Rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter Philip Sayce is excited to announce the release of his highly anticipated studio album, The Wolves Are Coming — out via Atomic Gemini/Forty Below Records on Friday February 23, 2024.
Produced by Philip at Station House Studio in Los Angeles, and engineered by GRAMMY award winner Mark Rains (Rival Sons, Shooter Jennings, Tanya Tucker), mixed by Brian Moncarz (Fantastic Negrito, Alice Cooper, Ian Moore), and mastered by Brian Lucey (Lizzo, The Black Keys, Michael Bublé), The Wolves Are Coming features Michael Leasure on drums (Walter Trout, Edgar Winter), Fred Mandel(Queen, Supertramp, Elton John) on keyboards and piano, Bernie Barlow (The Moody Blues, Melissa Etheridge) on background vocals, Aaron Sterling on drums (John Mayer, Keith Urban, Taylor Swift), and Sayce, who provided the vocals, guitars, bass, and piano.
The Wolves Are Coming follows the album Spirit Rising which has over 14 million streams to date. This new album is a career highlight, exemplifying Sayce’s commitment to his craft and using the power of music as a uniting force to welcome in the light during incredibly turbulent times. Philip’s new album, is more powerful, unique, and bold than anything he has written or recorded. “These songs and stories came into focus during my darkest times,” says Philip.
“The new single, ‘Black Moon,’ is a song about ruthless individuals that often pollute the music business,” says Philip. “It’s about being tricked, violated, hurt, and manipulated but still holding on to my personal power and self-worth, and trusting that these fools will one day end up laying in the bed they’ve made.”
The recording of The Wolves Are Coming proved to be an unforgettable experience for Philip. “When I first started writing and recording these songs, society was upside down from the pandemic,” says Philip. “The studio became a real spirit-lifter for me during the sessions, a very fun and free atmosphere, as opposed to the outside world. I recorded with GRAMMY winning engineer Mark Rains at Station House Studio in Los Angeles during several different sessions over the course of a year or so.”
“I booked some three-day sessions, and we’d try recording the new songs I was writing. Michael Leasure played drums magnificently, tracking live with me during some of these sessions and then I would record overdubs with Mark and decide if a song was going to be a keeper. Mark mixed a few songs on the album including “Intuition” and you can really feel and hear the vibe and sound of the studio during the sessions. Brian Moncarz had brilliantly mixed songs on my previous album, Spirit Rising, so I just had to reach out to him with these new songs. He absolutely nailed it with his mixes taking The Wolves Are Coming to another level. It is such a pleasure and privilege to work with this wonderful and talented team.”
On the forthcoming album, Philip consciously set out to achieve something new and different. Says Philip, “I’m always striving to do something better today than what I’ve done before. I’m a student of music and life, and my intention for this album was to be more deeply connected to spirit, inspiration, and creativity, and to record and make this music to push myself as an artist.”
But what is it that makes The Wolves Are Coming so special? “That’s easy, says Philip. “It’s a personal journey and a diary. These new songs and recordings became a lifeline to me during the pandemic and illustrate some of the highs and lows I have been navigating since releasing Spirit Rising in 2020. The Wolves Are Coming was created during the bleakest of times, not knowing if I would ever release these songs, or what being a musician and artist would look like moving forward.”
What does The Wolves Are Coming mean? “It has a lot of meanings for me, which are definitely illustrated in some of these songs,” reflects Philip. “The title covers a lot of areas for me, and I encourage listeners to see what comes up for them personally when they hear this title and listen to the new songs. Some of these new songs, such as ‘Backstabber’, have a very obvious and personal meaning and relate directly to the album title, which I’ve discussed openly. While another obvious meaning is…to get myself in gear, to get going, and get moving!”
Philip is looking forward to performing the new songs on his upcoming tours.
“We’ve already been performing a few of the new tracks live and they feel great,” says Philip. “Oh! That Bitches Brew” was debuted live during our November 2023 UK tour, and we’ve been working up more of the new songs during rehearsals and soundchecks. Sam Bolle and Bryan Head are such outstanding musicians and we’ve been really bonding as a group during our live tours and through playing this new music together.”
On the new album, Philip has recorded an acoustic cover of John Lee Hooker’s “This Is Hip” which is deeply moving and a completely different gear from the rest of the album, featuring a duet with legendary pianist, Fred Mandel.
“I used to love listening to this song in the car with my father,” recalls Philip. “It was John Lee Hooker’s “This Is Hip” from the album Mr. Lucky, with Ry Cooder on guitar. What a great track and the song just always kind of stayed with me. I’d been playing it during live shows on solo acoustic, so we tracked it and Fred Mandel played exquisite piano on the recording. I think it’s fun!”
