by Ryan Diaz

Wounded Animal showcased their funky folk-style music live from the bowels of Gist Hall in the LIXX lounge on Thursday, Sept. 25, with a spin on various genres. Local LIXX is a weekly show every Thursday night from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. that features local artists and bands live on air.

“The genre I’ve landed on is bard-core. It’s folk and punk, but not what people mean when they say folk-punk,” Ethan Rubin said. “As I am writing songs, all those different styles and genres that I’ve learned over the years surface, letting those boundaries be more permeable.” 

Rubin began Wounded Animal as a solo project in 2019, but often collaborates with other local musicians. Rubin collaborated with Polimana and Norm Crawford around the time he relocated to Humboldt County in January of this year. 

Rubin, originally from Philadelphia, moved to Boston for his undergraduate degree in philosophy from Boston University. Afterwards, he pursued his master’s degree in education at Cambridge University in England and his doctorate in education at the University of California, Irvine, which ultimately led Rubin to California. After living in Southern California, he and his wife relocated to Humboldt County for work. 

Rubin has been a musician since he was young, which started with classical violin at age six. Rubin plays the viola and does vocals for Wounded Animal and was joined for this recent on-air performance by Polimana, who plays the fretless gourd banjo. The name, “Wounded Animal,” originates from a deeper concept that inspired the chosen name. 

“When I originally named the project, I was looking for something that sounded cool and had the aesthetic,” Rubin said. “I think it is the perspective of the project; a lot of storytelling, different characters, something about the human condition there.” 

He also derives inspiration from fellow musicians. 

“My biggest musical influences are other people I play with,” Rubin said. “A lot of my music is thematically and stylistically driven by curiosity. There is something interesting about everything.” 

Polimana is most recently from San Bernardino and plays their music at venues and on air, and has performed some of their own projects on KRFH before for LIXX.  Polimana’s music is similar to Wounded Animal’s, but with a few key differences.

“My music is more like a sort of progressive, fuzz, bedroom-folk project,” Polimana said. 

Crawford is from Chicago, but has been local to Humboldt since 1993 and has played bass since he was 14. He plays with a few local bands but does not do any solo work, and joins in on Wounded Animal often.

 “The music scene in Humboldt is great, we have a really rich and diverse group of people,” Crawford said. “Bard-core is a mix of a bit of folk and punk rock, mixed with a little theatrical literary Shakespearean, almost. It’s intellectual.”

Rubin has only recently incorporated vocals into his music as he began to understand the physical constraints of the viola that allowed him to sing and play simultaneously.

“[Singing] wasn’t something I took seriously until around the time when I switched over to viola,” Rubin said. “I wanted to prove that I could be a fully self-sufficient singer-songwriter just with fiddle and vocals, that was the challenge that started things off… I have to figure out how I can physically do this; often, it’s the constraints of my instrument that shape the way I write. I have to let the instrument guide me.”

Bard-core isn’t something you come across every day. It’s a unique interpretation of various genres with a blend of folk, punk and theatrics that has made its way to Humboldt and adds character to the local music scene. 

“I’ve really valued the music and community I’ve found here in Humboldt,” Rubin said. 

Ryan Diaz is a senior at Cal Poly Humboldt and a second-semester reporter with an ambition to work in the public relations field after graduation. He is also a DJ on KRFH 105.1 FM and krfh.net, hosting a weekly show on Thursday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m..