Not 'so bored' with Wavves on-stage freakout

Nathan Williams of Wavves breaks down on stage at the Primavera Sound Festival. [Photo credit: Pitchfork Media]

By now, anyone who frequents pretty much any indie music site knows about Wavves infamous on-stage meltdown at the Primavera Sound Festival in Barcelona, Spain, on Friday, May 28. Wavves, from San Deigo, Calif., consists of guitarist/singer Nathan Williams and drummer Ryan Ulsh. Their noise-punk sound has been tagged in genres such as surf rock, sh*tgaze, and Pitchfork-coined no-fi (whatever that actually is). Since their self-titled, second full-length album was released in February, Wavves has rocketed to hipster stardom via the media and blogosphere, playing memorable songs with virally catchy melodies such as “So Bored” and “No Hope Kids.”

In brief, after a half-hearted, lazy soundcheck and an opening with both band members engaging in a questionable “jam” (if you can even call it that) on the Pitchfork stage of the festival, Williams and Ulsh dabbled on their instruments like amateurs during their ‘real’ set. They argued incessantly, the Spanish crowd threw bottles and a shoe, Ulsh eventually poured a beer over Williams’ head, they freaked out, and Williams stormed off stage.
You can read a detailed description of the event here and watch a clip of the disaster:

The next day, Williams posted on his blog, apologizing for the incident:
“I think in the back of my head I knew I wasn't exactly mentally healthy enough to continue to tour the way I have been since February. Honest truth is this has all happened so fast and I feel like the weight of it has been building for months now with what seems like a never ending touring and press schedule which includes absolutely zero time to myself. I'm sorry to everyone who has put effort into this and to everyone who supported me. Mixing ecstasy valium and xanax before having to play in front of thousands of people was one of the more poor decisions I've made(duh) and I realize my drinking has been a problem now for a good period of time. Nothing else I can do but apologize to everyone that has been affected by my poor decision making. I made a mistake. Not the first mistake I've made and it for sure wont be the last. I'm human. Don't know why I chose the biggest platform I could imagine to lose my sh*t, but that's life. You live and you learn."

Wait, what?

He’s telling me that his garage band blew up in a matter of x amount of days (they got big enough to have multiple versions of their self-titled record floating around the internet) and during probably one of the biggest shows of his life, he made “one of the more poor decisions” of his life (DUH) and shattered his credibility with thousands of fans and other musicians. Really?

Bassist and singer Jared Swilley of the Black Lips gave Williams a tongue lashing of his own, most memorably (in my opinion): “There's so many people that would wanna be doing that: being able to get flown over to Europe and have people like your records and buying them. And then just blow it on your first show in Europe-- someone like that needs to not do this. He needs to go back to school or move back in with his parents and sit down and think about things. He shouldn't play music. He shouldn't tour."

This incident leads me to the question (which I’ve conversed about recently): why Wavves? In an interview at SXSW this year, Columbus natives Psychedelic Horsesh*t’s Matt Whitehurst said, “We should have named ourselves Wavves. We'd be rich now if we would've. We're better than Wavves, he does the same kind of sh*t."

So, what makes Nathan Williams different from any other 18 year old kid with GarageBand or professional musician or chimpanzee with a distortion pedal? Don’t get me wrong; I think Wavves is definitely an enjoyable listen (no lie, it sounds pretty great on vinyl). But what I don’t get is what sets him apart from all the other lo-fi bands out there that have been around for much longer with a lot more professionalism. Why was he the ‘chosen one,’ the hipster garabe, if you will, of the genre from all the other kids in their parents’ basements doing the exact same thing? I can’t answer this question; maybe you can help me (and everyone else) out.

And what now? What happens to the Wavves sensation after their infamous stage catastrophe? They immediately cancelled the rest of their massive European tour afterwards. Their set Pitchfork Music Festival is their next big performance since Primavera. A lot of pressure is going to be riding on their backs at this show, and I’m positive that many people are going to watch them play just to see if Williams freaks out again. Should Wavves call it quits, or at least go on hiatus, after Pitchfork? Was Williams prematurely tossed into the limelight with naïve notions about the ‘rock star lifestyle?’ Again, I don’t know the answers to these questions.

Personally, I think he should take some time off to sort his sh*t out and come back when he’s ready to have a serious music career. It’s not doing him any good parading around town with a drinking problem and, apparently, a curiosity for harmful drug cocktails. By now, his peers have little respect for him (if there was any in the first place), and his fans are just waiting for the next public outburst. I’m rooting for you, Nathan Williams, I really am. But I can’t support you looking like a fool within six months of your career just beginning. Go home and find something to do to occupy your time that isn’t playing live shows while you mature a bit. In the meantime, you better believe I’ll be watching at Pitchfork to see if there’s a Wavves meltdown part two.