views - Saint Viator High School

ENTERTAINMENT 19
Alums howling through streets of Chicago
Viator alum band American Wolf shows off their musical talents in city
Sean Imburgia
Staff Writer
American Wolf is an indie/alternative
band hailing from the northwest
suburbs, currently located in
Chicago. I talked to the electronics
and bass player John Imburgia (Class
of ‘09) about the band and its future.
Who is in American Wolf, and
what’s everyone’s position in
the band?
American Wolf is Sal Plascencia: vocals
and rhythm guitar; Chris Banaszak
(’10): keys; Hristo Mintchev:
lead guitar; myself (John): bass and
electronic accompaniment; and
Tim Mack (’11): drums.
Who would you say are the
band’s influences?
I think it would be difficult to specify a
band or genre because we love so many
different things but considering most of
us are jazz guys, we borrow a lot from it.
The hair-raising appeal to horror movies
1213 E. Oakton, Arlington Heights, IL theviatorvoice@gmail.com
Photo provided by Tim Mack ’11
As far as your sound, American
Wolf has a nice blend of atmosphere
and structure. Is this a
product of a lot of time and effort
put into the songs, or is it spontaneous?
It really depends, some songs are thorough
and structurally thought out while
others are completely spontaneous but
they all get equal attention in the studio.
Often times the finished products
are nothing like we originally envisioned
them.
You guys have a new E.P. coming
out. What separates it from your
Annie Lambesis
Staff Writer
We all know the feeling: heart
pounding, palms sweating,
eyes glued to the screen, waiting
for the main character
of the movie to
get murdered. We’ve
all been sitting in that
movie theater chair,
horrified of what is to
come. So if that feeling
is so intense and
terrifying, why do we
keep coming back?
Take the latest
installment of Paranormal
Activity. A film lasting only 84
minutes, it broke records just like its
two predecessors. It earned eight million
dollars at its midnight premiere,
the most money made from a horror
movie at midnight. People actually
paid money and stood in line at midnight
to be scared out of their minds.
Another
terrifyingly
popular
franchise is
Halloween.
It consists
of ten movies,
novels,
and comic
books. It has
been around
Art by Kyong Yoo since the
late seventies, but is still extremely popular.
Michael Myers, the film’s serial killer,
has been murdering for thirty years.
earlier work?
The album definitely has an imprint of
our earlier work but I think (new E.P.)
Tales of Kamanakera takes a different
approach than before. We experimented
with different sounds and explored
a couple of different directions that we
didn’t before, but we took our time and
could not be happier with what we created.
Is an American Wolf live show
more a way to get attention for
your recordings, or is the show in
itself the experience?
We love playing shows and try to bring
a lot of energy to them. Its important to
not only have good music on your record,
but you have to live up to that in
person if you want people to come out
to your shows and have a good time. We
have a few shows coming up.
What’s the best way a fan can
show support for the band?
Spreading the word about us is probably
the best way to help us out. We appreciate
anyone who takes the time to listen
to us and could not be any more grateful.
Any exorcism movie is also a great
example. With The Exorcism of Emily
Rose in 2005, The Last Exorcism in
2010, and The Devil Inside, prepared
to hit theaters in 2012, people have
the plot down pat. The stories have all
been done before, but the viewers don’t
care. Exorcism films still make millions.
So why are people so drawn to thriller
and horror films? The answer is simple.
When we are scared, we’re at our most
raw form of ourselves. We are at our most
vulnerable essence. We love the feeling
of adrenaline moving through our body,
and we love the fact that we don’t know
what’s coming next. We are at the edge
of our chairs, and could be screaming
the very next second. The fear of the unknown
is so intriguing that people can’t
help but come back for more.
DECEMBER 2011