The band was based in San Francisco throughout their history from 1980-1993. They were comprised of two outstanding songwriters – Kevin Hunter and Kurt Herr (the later quitting the band after 1985’s Between Two Words to be replace by Jeffery Trott for all subsequent albums), the native Swede Anders Rundblad on bass, and Argentinean Federico Gil-Sola on drums (left after their first album to be replaced by Brian McLeod for all subsequent albums). BGO is a three-for-one release on 2 CDs from this Bay Area alt-rock band originally released on Columbia between 1983 and 1985 including In a Chamber, recently reissued in an expanded edition by Supermegabot.
The sound of the band on “…In a Chamber” is chorus-guitar driven new wave/post-punk Bono has said that “…In a Chamber” was his favourite album of 1984. The guitars are bright and blend together beautifully, and there is a lot of nice interplay between the two guitarists. In the album’s opening track “I’ll Do You,” Kurt Herr’s chordal riffs in the middle of the song are colourful and dreamlike, and really just sound amazing. Other songs like “Never”, “Chamber of Hellos”, and “Slow Down” are also very strong in this area. When it comes to the rhythm section, all I can say is very, very tight. Federico Gil-Sola but his tight, fast beats (which were even faster live) serve well the band’s dance inducing songs, and give them a lot of their energy. Anders Rundblad’s bass playing is very tight as well and serves as a rock solid guide for the rest of the band. His tone is very round and warm, which blends into the sound nicely. The bass lines, like the drums, are more simple, but nonetheless good. What is most striking about Wire Train though, is how excellent their song-writing is.
1985’s “Between Two Words” is a slightly more produced record, having a more mainstream power-pop sound, and less post-punk. However, the transition isn’t a huge one and the band still retain their tight rhythms and bright guitar driven sound. The song-writing has not lessened in excellence either, with several stand out tracks like “Last Perfect Thing” “Skills of Summer” “Love, Love” and “I Will.” Lyrically, both albums shine, but this one in particular is filled with thought provoking poetic lines from Kevin Hunter.
Not many pop bands in ’84 ’85 had a sound as raw and guitar driven as Wire Train
The Fat Angel Sings 