Half of Wire Try Flyin’ the Flannel

In their never-ending effort to stave off stasis, the members of Wire have taken to staging multi-night residencies/mini-festivals in lieu of pedestrian tour stops. As part of their 2017 DRILL: LOS ANGELES event, Wire’s Graham Lewis and Matthew Simms joined forces with San Pedro punk stalwart Mike Watt and his frequent wingman, drummer Bob Lee, for what was initially intended as a one-off night of free improvisation. Two years later the quartet, billed as FITTED, commits its motorik, bass-heavy grooves to vinyl (and other formats) as First Fits, out November 8 on ORG Music.

Watt and Lewis trade vocal duties, and the result falls somewhere between later period Wire and the buzzy soundscapes once crafted by Gilbert and Lewis. For those who haven’t been keeping score, Simms replaced OG Wire guitarist Bruce Gilbert back in 2012.

Photo by Oliver Brin.