London-based four-piece Wolf Alice are fast becoming one of the most talked about bands in the scene. The band as a whole could not be more relevant, with their fashion sense reflecting pretty neatly on the look of most young-adults around at the moment, their attention grabbing EP artwork and their unique and quirky sound, there’s a lot to get on board with. Drummer Joel Amey took a moment to chat about their music and their experiences.
The band haven’t been together for that long but are gaining more and more recognition, and they formed through and interesting series of events. “Ellie and Joff were playing before me and Theo joined about a year and a half ago. Joff broke the original drummers arm while watching Patti Smith at a festival, and Sadie (the original bassist) left to become a nurse, cause she’s a much better human being than the rest of us.” Since their formation, they have kept themselves busy. Between touring and recording, a lot has gone on in a short amount of time. They owe a large amount of their success to their growing popularity online, BBC Radio 6 announced them to be the most blogged about artist in the UK in 2013.
Their interesting sound is one of the explanations of their growing success, it’s a hard one to describe. As Joel says himself, the band don’t try to fit into any particular genre “We’ve never set out to be one thing or the other. Everything just falls into place the way it wants to, songs and sounds come and go as they please.” With a sound that’s so open, inspiration must come from lots of different places, as far as musical influences goes, Joel explains “It’s so varied and sporadic that it’s hard to answer sometimes. Miley Cyrus is usually followed by some Deftones in the van, so that might give you some indication. Joff loves his folk, I like my punk, Theo knows lots of words to Trinidad James songs, and I think Ellie might be a secret goth.” Furthermore, the band have an eclectic mix of interests when it comes to music, at the moment they’re listening to “Some Kurt Vile, Mac Demarco, the new Timber Timbre album as well as the songs Gengahr have put online. Some Captain Beefheart, Outkast, The Orwells and The Vines. Lots of favourites flying around, forever changing, usually depending on how bad the hangovers are.”
The last year has consisted of touring and releasing a debut EP for Wolf Alice. The reaction was mainly positive and there’s already noticeable favourites when they play live “Blush goes down well with crowds, especially on this tour. We’ve been super blessed with all the support we’ve had since then and can’t wait to show people what else we’ve got up our snotty sleeves.” To accompany their EP, they have also released videos. Their videos are hugely unique and original, and it’s something the band enjoy being a part of “We love our videos, it’s always something we try to have as much involvement with as possible. The [newest] one is gonna be a good un too.” Part of their touring experience was supporting The 1975 on their UK and Ireland tour, and Dublin’s crowd stood out for them “Honestly, favourite show of that tour. The crowd were beautiful and so receptive, we couldn’t have asked for more and can’t wait to come back.”
Wolf Alice have big plans for their music and hopes for their music and the aim is “for it to be loved and appreciated by as many people as possible. We are doing this as much for other people as we are for ourselves, and it’s the greatest feeling when you see or hear that the music makes a connection.” Expect to see much more from this band, they’re very quickly getting a bigger and more passionate fanbase, and they have a busy few months ahead of them, they’ll be “Finishing up this tour, the new EP ‘Creature Songs’ comes out 26th of May then it’s time for festivals where we will be coming over for Electric Picnic!! See ya soon Ireland you legends!!“.