Wolf Alice

MY LOVE IS COOL – that’s how their first album is going to be called.
We met up with the 4 pieced band to talk about their debut album, fights, air bnb and lots of other things…

You’re on tour with Alt-J. How’s it going so far?
Ellie: Really good, actually. The crowds are good.
Joff: We’ve got the opportunity to play to an audience we normally wouldn’t have played to otherwise.
Ellie: They’ve been receiving us in a much better way than we thought they would. They are quite receptive and rowdier than I would have thought.

Can you tell us something about your first album?
What can we expect?
Ellie: We’ve just finished it! It will be coming out on 22nd June.
Joff: It features probably the heaviest moments we’ve done so far, and also a lot of the poppiest moments.

Are there any artists who influence your work?
Joff: I think there are artists that we admire more than they necessarily influence us.
Beck, Electric Picnic. We are all really amazed by the way people cross genres. There’s lots of people we admire, but I think they rather influence your way of thinking and approaching something rather than your music. It’s kind of a cool way of having it.

What was the first and the last record you bought?
Theo: Sum 41 – All Killer No Filler was my first one. Probably the last one I bought as well.
Joff: The Slim Shady LP, and the last record I bought was any POND album.
Ellie: Misunderstood by Pink, I guess. The last one I bought must have been… Superfood’s album!

What are you doing five minutes before the show starts?
Theo: I tie my shoelaces real tight and check my belt, cause if you don’t, your trousers and your shoes will fall off. We have a sing, we have a hug.
Joff: Yeah, we always have a hug and sing, usually accompanied by acoustic guitar. Songs like “Take your mama out” by Scissor Sisters or “Generator” by The Holloways.

People always try to stick labels on you, but how would you describe your music yourselves?
Ellie: We just don’t, really. It’s pretty hard to describe yourself. We are always evolving and changing, we don’t stick to one thing. Maybe I’ll be able to do it a few years from now.

We’d like to hear about your songwriting process… Are all four of you involved?
Ellie: It’s different for every song. Sometimes one person writes the whole song, and sometimes everyone writes a part or we write it all together.

Do you ever fight when you write songs together or do you stay calm?
Ellie: Well, sometimes we have to work things out, but we don’t fight. If you fight about things like that, you should break up.

You guys seem really close…
Theo: Physically we’re close, cause we’ve all got fucking small dressing rooms. (laughs) No, we really are close. I think it’s inevitable when you’re touring, we do everything together.

You’ve just played a few gigs in the US and apparently you did airbnb, is that correct?
Joel: Yeah we did, it was amazing. The guy who owned the apartment was really cool about it. He was a musician as well. It was an amazing place.

If you could be the hosts of a band in your own home, which one would it be?
Theo: Laura Marling, for a cup of tea or a jam on the banjo.
Joff: Hoobastank !

Which advice would you give to young artists who are only just starting with music?
Theo: Play loads of gigs. It’s a great way of learning your craft.
Joel: Take it serious. Just treat it like it’s the only thing that matters, and then you have all the songs you need, you have an album that you enjoy, you have fans…
Theo: It’s difficult when you financially can’t get into the position where you can take it seriously cause you have to work at the same time.
Joel: It’s gotta be everything to you. Just try and take as much as time as possible for your music.