Has the Hour of the Wolf Really Come?

“Without music, life would be a mistake” ― Friedrich Nietzsche.

A year ago, I sat down with Benny Clancy, aka Wolfman, on numerous occasions intending to understand his grand music narrative, what his music was all about, his target audience and the impact he sought to create through music.  I can now say upon reflection and that those conversations were some of the most interesting and insightful I had in the year 2019.

In the course of our conversation, we explored the two patterns every artist or artiste uses to gain prominence, namely:

• Virality: you release content that is just so good that no one can ignore. And by that very fact, lovers, odd converts and even haters willingly or begrudgingly find themselves sharing.
• Becoming 1% better daily: others engage in the process of releasing regular content to the world, even if the appreciation rates are low. This contains sometimes seem average or not so good but with time, the quantity supersedes or better still, becomes the quality. To the effect of which, a curious stranger might view such content and get so glued to it that he winds up viewing all the previous content in a roll.

My question to Wolfman was: which of these patterns did he intend applying? Without hesitation, he posited option two. And in the course of his explanation, he paused. He stopped completely and said; “to be sincere both”

Wolfman since 2017 or even earlier than that has been harassed (in the positive sense) by his fans to produce content for them. You would think Wolfman is like other artists to just follow the tide, but he is not. He took three years of his life to working on himself. While speaking to him, it was clear that he wanted to upgrade his voice, have a clear message that would stand the test of time and also, he craved building an audience from scratch – an audience that would last.

What is the impact Wolfman seeks to create in the world?

Tom Sabot concluded that: “you can’t create a story that would last 10,000 years. You can only create a story that would last for three generations. For ourselves, our children and for their children. Mindful of Tom Sabot’s point and of the fact that Wolfman is a disruptor; what Wolfman is trying to do is create a story, a narrative that is interesting enough and important enough that our grandchildren will want to tell their children. Even though he delivered it to them in music form.

Moreover, he wants to connect with his audience at a very deep level. He doesn’t sing to be pleasing to the ear, but he sings to be pleasing to the ear, at the same time colourful in the mind and meaningful in the heart.  Lemony Snicket once pointed out that: Everyone, at some point in their lives, wakes up in the middle of the night with the feeling that they are all alone in the world and that nobody loves them now and that nobody will ever love them and that they will never have a decent night’s sleep again and will spend their lives wandering blearily around a loveless landscape, hoping desperately that their circumstances will improve, but suspecting, in their heart of hearts, that they will remain unloved forever. The best thing to do in these circumstances is to wake somebody else up so that they can feel this way too”

Wolfman may not agree with that conclusion but surely does agree with the premise; a premise for which he wants to be a solution. A solution that rather than waking someone else, you would rather listen to his heart crunching and comforting songs.

Unlike other musicians I know, whenever I listen to Wolfman’s music, I find a guy that is contending with the William Tel problem, a problem that most famous artists grapple with. The Tel problem is the following: “In your message, if you aim too high, you miss a story. And if you aim too low, you kill the impact”

Today, Wolfman shocked the wolf with the release of his song titled, The Hour of the Wolf Has Come. Has his hour to shine and roar really come? As a guy who isn’t careless, but care’s less about mediocrity, this should be a bomb.

On behalf of the wolf park, may Wolfman know that we all hope this isn’t just an hour but a start of a life journey. Since we care.  

Make sure to watch and listen to his song The Hour of the Wolf has come by clicking on the link below

Verberi Leslie Micheal