So, I hate to be all like, "I started listening to Wolf Parade back in..." but, I started listening to Wolf Parade back in early 2006, shortly after Apologies to Queen Mary was released. I had this friend, let's call him Denis, whose hard-on for the band knew no bounds, even though, as he said, "One of their lead singers is ripping off Kurt Cobain." And this friend, "Denis", as I now understand, was cool before being cool was cool. As in, he was reading the website Pitchfork, daily, back when it was still called "Pitchfork Media" - remember?

Anyway, I'm going to up and assume (always the best thing to do as a journalist) that he first heard about them there, when their debut LP got a 9.2 on the website's coveted Richter scale. That reaction, put to lyrics of a Bad Rabbits song, may go something like this: "Girl, I'm like damn." (Look it up.)

But they were right. Apologies is probably one of the best albums of the decade and basically created the sound that everyone and their boyfriend has attempted to copy for the better part of four years. As with most attempts to rip someone else's creativity, some have succeeded and some have failed. In both cases, these bands have basically revived the small music club/bar scene and given it a shot of craft beer, at least here in Philly.

I saw Wolf Parade at the TLA not long before At Mount Zoomer was released, and it became fairly obvious everyone on stage's head was in a different place (which is talked about in this month's feature story). The new songs, which co-lead singer Dan Boeckner basically asked everyone to hold their tongues through, were a little boring and not memorable at all. (But I'll tell you what was memorable: There was a couple sitting on one of the TLA's upstairs couches, he was at most 90 pounds, she was at least 300 pounds, and yet they made it work; that shit made me feel warm about people again!) Hence, the band's second LP of nine tracks was released in June 2008 to both positive and negative reviews. I remember when "Call It A Ritual" was pre-released as a single, someone sent me the mp3 link via email and I thought, "Really? This is the best they've got to offer?"

Nevertheless, after messing around with some awesome side-projects (Handsome Furs and Sunset Rubdown are the most memorable; Swan Lake makes me want to kill myself, but in a good way) Wolf Parade is back with a third album - and it's up there in Apologies territory.

And so, at the end of our journey, I had no choice but to tap that same friend - now a city worker and writer - who introduced me to the band in the first place - we're still going to go ahead and call him "Denis" (cause that's his name) - to interview the band for September's Origivation. See how that works?

Somehow, we found ourselves covering a bunch of animal bands this month in addition to Wolf Parade - Dr. Dog, Little Fish, Mice Parade - so, we don't want to say there was a "theme" or anything like that, but call it what you will.

Over the coming months you may notice some (more) changes in Origivation. Don't worry, it's completely natural and just part of growing up. Every magazine goes through it and don't let anyone pick on you because of it. We've been shaking hands, kissing babies, and all that - so much so, we're going to be completely vague about it! Writing teachers always used to say "show, don't tell" and we wouldn't want to have let them down.

Hope all's well in reader territory. If you're headed back to school this fall, don't let the bedbugs bite. Especially if you're at St. Joe's. In Sourin. First floor. That's all I'll say.

Randy LoBasso
Editor-in-chief