Today we’re bringing you a full stream of W/OUND, the new EP from Las Vegas grunge/rock band Wax Pig Melting. The 5-song album was recorded with John Kiehlbauch at Naked City Audio with William Davenport of Bounty Hunter Brothers mixing and adding additional parts.

This EP stands as a posthumous release for Wax Pig Melting’s previous lineup, making way for the new lineup, which as Gibson noted, features the addition of Cody Leavitt (The People’s Whiskey/New Cold War) on bass and Daniel Williams (Greasy Conversation) on drums. That lineup will debut this Friday at a house show with The CG’s.

So what exactly happened to Wax Pig Melting?

According to “Anti” Dave Pillworm:

Our fearless leader, Brian Gibson, asked me to write a bit about the triumphs, tribulations and turbulence that have occurred with, in and for Wax Pig Melting.

I guess I should start out by saying, I played guitar on four of the five tracks on the W/ound EP. I was brought in by producer William Davenport (Bounty Hunter Brothers, Robot Nixon, Asterionella) to fill in the gaps that occurred in the initial recording process.

Actually, maybe I should start out by saying, “Anti” Dave Pillworm doesn’t exist. Yeah, that’s an echo of what Brian Gibson had said at a particular Brain Jelly show at Hard Hat Lounge. I’m just a figment of someone’s imagination, a ghost in the machine, a bunch of convoluted bullshit in a pseudonym; probably a narrative for a story about W/ound as a whole.

So anyways, I’m in the studio with Davenport, Gibson and John Kiehlbauch (Owner of Naked City Audio, best recording studio in Vegas — he also has recorded all things great), learning the songs, learning about the three of them as they sort of suss out the session files and what they’re actually going to do.

During this time, everyone in the band was upset about something. Danny the Drummer (not to be confused with Daniel the Drummer) had issues with lyrics and religious imagery that Brian had in one of the songs, something about how he didn’t dig the inverted crosses, didn’t dig the blasphemy. And Brian was all pissed about that because c’mon, the whole satan thing is cool.

Random Note: Brian Gibson doesn’t like the band Ghost. Doesn’t think they’re heavy enough.

But he was also real annoyed that 3/4th of Wax Pig Melting lived in Pahrump and he was out in Las Vegas. John K told me that the initial recording sessions were a haphazard of Brian playing his songs (not playing Aaron Vilhauer’s songs) and Aaron playing his songs (and not playing Brian’s songs) under the disguise that they were going to do the bulk of overdubs at Aaron’s home studio back home. I don’t think anyone really bought that.

That being said, William Davenport has an alternate mix of a song where Aaron does actually play the lead on it. It’s not going to be on this W/ound release because, well, Aaron sent William the file during the mastering process, John K wasn’t going to stop mastering to put the whole project on delay, but Aaron actually recorded to a different version of the song, yeah, that’s right, Wax Pig Melting doesn’t record to a click track.

HOW PUNK OF THEM.

Oh and if that paragraph didn’t explain enough, I didn’t play on “Are you there God?” Dave Pillworm didn’t play on that track. Hell, Dave Pillworm didn’t really do anything. Because Dave Pillworm doesn’t exist.

Try to keep up.

So, the original W/ound was supposed to be like ten or eleven tracks deep. Brian Gibson decided, “Fuck that!” So the track listing became the following:

Are you there God?

Not Real At All

Jawless

Armful of Structure

Hissy Fit

It should be noted, “Hissy Fit” is the only song where Aaron sings. And I didn’t even get to meet Aaron until after the whole shebang was done. So here I am in the studio deciding “Yeah, I think I know how this song goes.”

Anyways, we get done with the album, I crawl back into the hole I live on in Boulder Highway and go back into hibernation. That is until Brian Gibson shows up, tells me he’s finally releasing W/ound and that he’s reuniting Wax Pig Melting with original drummer Daniel Williams and Cody Leavitt of The People’s Whiskey and New Cold War. He asks me if I want to be a part of the thing, since you know, I know four of the songs. I tell him no, because I’m catching up on reruns of Mama’s Family and Blossom.

But what’s going on with Penny Galan, Danny and Aaron? What about the future?

Penny and Danny are in a new band called “Seriously Knot” out in Pahrump.

Aaron briefly reunited with Brian to play a show at Double Down Saloon as Ultra Witch. When I called him on his land-line rotary phone to inquire about his status, Aaron casually replied with “raising Goats on my tree farm.” The phone call ended abruptly with the sound of what I imagine was a Colt Desert Eagle.

William Davenport is still playing in Bounty Hunter Brothers and they’re releasing a new EP in a few months. He’s also continuing to mix and master at Naked City Audio with John K (or as the kids call him, Def). Together they are working on Grim Reefer’s debut.

And “Anti” Dave Pillworm is all caught up on Mama’s Family. I mean do you guys remember that episode where Mama’s son is trying to prank everyone and he changes out the sugar with the salt. But then when his back is turned Mama switches them back out. AND THEN HER SON PUTS SALT IN HIS COFFEE.

Genius. Fucking Genius.

Wax Pig Melting’s ultimate reformation reunion show is on October 2nd.

– William Davenport