I heard the Wrens play at the North Star Bar in February. I say heard, because the show was so sold out that even journalists weren’t getting in. A house packed to the balcony is a far cry from the Wrens shows most of us know. They’ve always been cult darlings in Philadelphia, but a hipster fad? I guess that’s when you know you’ve made it.How skewed is our judgement if we think that filling the North Star is alternately an evil feat (we were bitter because we couldn’t get in) and also a sign of success. The Wrens should have been packing that place, any dive-bar venue, from the get-go, but it takes some people more time to catch on to good music than others. Shit, man, I can’t really blame them. I suppose it’s logical to be skeptical of pop that appeared like a mirage on a grungy scene. And now that pop is an acceptable, even sought after sound, a band who always deserved but never received their indie laurels, are finally (in some small way) appreciated.
It’s been a long drive down a bumpy-ass road for the New Jersey natives. Basically anything about them that was credible, respectable, and talented hurt them career-wise. They were influenced by the Pixies, and it got them fired from their first gig. Their first LP, Silver, made them media favorites, and their earliest fan base include Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) and Todd Fink(The Faint), but the positive attention they received from Silver caused their record label to make unreasonable demands on the second album. When they refused to comply, they were left in the dust just before launching a European tour. In the end, their combined popularity and morals shot the Wrens in the foot.
And this was all before 1996.
So what happened over the past decade that changed their luck? Every one of their botched record deals turned into success for someone else (on their first label they were followed by Creed and on their second, The Strokes), and at that point any band with at least a sliver of pride or self-preservation would have quit and gotten a 9 to 5. The secret to the Wrens eventually reaching comfort-level success turned out, as it often does, to not include major labels, major venues, and major money. It all boiled down to perseverance. By finally settling on a release with small label Absolutely Kosher Records, and sticking around long enough, the Wrens discovered the Holy Grail of Indie : they achieved an intimacy with their fans that could pack a house. 
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