Denver's Wiff Is Rocking Larimer Lounge on Sunday

Denver alt-rock band Wiff started jamming in 2019, when longtime local drummer Peter Higgins picked up a guitar and began reworking some old songs he had lying around. He recruited his then-fourteen-year-old son Quinn to sit in behind the kit. The Lollygags’ former frontman, Jonathan Snyder, and Wes Luna, who was previously in the Photo Atlas and Stereoshifter alongside Higgins, rounded out the quartet on guitar and bass, respectively.

But what started as a garage band and fun father-son project has quickly morphed into a regular outlet for the quartet, which has released two EPs and provided local support for the likes of Local H over the past three years.

“We want to try and focus on new music now,” Luna explains, adding that the band has plans to record and release a record in early 2023. “Peter writes the main part of the songs, then we all get together to work it out.”

Before Wiff heads into the sound lab, the band is playing its last show of 2022 on Sunday, October 9, opening for Japanese noise rockers Melt-Banana at the Larimer Lounger. Local band Quits is also on the bill.

“This will be our last show of the year," Luna notes. "Then we’re going to finish the record and hit summer with some shows."

The band’s wunderkind drummer is also turning eighteen and graduating from high school in the upcoming year. Whether he decides to stick around and gig remains to be seen, Luna says while praising the young stickman.

“[The Photo Atlas] toured a lot. We’re not really focused on that as much as we are the writing and playing locally. That’s the main difference between the other bands that I’ve been in. We’re just not too much focused on touring quite yet,” he adds. “I’d like to. We’re just more concerned about Quinn because he’s going to graduate high school soon, and we’re not sure if he wants to continue on. Or if Peter might want to get a new drummer if he doesn’t. He’s a really great drummer. We’re kind of hoping that he’ll want to keep continuing. … That’s why we’re going to do a new record and some shows this summer, then see where Quinn’s at.”

As the band explains in Quinn’s bio: “He's pretty fucking good at the drums.”

“He’s great," Luna says, "and really open-minded with shows and learning the prospect of being in a band and getting some bigger support spots." Here’s hoping it works out.

Wiff, which is named in honor of Peter’s childhood cat, mixes ’90s grunge and college-radio rock into upbeat songs that would sound at home on homemade mixtapes. "Mormon on a Mission," from 2021’s Definitely in the Maybe Pile, is one good example of Wiff’s penchant for writing distorted hooks. It's also the most-streamed song on the band’s Spotify. Snyder and Luna’s influences from being in garage and punk bands over the years is evident as well throughout the latest EP.

“We all like the grunge-rock scene. All of us love Nirvana and Soundgarden and all of that stuff. We like local bands, too. SPELLS is one of our favorite local bands,” Luna says. “It’s a variety. I just went to see My Chemical Romance after twenty years. So it ranges from Nirvana to My Chemical Romance. We’re all really open-minded musically. But that’s how I usually describe it to people. If they like Nirvana, they’ll probably like our band.”

He teases that the band plans to play a mix of songs from its two EPs plus a cover or two, including a Dinosaur Jr. tune, on Sunday.

Wiff, 7 p.m. Sunday, October 9, Larimer Lounge, 2721 Larimer Street. Tickets are $20.