upstate music scene. What began as humble duo of traveling troubadours has evolved into a gypsy collective of iconoclasts, continually pushing their dark musical cabaret to its limits with the inclusion of bellydancers, circus folk, art exhibits and a variety of artistic mediums for the band’s live acts. I would not at all be surprised to find this band in the favor of Amanda Palmer or fans of her work, as the love for genuine theatric styles in both composition and performance seems to be lacking these days. For Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure, the band’s fifth album, Wasted Wine pulled out all the stops, delivering not only their best release to date, but one of the most finely crafted albums this year.

The album begins with “Perpetual Spirals,” a gloriously creepy yet simple introductory track, featuring Murphy’s light voice accompanied by subtle string arrangements and what sounds like a child’s antique music box. What makes this initial track so effective lies in it’s authentic ambiance. Murphy’s voice conveys a lost innocence, yet the music plays like a broken overture rather than set pieces to show off any sort of gimmicking aesthetics.

And this is what sets Wasted Wine apart in general. Each song features deliberate, careful orchestration. Few things come in as whimsical or loosely planned. Think of each note played as a textural brush stroke in a Van Gogh painting. Wasted Wine’s meticulous treatment towards how the music is composed, played, and arranged within each track resonates a certain focus, so that while some pieces stick out, there remains a cohesiveness to the whole work, a cohesiveness that easily feigns away any potential insult of “kitsch” or “gimmick” one might throw at other acts attempting such theatricality.

As the opener segues into “October 10th,” we find Wasted Wine’s European musical roots. The Roma leaning serves as a cool refresher in a time when it seems every upcoming independent act is simultaneously rediscovering Americana. However, the band doesn’t remain content replicating a proven formula, and begin to incorporate electric rock guitars and bass, performed by Robert “Buck Dollars” Buckingham and Lou Buckingham respectively, charging the song with an additional jolt.

The following ten minute opus “Her Brother, He Gave Me Some Word,” begins to unfold all of the cards on Wasted Wine’s table. More prominently do you hear the duality between Murphy and Gowan’s vocals, both of which are key players on the theatre stage set by the music. Murphy’s lighter vocals belie haunted innocence, a lightness, and a less sinister joviality at times whereas Gowan’s Tom Wait-esque performance portrays a dark, gruffer, more tarnished narrator, whose intentions could at times come off more sinister. Now neither of these voices are “parts” of any concept that I’m currently aware of, but something I certainly picked up while listening. Nor are these any sort of rule to go by as they both have their own moments on opposite sides of the coin. Generally, however, the dichotomy between the voices Murphy and Gowan seem expertly played out as these two magnetic forces.

As the album moves forward, a sort of pace becomes set that eases the listener into Wasted Wine’s style. It’s not repetition, exactly, but there is a melodic tone of sorts that seems to ghost in and out of the beginning of the album and carries the pace with it. A pace that the band shatters along with potential expectations in the fifth track, “White As Snow,” where the electric rock instruments command the forefront and add a thunderous symphonic ambiance.

From this point on, anything goes. Mixtures of the variation of styles, tempos, and themes are sprinkled throughout the remainder of the album, painting vibrant tapestries of characters caught in odd situations and great ballads of downtrodden men and women through misfortunate decisions. Childlike creepiness is touched upon once again with more thoroughness in “You, Instead,” and we get a full sing-song carnival in the tradition of the traveling bards of old in “Caroline.”

Played by true raconteurs, Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure richly offers up eleven tracks that are guaranteed to entertain and thrill those with an ear that yearn for misbegotten tales of scraggly vagrants, twisted streets, shattered lives, and broken dreams all wound together in a merry bunch of melodies in one digestible sitting. Though colorful as the cast of their album may be, none of them hold a candle to the raw storytelling talent of the tellers of tales themselves. Wasted Wine further prove themselves to be one of the great hidden treasure troves of not only Greenville, but South Carolina. Without a doubt, Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure is my favorite release so far this year, and upcoming releases have had the bar set considerably high.

Perpetual Spirals of Power & Pleasure - We Are The Upstate - Review Written by Myles Griffin


"Wasted Wine Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center"

Wasted Wine
Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center

February 17, 2015
Bear Kids Recordings
Wasted Wine’s sound has changed over the years and remains hard to classify. Much of their work shows the influence of frontman Robert Gowan’s classical background (especially his fondness for Bela Bartok and Kurt Weill) and co-founder Adam Murphy’s lifelong fascination with 1970s continental progressive rock obscurities (Ange, Alusa Fallax, Malicorne, Celeste), as well as a resolutely homemade, DIY approach to recording. Elements of doom metal, mid-century country music, psychedelia, hip-hop, and film music have made regular appearances. Songs often feature Eastern European and Middle Eastern style melodies and harmonies, unpredictable arrangements, and cryptic lyrics delivered in theatrical style. Listeners have used terms like “gypsy” and “cabaret” to describe the sound, while some writers have invoked artists such as The Decemberists, Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, or even Gogol Bordello.
Wasted Wine is a band based in Taylors, South Carolina. Originally established in 2006 as an acoustic “chamber folk” duo, the band has expanded over the years, picking up new members and performers. In the beginning, Robert Gowan and Adam Murphy wrote and performed hundreds of sparse, intricately arranged songs in coffee shops and small listening rooms in the Greenville, SC area. In sharp contrast to the guitar-slinging singer-songwriters that usually inhabited such spaces, the typical Wasted Wine show in this era found the two members lost on stage amidst a sea of nonstandard acoustic instruments–harmonium, bouzouki, bulbal tarang, nose flute, tuned wine glasses, glockenspiel, and percussion. Eventually, spurred by a desire to move beyond the folk scene, Wasted Wine took the next step, inviting other members in to play and help realize the increasingly elaborate sound that Gowan and Murphy had been honing through years of multi-tracked home recording. Wasted Wine never abandoned its founders’ love for acoustic instruments, though, and began using the 3-piece rock band format as a new, harder-edged foundation for the duo’s instrument-hopping proclivities.
Sometime in the late 2000s, Gowan and Murphy found their first long-term sympathetic musical collaborators in guitarist Buck Dollars and bassist/vocalist Lou Buckingham. Originally another folk duo in the same vein as Gowan and Murphy but with backgrounds in punk and alternative rock scenes, the new members brought a new strength to the group’s sound. Dollars himself became a kind of mascot for the band, typically appearing in extravagant thrift-store garb with a signature hat displaying a dollar sign made from shredded money. After frustration with the conventional sensibilities of area drummers, the band found its first long-term percussionist in Judy Wong, a previous non-musician who under the bands’ direction proved a capable, creative compliment to the group’s peculiar sound.
Major changes occurred when Murphy moved to New York City in late 2009, prompting Gowan to take the lead as the band’s sole front man. Behind the scenes, though, the two founders continued to collaborate long-distance at the same prolific rate that characterized their early days, adding to an enormous backlog of songs and home recordings that continue to trickle out in the band’s repertoire and on albums and mixtapes (the group has a long history of releasing loosely-assembled, freely available compilations of non-album material, the most recent of which is The Earth Rejects Creation 3, released Halloween 2014). Murphy continued to perform occasionally with the band and joined Gowan, Dollars, Buckingham, and Wong for the sessions that eventually produced 2014’s Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center. Shortly after recording finished, Wong departed and was replaced by current drummer Tim DeLisle.
In its current incarnation, the band consists of front man/violinist/multi-instrumentalist Robert Gowan, guitarist Buck Dollars, bassist Lou Buckingham, and drummer Tim DeLisle, with occasional appearances by wayward vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Adam Murphy. Live, the band is often accompanied by Discordia Arts, who add theatrics, dance, fire, and more. Wasted Wine has performed extensively in and around the Greenville, SC tristate area (GA, NC, SC) and various venues up and down the east-coast. Self-recorded and prolific, the band present a deeply unique sound that resists categorization. - Noisy Ghost


"Notes from Left of the Dial: Wasted Wine and more"

In Notes from Left of the Dial this week, I take a look at some songs and videos from Wasted Wine, Jasia, Elephant Stone and Hidden in the Sun. Whether you're in the mood for offbeat chamber folk rhythms or a bit of psych rock density or even some beat-driven electronic experimentation, the songs this week will have something to sate any and all of your post-Thanksgiving musical needs. What have you been listening to this week?
Wasted Wine, "The Post Office"
South Carolina cabaret pop outfit Wasted Wine is set to release their new record, "Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center," Feb. 17 via Bear Kids Recordings. Over the past few years, the band's sound has shifted from the traditional sounds of a chamber folk duo to the ever-widening inclusion of instruments such as the harmonium, bouzouki, bulbal tarang and nose flute—but even these rhythmic indicators scarcely touch the surface of the music that Wasted Wine has concocted on their latest offering. Full of traipsing melodies and oddly memorable patterns, these songs move about in whirling loops of Eastern European and Middle Eastern musical histories.
On their new single, "The Post Office," the group leads off with a rather pointed mission statement of how far they've come as a band since their inception in 2006. They've managed to keep the delicate chamber folk nuances, but their sound has grown and found within itself a sense of purpose and resolute determination. This track bears no small resemblance to artists like Tom Waits and The Decemberists—other musicians with a predilection toward the verbose and an unconventional creativity. Full of fractured waltzes and shifting musical allegiances, "The Post Office" gives the band the chance to show off their often-puzzling and rather compelling aural antiquity. - nooga.com


"UTG VIDEO PREMIERE: WASTED WINE – “THE POST OFFICE”"

Fridays are typically slow days for music news, but thanks to our friends in Wasted Wine today is actually quite exciting. The band, which hails from South Carolina, has partnered with UTG to share the world premiere of their latest music.

“The Post Office” is the first song off Wasted Wine’s upcoming 2015 release, Wasted Wine vs the Hypnosis Center. It’s a hypnotic track that boasts a unique sound which brings to mind images that can best be described as a Russian circus taking place in a seedy cowboy bar. It’s undeniably unique and incredibly well composed. You can view the video, which fittingly includes plenty of drinking, below: - Under the Gun Review


"Getting ready for 2015 part 4: Wasted Wine"

I must confess that these guys were new to new to me, but the seven-minute epic ‘The Post Office’ manages to combine US angst with gypsy and East European mystery, and then coda with a piano interlude which comes from nowhere. All of which makes their forthcoming album Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center, due out in February 2015, a rather exciting proposition.

The band have evolved since their inception in 2006, but they are currently Robert Gowan (front man/violinist/multi-instrumentalist); guitarist Buck Dollars (guitar NB this *MAY* not be his real name); Lou Buckingham (bass), and Tim DeLisle (drums). There are ‘occasional appearances by wayward vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Adam Murphy and most impressively, live the band is often accompanied by Discordia Arts, who add theatrics, dance, and fire. Presumably South Carolina has less stringest Health & Safety Nazis than we have in the British Isles.

The tracklisting for the album Wasted Wine vs. the Hypnosis Center is as follows:

1. [Instructions]
2. Fall Upon Me
3. Shoreline Senorita
4. The Strangest of Eyes
5. The Post Office
6. MFR
7. (Shoreline Again)
8. The Bourgeoisie
9. I Told You
10. Heaven
11. (& Etcetera) - 17 SECONDS …A MEASURE OF LIFE


"Wasted Wine Wasted Wine Vs. The Hypnosis Center (Bear Kids Recordings)"

At first listen it’s tempting to categorize Wasted Wine along with all other baroque pop bands. They’ve got the harrowing accordion, booming minimal waltz percussion, and a dominant Balkan-inspired string section. They’ve got lead vocals that range in style, from a Tom Waits bark to a Honus Honus croon to a clear, Colin Meloy-style storytelling voice. They’ve got Brechtian storylines to boot, ghoulish drinking songs about drug addictions, murderous lovers and broken gutter-dreams. They use all this well, and this album is an engrossing transport to a world sinister and fantastic.

However, it’s around the edges that this New York outfit (originally from Taylors, SC) sets themselves apart from their analogs with Wasted Wine Vs. The Hypnosis Center. The album opens with a monotone recording under a ticking clock sound that begins a hypnosis storyline, situating the album as a trip inside of an entranced mind. The tracks are permeated with noisy dream interludes of spooky mind-control messaging, providing a unique grounding for the familiar baroque themes.

This album shines in its meticulous construction. The backing instrumentation is subtly composed, featuring intricate bell lines, expertly played theremin and vexing musical saw, all accompanied by some of the most tasteful accordion in the genre. Whenever you think you’ve figured out the musical parameters, something proves you wrong. Opener “Fall On Me” begins with a forlorn violin duet, only to turn into singsong minuet that settles, then explodes out of nowhere into a wailing guitar crescendo. Comic break “MFR” provides a full tone shift with catchy lyrics and satisfying folk guitar. Late album standout “I Told You” transitions from an accordion-led verse into a merciless prog rock guitar chorus, only to dissolve into washy guitar and staccato violin. Listeners quickly learn that any attempt to predict is futile.

Wasted Wine Vs. The Hypnosis Center strikes an improbable balance, managing to be always daring yet rarely garish. Lyrically compelling and subtly genre defying, I recommend it to anyone willing to dive into its world.

In A Word: Engrossing

—by Brian Walter, March 10, 2015 - The Aquarian Weekly


"Best Local Album: "Wasted Wine vs. The Hypnosis Center""

12/25/15 - Not only is this the best album by an Upstate band in 2015, it's really unlike anything I've ever heard [...] I've always said that the best albums create their own little world that you're immersed in for awhile; Wasted Wine created an unsettling, compelling, infectiously melodic fever dream that I didn't want to wake up from. - The Greenville Journal


"DragonCon 2016 Performers"

Please see link for description. - DragonCon


Discography

Wasted Wine vs the Hypnosis Center (2015)
Perpetual Spirals of Power and Pleasure (2011)
Tomorrow Shall Be As Today (2009)
The Earth Rejects Creation Part II (2008)
And When You Wake Up (2007)

Photos

Bio

Wasted Wine is a psychedelic gypsy rock band from South Carolina, formed in 2006. Their high energy live performances are filled with theatrics and audience interactions. Their steady musical output has earned attention from regional and national media outlets, with their latest release, "Wasted vs. The Hypnosis Center" being featured on NPR's All Songs Considered

Wasted Wine has performed extensively in the Southeast.. The band consists of front man/violinist Robert Gowan, co-writer and keyboardist Adam Murphy, guitarist Buck Dollars, bassist Lou Buckingham, drummer Jaron Ferrer, and vocalist Kira Bursky.

Band Members