Chelsea Wolfe
Birth name Chelsea Joy Wolfe
Born November 14, 1983
Roseville, California, U.S.
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter, record producer, musician
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano
Chelsea Joy Wolfe (born November 14, 1983) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has earned underground critical acclaim for her releases, The Grime and the Glow (2010) and Apokalypsis (2011), which blended elements of gothic rock and folk music, as well as her following albums, Pain Is Beauty (2013) and Abyss (2015), in which Wolfe incorporated elements of neofolk, electronic and metal. Her music has been featured in promotional material for the television series Game of Thrones and Fear the Walking Dead as well as in How to Get Away with Murder.
Chelsea Wolfe was born in Roseville, California, and grew up in Sacramento. She is of Norwegian and German descent. Her father was in a country band and had a home studio, where by the age of 9, she had written and recorded songs which she later described as “basically Casio-based gothy R&B songs”.
In 2012, Wolfe covered five songs by British anarcho-punk band Rudimentary Peni, and issued them as A Tribute To Rudimentary Peni on February 17 as a free download via Pendu Sound. She later rerecorded the Peni songs with her band at Southern Studios in London, and released them as an EP, Prayer for the Unborn, in January 2013 on Southern Records.
On April 1, 2016, Wolfe released the non-album 7″ single “Hypnos”, preceded by a music video on March 22. In January 2017, she announced a UK/European tour to begin in April.
In April 2016, Wolfe and bandmate Ben Chisholm were special guests for Converge’s collaborative live performance, Blood Moon, along with Stephen Brodsky of Cave In and Steve Von Till of Neurosis. Limited to four European performances, the collective performed “ambient/post-rock interpretations” of various tracks from Converge’s entire discography, particularly songs of their “lesser-heard and slower work”. The first Blood Moon set took place at Postbahnhof in Berlin on April 11. The second took place at La Cartonnerie in Reims on April 12. The third took place at Electric Brixton in London on April 13. The fourth and final Blood Moon show took place at the Roadburn Festival in the Netherlands on April 16.
“Survive” appeared in the final trailer for the December 2016 film Live by Night.
Her fifth studio album, Hiss Spun, will be released by Sargent House on September 22, 2017. She is also slated to appear in two collaborations on the upcoming Myrkur album Mareridt.
Equipment
Wolfe is known for playing a Taylor Guitars 716ce and a Fender Jaguar. She has said that she composed her first two albums on her mother’s classical guitar, which was missing a tuning peg; as a result, the strings had to be tuned down, which was a stylistic element carried on to the studio recordings.
Wolfe has cited the visual elements of filmmaker Ingmar Bergman and photographer Nan Goldin as influences, as well as the writings of D.H. Lawrence and Ayn Rand. However, on September 24, 2015, she stated that with regard to her supposed affinity with Rand: “When I said I liked Ayn Rand many years ago I didn’t know anything about what she stood for or what her books meant. I recant!”. Other writers she has mentioned as inspirations include Marcel Proust, Louis-Ferdinand Céline and Sylvia Plath.
Discography
Studio albums
Soundtrack VHS/Gold (2010, Jeune Été Records)
Soundtrack VHS II (2010, self-released)
The Grime and the Glow (2010, Pendu Sound Recordings)
Apokalypsis (2011, Pendu Sound Recordings)
Pain Is Beauty (2013, Sargent House)
Abyss (2015, Sargent House)
Hiss Spun (2017, Sargent House)
Singles and EPs[edit]
“Advice & Vices” digital single (2010, Pendu Sound Recordings)
Prayer for the Unborn EP (2013, Southern Records)
Sing Songs Together… split 7″ single with King Dude (2013, Sargent House)
Sing More Songs Together… split 7″ single with King Dude (2014, Not Just Religious Music)
Chelsea Wolfe Folkadelphia Session 5/31/2014 digital EP (2014, Folkadelphia)
“Iron Moon” digital single (2015, Sargent House)
“Carrion Flowers” digital single (2015, Sargent House)
“After the Fall” digital single (2015, Sargent House)
“Hypnos” 7″ single (2016, Sargent House)
“16 Psyche” digital single (2017, Sargent House)
“Vex” digital single (2017, Sargent House)
“Offering” digital single (2017, Sargent House)
Live albums
Live at Roadburn (2012, Roadburn Records)
Compilation albums
Unknown Rooms: A Collection of Acoustic Songs (2012, Sargent House)
Band members
Chelsea Wolfe – vocals, guitar
Ben Chisholm – synth, bass, piano, electronics
Jess Gowrie – drums
Bryan Tulao – lead guitar
Past band members:
Dylan Fujioka – drums
Kevin Dockter – lead guitar
Andrea Calderon – violin
Ezra Buchla – viola
Drew Walker – drums
Addison Quarles – bass
Aurielle Zeitler – lead guitar (live)
Mike Sullivan – guitar
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