Glenn Williams
MUSIC WRITER IN JAPAN
ALBUM
WENDY
DON'T WASTE MY YOUTH
Victor Entertainment
Paul, Johnny, Sena and Skye were all between fifteen and sixteen years old when covid hit. Us, the older generations, were inconvenienced and had to adapt, we had to learn how to occupy ourselves in other ways and work in other ways but the three years we lost, passed and none of us are really that different. For teenagers, it was completely different experience. Remember your teenage years? The learning, the growing, the exploring, dates, the mistakes and shenanigans? We cannot imagine the frustration that must have built up in them as the days, weeks and months crawled passed (they go much slower at that age remember), unable to get out and play, to find an audience, to just enjoy as the British so often say, the best days of our lives. These guys – kids – never had any of that, hence the title.
Creation is often born out of frustration though and Wendy have funnelled all their disappointment and annoyance into one of the finest debut albums by a young band for many-a-year. Produced by Marc Whitmore, a man who favours analogue recording and sounds, Wendy have managed to successfully marry Classic Rock with youth appeal. Ten tracks with a running time of classic album length, each song is catchy, ballsy and not over-produced. This feels like a band playing in a studio with the tape rolling and they are not stretched out either, each tune delivers its message and the moves onto the next one. The musicianship is excellent without being self-indulgent and there is a quality about the playing that hints that there is much more to them than meets the ears on this outing.
The album comes in two editions. A standard CD and a double-disc set with a bonus DVD. It’s worth spending the extra on the DVD set as you get all five PVs to date as well as over half an hour of footage from the recording sessions. It looks like it was fun – the album certainly comes across like that – and they clearly enjoy making videos.
This band are already making waves in Japan, have played at the prestigious Summer Sonic festival and also ventured into Korea. This is no throwaway boy-band, these are serious dudes who can really let rip live and who, combined with their song writing, have a very bright 2024 and beyond ahead of them.
Track List (CD)
SCREAM
Rock ‘n’ Roll Is BACK
Can’t Stop Being Bad
Chasing A Song
2 Beautiful 4 Luv
Devil’s Kiss
Addicted
Pretty In Pink
When U Played Me
Runaway
Track List (CD + DVD)
CD as above
DVD
Wendy recording with Marc Whitmore
Rock ‘n’ Roll Is BACK (PV)
Devil’s Kiss (PV)
When U Played Me (PV)
Pretty In Pink (PV)
Runaway (PV)
GIG
WENDY
SHIBUYA, CLUB QUATTRO 26 Aug
UDO
There is a decent crowd at tonight’s concert, for Wendy, a young band signed to Victor Entertainment. So far, they have released five digital singles and tonight is their debut album launch. Aged between 18 and 20, it’s clear that this young quartet already have a strong fanbase as there are t-shirts everywhere with the words ‘Don’t Waste My YOUTH’, the album title, blazoned across them. There is an air of expectancy, this is a big night for everybody.
The P.A. volume noticeably increased at exactly 7pm, the houselights went down and the intro tape rolled. The difference between when I saw them in March this year and today is immediately apparent. This band is oozing confidence as they play their stuff, a Rock band that are on a mission to bring Rock ‘n’ Roll and Classic Rock into the 21st century. Musically, it’s vintage with guitarist Paul playing a left-handed Les Paul through a Marshall stack, Johnny Vincent (that name alone just shouts Rock ‘n’ Roll) has a Rickenbacker bass going through an Ampeg rig and Sena has a basic four-piece Spaun drumkit. Together they are a powerhouse inventive trio that uses their instruments to the full in the same way that Led Zeppelin, Queen and Black Sabbath did and while all this is going on, singer Skye McKenzie is working the audience. He delivers the opening song’s machine gun melody with precision timing and then switches styles frequently between Bryan Adams, Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant without ever losing his own voice. They blast the audience with six songs before they even say hello and then blast them with another nine before taking another break. The energy coming off the stage never lets up and quite how Skye is never out of breath is a mystery; I was out of breath just watching him.
The album is performed in its entirety and live, all the songs work just as well as they do on the album. There’s also an instrumental, three solos – all short and composed well – and four songs not on the album, all of which were just as good as the ten album tracks; these guys just don’t right bad songs. Paul’s solo in Home is one of the finest composed solos I have heard for many a year and Hollywood has the potential to be a massive hit in America. It’s good to hear a band this dynamic and refreshing. Young, vibrant and good looking, they appeal to the teenage generation but they are also excellent musicians who understand Rock. Not many new bands can cross generations, Wendy have that magic formula.
Set List
SCREAM
Rock ‘n’ Roll Is BACK
Can’t Stop Being BAD
Addicted
Instrumental
2 Beautiful 4 Luv
Devil’s Kiss
Bass solo
Pretty In Pink
Hollywood
Rock My Heart
Drum Solo
Loosen Up
Guitar solo
Chasing A Song
Home
When U Played Me
Runaway