We Ragazzi

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More About

• Tony Rolando
• Julian Casablancas
• Colleen Burke
• Fashion Trends
• Fashion and Style

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These days, indie rock is back in vogue with mainstream critics, who act as if the genre rose phoenix-like from the ashes of the '90s grunge movement when Julian Casablancas decided that modeling wasn't for him. The truth, of course, is that the style has been thriving all along in the loamy underground that nurtured it in the first place. Take Chicago's We Ragazzi, which could be accused of jumping on the indie bandwagon if the group hadn't been formed in 1997, back when said bandwagon was mired in enough muck to fill Soldier Field. Wolves With Pretty Lips, a fresh-from-the-womb CD on the Suicide Squeeze imprint, is actually the group's third full-length, and a definite step up from its immediate predecessor, 2001's The Ache. Songs such as "When Young Lovers Have No Place to Go" and "I Want Butterflies (All the Time)" spotlight a spare, pleasantly abrasive sound built upon Alianna Kalaba's modern-primitive drumming, Colleen Burke's clever keyboarding and Tony Rolando's serrated guitar. As a singer, Rolando yowls and whines like a hepcat on a hot tin roof, infusing the music with the sort of passionate weirdness that's always welcome, no matter what's considered popular at the moment. Seven years later, We Ragazzi's right on top of the trends.