There’s an old showbiz adage.
Although its origins are unknown, entertainers have been saying for years that “comedians want to be rock stars and rock stars dream of being comedians.”
Wolves of Glendale beat the system and decided to do both.
The three-person comedy music band — think The Strokes meets Zach Galifianakis — formed in March 2022 and is currently on tour bringing their recently released self-titled debut album with hilarious yet catchy songs like “Vapin’ In Vegas,” “Just Give Me Cash” and “Shrimp” to venues all over North America.
That includes a gig at New York City’s Mercury Lounge on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
And, to put it lightly, their live shows are unlike anything you’ve ever seen.
“We put on a spectacle,” Wolves of Glendale singer Ethan Edenburg told the New York Post in an exclusive interview. “It’s more than a comedy show and it’s more than a concert.”
“There’s a narrative arc which is something you’re not going to get seeing a band you love and we have legit, danceable rock tunes, which you won’t get from a stand up or sketch comedy show.”
At all gigs, Edenburg and his fellow bandmates Tom McGovern and Eric Jackowitz, improvise, deliver scripted jokes and truly embrace the “live” aspect of live concerts.
“If something is weird or going wrong, we love that, Edenburg explained. “Secretly all we really want to do is make up funny songs on the fly about random stuff happening around us.”
Case in point, the band recently headlined at a venue that feeds performers. The guys ordered BBQ chicken, ribs and brisket, the whole nine. Of course, they bantered about the delicious meal onstage.
“It was obvious that everyone in the crowd loved the ribs,” Edenburg laughed. “So we made them shout ‘ribs!’”
Soon after, they noticed a young kid, maybe eight or nine, standing on a table holding up a rib.
What happens next is what makes a Wolves of Glendale show magical.
“We slowed the music down and sang ‘this kid’s got the ribs!’” Edenburg chuckled. “Everybody cheered him on as he ate them and held up the bone.”
Who knows what will happen at the Wolves of Glendale show you go to?
All we know is that the best to find out is live.
Want to catch Edenburg, Jackowitz and McGovern’s tight tunes and freewheeling antics live?
Our team has everything you need to know and more about Wolves of Glendale’s 2024 tour below.
Wolves of Glendale 2024 tour schedule
A complete calendar including all tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found here:
About Wolves of Glendale
Wolves of Glendale is a three-piece comedy band — but they almost never came to be.
“None of us thought that the path for us was comedy music,” Edenburg explained. “We all wanted to play serious music. We were in rock bands.”
However, Edenburg and Jackowitz turned to comedy music in 2016 when they started up their L.A. based group The Cooties.
After five years, they disbanded.
Serendipitously, the duo connected with dueling piano player and gifted comedy musician Tom McGovern just as he was moving to the City of Angels.
“We hung out and wrote ‘Vapin’ In Vegas and we were like ‘we got it.’”
In their two years together, the three often get compared to Flight of the Conchords or Tenacious D.
Musically, they were inspired by contemporary rockers like The Strokes, The Killers, Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age as well as ’80s icons like Hall and Oates, Phil Collins, Foreigner and The Alan Parsons Project.
Wolves of Glendale new music
On Jan. 26, Wolves of Glendale released their 10-track debut album.
“I’ll try not to start crying, but it’s huge for us,” Edenburg said. “This is a culmination of so much work and a dream realized over a decade since Eric and I started playing together.”
If you want to hear their finely-crafted songs live, you can stream “Wolves of Glendale” in its entirety here.
Huge rock bands on tour in 2024
Although no group is quite like Wolves of Glendale, here are five that we think you’ll love.
Who else is on the road this year? Check out our list of the 50 biggest concert tours in 2024 here to find out.