The Shikes is an American band and a brainchild of Austin, Texas based musician Dave Wirth. Wirth is known for his work as a film composer, producer and writer, in addition to his work across many different spectrums of music. Today we take a listen to The Shikes’ recently released mini-album, Aggression, as well as share our interview with the exceptional Dave Wirth!

Aggression features songs that contain tasteful use of synthesizer and plenty of pop sensibility. The album kicks off with “It’s Gone A Spring Song”, which displays some very strong noise pop in both its intro and outro; this reminds me of the kind of stuff No Age is known for. When it comes to the track’s vocal mixing, expert use of delay and perhaps a bit of distortion makes the vocals feel somewhat otherworldly, though the lyrics are certainly of this Earth, making for an interesting combination that enhances the melody and kept this song kicking around my head for a few days after initially listening.

Next up is “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do”. This track has an exceptionally bright and airy sound quality to it, really displaying an incredible and entertaining mixture of synth and pop work that is easily enjoyable. That said, the lyrics hold darker overtones involving fear and exploitation, giving this song unique contrasting elements that, while making the song darker in nature than at first glance, give it all the more appeal once you read in between the lines.

“Trouble In The Height Of Spring” is up third, closing out Aggression. In terms of pop masterpieces, this track feels as though it was written to be one, truly capturing a dreamy use of synthesizer while also coming through like a masterclass in melody. As the track progresses, more noise pop elements come through, distorting its initially airy nature, begging the question: is this more a dream or nightmare? The lyrics manage to match the mysterious dark nature that begins to seep through as well. This dark/noise pop approach is delightful and easily found throughout Aggression in a few different forms, really encouraging you to listen close to the lyrics being sang while enjoying the synth-y ride.

Now let’s jump into the interview with Dave Wirth!

Dave Wirth, mastermind behind The Shikes and Aggression

Thank you for being with us today!

"Very happy to be here! Thank you."

I am completely unfamiliar with the word "Shike" is. Can you tell us how you got your name and what it means?

"Heh, that's funny. I haven't thought of that in years. Originally, I just liked how explosive the sound was. I thought it was super intense and it fit the music really well. After doing a bit of research, the word 'Shike' could also be short for 'Shikker,' which is a slang word used in in Australia at around 1910 or so that means drunkard. It's really anybody's guess."

Can you share some of your influences and how their sounds find their way into your music?

"I guess Belle and Sebastian was a big one for this record. I was definitely fascinated with how poppy their music can sound and how dark the lyrics were. I wondered if I could do that, so I really dug into that idea. The music ended up turning out quite a bit different of course, and that's okay."

Your music seems to have a lot of moving parts in terms of its instrumentation, weaving some complex textures. Would you mind walking us through your writing process?

"A friend of mine had this amazing Gibson hollow body guitar from the 1940's, and he graciously allowed me to take it home and write with it. Songs kinda came out of the guitar without me intending to. I often like to record something really simple and then mess it up later by replacing the simple part with something more intense. All of the songs started with the one Gibson hollow body, and from there it came together. Then it was years of me tinkering, putting the right sounds here and there, remixing it and making it sound interesting to my ears."

How has the COVID-19 pandemic had an effect on your band? Do you have any upcoming plans to stream live performances or anything in the works for after the pandemic subsides?

"COVID19 hasn't been too big a deal for me. Since I don't really perform (I love being in the studio far more), it didn't cramp on my style. If anything, COVID19 gave me a chance to release this record, which btw, these songs were written in 2004, recorded in 2004 or so, mixed in 2013, and then I did the remastering of it in 2020. And, no plans for live streaming! Maybe if people really wanted to see me perform, but I'm very happy just releasing records and calling it a day."

Your new mini-album "Aggression" mixes noise pop elements with some really synthesizer, which combined reminds me of some of my favorite bands like The Postal Service, No Age and Say Hi. What were your goals when writing and recording this album? How do you feel you achieved them?

"Oh wow, I haven't checked out those bands! Now I have to! My only goal when writing, recording, anything, is to use the tools to create a song that lives on it's own. All I want to feel when it's done is that it feels mysterious, out there, and it's a bit like a beast looking back at me. I think Paul Klee once said that he knew when a painting was done by whether or not it looked back at him. If a song lives and breathes on it's own, I'm happy."

Is there anything else you'd like our readers to know?

"One thing: Support the blog owner. Donate to him. Advertise on his site. He's a good guy."

Thank you so much for your time!

After our interview with Dave Wirth, many elements of this mini-album become a bit more clear. For me, at its core, Aggression is a display of duality; its sounds are mostly innocent, bright, airy and simply an absolute delight to listen to while the lyrics come from a somewhat darker place that make you think and those moments when the music shifts are absolutely incredible. It is through this duality that we find true art in this album from a dedicated and skilled artist. Check out Aggression on Bandcamp (also embedded below), The Shikes’ website and Distrokid. You can also learn more about Dave Wirth and his many projects through his website. Thank you for reading!

The Shikes – Aggression – EP Review

Dave Wirth, my man, you have certainly kept us all guessing as to what the heck it is you’re gonna do next over the years, and every time we run into your music again, you’ve completely gone & thrown yourself into a whole new dimension of your art, and all of us out here listening for a loop in the process!  You beautiful man you – surprise is easily one of the best things about music bar-none to begin with, but Wirth good sir, you always seem to find a way to take it to the limits and do a full 180-degree turn around from what we think we might know, and stun is all over again with something entirely new & unique, totally different from anything we’ve heard from ya before.  That’s a true gift folks.

Mind you, we don’t cross paths nearly enough to ever truly keep me satisfied – I will ALWAYS want MORE from this brilliant musical-mind…but I’m also certainly mighty thankful whenever this dude shows up with new tunes, and that this shape-shifter continues to excel in his craft overall, no matter what moniker he’s choosing to go by these days.  Amazing how time flies and how much can change in that same span – I originally met Dave through an interview across the internet for his old band Sprightly Moans, published here on our site back on Christmas of 2013.  How is it even possible it was that long ago already?  Incredible.  I probably had a whole lot less grey in my beard back then, but alas, surely still had this face made for radio attached to my neck as well.  Anyhow!  The history between us continued on throughout the years – I reviewed the Sprightly Moans Demos III EP long ago – and to be truthful, it still carries one of my absolute favorite songs he’s ever written, a balled called “Love Is Nothing Without Eternity.”  It’s a song so etched into my brain & heart that I can recall its melody any time I choose to; that’s pulling it all the way back from seven years ago, from March of 2014 when I reviewed Demos III.

Then the dude seemed to disappear for a moment or two there.  Though I’d continue to celebrate this guy’s incredible music through the SBS Podcast when it was being redesigned in 2016, it still wasn’t until the next year afterwards that we’d hear from Dave again with some new tunes in 2017 after being away from us for nearly four years!  He came back inspired with a totally different direction than we’d heard him from the Sprightly Moans stuff, and dropped a sweet set of instrumental tunes on his self-titled album Flutters at the beginning of January, before lighting-up the amplifiers for a quick two-song EP called The Big Heavy towards the end of 2017 while he was still rocking under his own name solo.  And then dammit, wouldn’t you know it – somehow, someway, this guy managed to hide himself away for yet another nearly four years from us.  It’s a lot of history that’s actually packed into a fairly compressed amount of time…you know how it goes out there music-scene, you strike while the iron is hot, as they say, and when that inspiration hits, let’s be real here – that’s exactly when you’re all (well, SOME of you) out there doin’ your thing and being the most active on your pages & promo & whatnot.  It’s only natural that some time is gonna pass between us all between this time & the next whenever we cross paths with any of you…but I dunnnnnnno Daver – I might just have to declare that four years is four too long after hearing this new EP by The Shikes.

This is madness.  This is chaos.  This is freakin’ SPARTA in the form of audibly digitalized mayhem!

And it WILL be a battle for many…at least to start.  Don’t panic!  You are going to feel like you’ve been strapped in for a ride you’re not ready for as “It’s Gone A Spring Song” starts…and that’s okay, it’s gonna be natural to feel that way, be cool man-dude/lady-friend, be cool.  Just breathe through it, hold a yoga pose, or do whatever you gotta do to calm yourself from imploding, because if you miss out on the savage badassery of this song kickin’ in once you get past the sheer insanity of its Technicolor intro, you’re only doing your own ears a disservice & nothing more.  I’m not even remotely kidding about the jarring effect the very beginning will have on ALL of you…that’s RIGHT, I said ALL, as in EACH and EVERY last one of you out there listening – you will be shocked at the amount of sound coming through your speakers when you push play on “It’s Gone A Spring Song.”  As I mentioned earlier, this beard of mine’s got plenty of grey in it these days now…I’ve been around for a while, and heard a record or two throughout that time…and there are few that I could name, if any, that’ll punch your brain so squarely as this will straight away.  It’s so akin to that feeling you get when you’re walking out of a movie theater (remember those?) in the middle of the afternoon sun & squinting & trying your best to simply focus in on your way forward – “It’s Gone A Spring Song” will attempt to completely blind your ears in the same way through an intentional onslaught & overload of sensory sound that WILL take you a spin or two to adjust to, and that’s completely by design.  The Shikes draw an audible sand instantly with this first cut and how it’s revealed – you’ve either got the stones to be able to hang with this level of intensity and all-out madness in music, or ya don’t – and I suspect there’s no one out there that knows where that line is better than Dave, nor anyone so willing to cross it into a new realm of their own innovative creativity.   Assuming you SURVIVE the first twenty five seconds without your best friends trying to snuggle you into a nice new white coat with very suspiciously long sleeves – you should in theory, find the rest to follow equally mind-blowing, just for a whole set of different reasons is all.  Heading right into a barrage of gripping Indie-Folk/Alt-Rock – “It’s Gone A Spring Song” starts ripping along with the subtle intensity of the Foos when they’re right in the thick of the melody, or later in in the chilled grooves of QOTSA, and with all the electrifying rawness & realness that both bands put into the earlier tunes of their career.  From the enormity of the drums, to the stellar harmonies that show up, to the incredible way that Wirth sings this song – everything stacks up to a vicious win through powerfully wicked sound coming atcha mercilessly from its very beginning to its amped-up final moments.  If it seems like I’m going on forever about this first tune it’s because the effort & uniqueness warrant the words – this is how you CRUSH an opening and make an experience 100% memorable in just about every conceivable way I can think of.

<a href="https://firefireredstardown.bandcamp.com/album/aggression">Aggression by The Shikes</a>

“Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do.”  “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV.”  See Dave?  I can do it too bro.

Okay – to be fair, he’s not exactly trying to perform a cognitive test here, so much as just come up with a clever title to represent this 1984-tinged second tune of three on The Shikes Aggression EP.  I absolutely LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this song.  Admittedly, Dave doesn’t punch us so hard in the face on our way in through the door of this cut, allowing a much more subtle groove to guide him along while he demonstrates a mastery of melody & his well-crafted, multi-layered, poetic lyricism.  In the words of “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” is where you’ll find no quarter is spared or punches are pulled; his lyrics may be short, they may be brief, but make no mistake, what he’s written here is highly effective and the way what he sings will cling to your bones afterwards only proves just how much of an impact The Shikes make with this track.  Ultimately, this is one devious little tune that packs in a ton of thought-provoking words into the short span of less-than three minutes of time…and it’s addictive melody & chorus is likely one you’ll be shocked to find yourself singing later on around the house.  It’s oddly uplifting, which is probably a direct correlation resulting from it sounding so damn good, but the further you dig into the words, the more grittiness you’ll find darkening the sunshiny sound below the surface.  Wildly interpretive as well – chances are, listeners are going to come to all kinds of conclusions as to what this song is really all about, but at the same time, there’s no denying how much they’ll love it even if they don’t fully understand it, or even attempt to.  The Shikes give you the opportunity to sing along here; whether you want to grapple with the full weight of WHAT you’re singing about, remains your choice as it always does.  If you ask me, “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” reminds me a ton of Beirut from right around the…what was it…the March Of The Zapotec era where he started blending analog & digital ideas together, and retained the classic golden-era melody in the sweetness of his voice to pair with it – Dave’s digging into a similar mix here, and the results are absolutely stellar – this is pure audible gold.

I am honestly fucking ecstatic about what I hear on this record, pardon the ol’ language folks – but that’s the reality here – uniqueness is by far the most alluring aspect of music all-around, and The Shikes have displayed nothing but throughout all three tunes.  Like, the closest you’re going to get to something you’d be able to call more straightforward or accessible is going to be the final cut at the end, “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” – and if this is straightforward to you, believe me when I say, you and I can be friends.  All I’m saying is that in terms of linear listening and the average everyday listener out there, chances are, this last cut is the smoother gateway into The Shikes without blowing their minds with too much wildness in one dose.  In many ways actually, you could look at a track like “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” as being that lost step that never occurred in the Radiohead catalog between something like Amnesiac and what eventually became The King Of Limbs…somewhere in between there, they’d have been proud to rock a multi-dimensional groove like this one without question.  If it comes RIGHT down to it, I’ll concede that there’s probably more chance of the melody in the chorus of “Sit, Think, Make, Say, Do” being the ultimate hook & gateway for the people out there into this record, but considering its more dicey language & its many possible interpretations, I’d be inclined to go with the reliable groove he’s rockin’ on “Trouble At The Heart Of Spring” as the most likely candidate to represent the record.  What I truly DON’T think, is that the man can lose with any choice he’d make – any of these songs should make a thunderous impact as they land onto your playlists & find a permanent place to reside.  What you’ll hear on the Aggression EP is genuinely EXCITING – it has that authentically feeling of heading straight into the unknown, and you honestly can’t even place a value on just how incredible it is to listen to something like this record, filled with material that you’d never be able to remotely predict.

I almost hate to say it because four years away is so freakin’ long…but I’ll be damned if this wasn’t 100% well worth waiting for Mr. Wirth – you’ve absolutely outdone yourself in every possible way with these three cuts on The Shikes Aggression EP and created a sonic madness I am more than proud to stand behind, in front of, side by side & hand-in-hand with…you get the idea, I’m gonna listen to this forever.

Find music by The Shikes and other projects Dave Wirth is in at the Fire, Fire, Red Star Down! label’s page at Bandcamp right here:  https://firefireredstardown.bandcamp.com

Websites can be such an interesting medium to create in. With my good friend J, we recreated The Shikes website to be really fun:

Aggression, by The Shikes, now available everywhere.

Cover art originally created by Sissy and David Hobizal of Firstmates.tv

Aggression is a short album that explores themes like knifeplay, attempted suicides, allergies, and the public school system. The songs are set to the soundtrack of upbeat pop music crossed with analog and digital noise solos.

This song took me six years to complete. Enjoy!

Trouble in the Height of Spring is a song from The Shikes record, Aggression. This EP will be available on April 3rd, 2012, and it can be yours for a measly $3.

www.theshikes.com