Wide Eyed Boy

We’ve just recently got the chance to talk to Wide Eyed Boy, a newcomer band from Liverpool combining forces from the UK, Germany and Australia, when they were supporting The Riptide Movement on their Germany tour. Check out the interview to find out what they’ve told us about their influences, their latest record and to hear some really good roadtrip tracks.

You’ve just released your first EP. What can you tell us about it?
Oliver: It’s called “Loving You Is So Easy”. We’ve recently shot a video for the title track – it’s kind of a twisted love song, really. It’s about when someone loves you a bit more than you love them.
Jonny: We put our first single on it as well, but we wanted to do a couple of versions of those two singles, so we got some acoustic versions just to show our songs in different ways, which is good fun. And there’s also ‘See The Light’, a fantastic track (laughs). You should all listen to it. Kobi produced that one and he did a really good job.
Kobi: It’s a German special, actually, you can only get that version over here.

Which is your favourite track on the EP or the one that means the most to you personally?
Oliver: To me, it’s ‘Loving You Is So Easy’. It’s also the most fun to play live for me.
Jonny: It sort of changes all the time, cause they all mean different things, they all got different messages. Hard to say. I’ll go with ‘Wolves’.
Kobi: I like the title track ‘Loving You Is So Easy’ as well.
Tom: Me too, but ‘See the Light’ is fun as well. We recorded that after we recorded ‘Loving You Is So Easy’, so that was cool, cause we got to go back into our rehearsal room and we had a lot more ideas and everything. It was really nice to get that one out.

Which artists have had the biggest influence on your work?
Jonny: It’s probably different for all of us. Cause we all grew up in different places before we came together and started writing together. There’s the ones like Bowie and Michael Jackson or maybe Prince though, that we all can agree on.
Tom: As we’re from Liverpool as well, there’s loads of up-and-coming bands, but also really established bands from the local scene. They’ve all had their influences on us.

Is there anyone you would like to work with?
Kobi: I’d love to work with Kanye West.
Tom: Chris Martin.
Jonny: There’s so many people! It’s so hard. You wanna work with all of your favourite artists. I’m gonna say Radiohead.
Kobi: Mark Ronson, as well.
Tom: Liam Gallagher!

Which has been your best experience as a band so far?
Tom: Obviously coming on tour to Germany! (laughs) We came here in July and played a few shows in Berlin, Cologne and Bremen. It was really cool to be able to do that. We played with some cool bands in the UK as well.
Oliver: We actually got the chance to play with Feeder recently, so that was really amazing.
Jonny: Studio experience is good as well. Being able to just have a week of working on songs, recording..
Tom: We spent ages writing stuff, so to be actually able to document it and get an album, is such a great feeling.

Opposite to that, what has been the hardest thing?
Oliver: For me it’s trying to stay optimistic and positive when you’re playing gigs that are a bit less attended. Obviously it’s amazing to play in front of an entire crowd, but sometimes you play and there’s just nobody there.
Kobi: Yeah, you gotta play the bad ones.
Tom: We went on tour once, in England, and the man who drove the van brought two dogs with him. That was hard. Imagine a really small van, seven seats, and having two dogs. And we love dogs, but… (laughs)
Jonny: Lots of hostels. Sometimes the places where you stay area amazing, sometimes they’re disgusting and it can be a lottery. Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve booked and there’s people staying in your bed. Our manager Jack had his first experiene in a hostel and when he opened the door he found somebody sleeping in his bed. They basically managed to break into the room and just sleep in his bed. Lots of little things on the road that you have to deal with.

Wide Eyed Boy live at Backstage Club Munich

Which three songs should be part of every roadtrip soundtrack?
Kobi: ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ by Oasis.
Jonny: ‘Kiss’ by Prince. You can always find time for that song.
Tom: We used to always play ‘Easy Lover’, but I think we’ve overplayed it.
Kobi: ‘I Believe I Can Fly’ by R. Kelly.
Tom: You can see the rest of it on our Spotify playlist!

Harry Potter or Star Wars?
Kobi & Jonny: Star Wars.
Oliver & Tom: Harry Potter.

Do you have any advice for new artists or something you’ve learned along the way that you would like to share?
Oliver: Be nice to people, don’t be a diva.
Jonny: Work hard, do all the gigs. You gotta get really good at playing, so practice a lot.
Tom: Also, do you know what Kobi did when we played our first gig? He forgot his guitar. We drove from Liverpool to London, which is like four to six hours, and we got halfway there when he realised that he forgot his guitar. So always remember that you have your guitar.

What are your plans for the near future?
Oliver: We’re gonna finish this tour and then we’re planning to release another single in February or March. Hopefully we’ll come back to Germany very soon!