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    Concert Preview: A Conversation with Wolf Alice

    In a particularly robust year of highly anticipated album releases from the UK, Wolf Alice’s outstanding third studio effort, Blue Weekend, holds up mightily among its contemporaries. Leaping between genres across arrangements that range from decadent to dirty, the set’s 11 tracks are evidence of the London-based trio’s simpatico. None of lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell’s, guitarist Joff Oddie’s, drummer Joel Amey’s, or bassist Theo Ellis’ respective contributions compete for space – they buoy one another equitably. From start to finish, it’s a remarkably balanced piece of work. 

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    The London-based quartet, which is now approaching a full decade of working together, took four years to craft a successor to 2017’s My Love Is Cold, which won them the coveted Mercury Prize the following year for the best album release by a UK or Irish artist – and squelched any concern about them transcending the overwrought ‘sophomore slump’ bromide.

    “I think, historically, journalists like to purvey this idea that the second album is really tricky,” says Amey during our recent interview. “Obviously, I think we kind of hit the ground running still off the back of the first [album] (2015’s Vision Of A Life) and just kind of went for it. And I think if you do that and you pull it off, you do find yourself a certain level of confidence.” He pauses. “But then you also have this nagging doubt that it’s just going to be ripped away from you no matter what you do next.”

    The band’s forward momentum makes that scenario rather unlikely, however. Their label, Dirty Hit/RCA, just pushed out a deluxe version of Blue Weekend on October 29, adding a series of live takes of five of the album’s cuts (entitled The Pool Sessions) to the original track list, plus a cover of American indie rocker Alex G’s 2017 single “Bobby.” Their forthcoming tour of the UK and Ireland in early 2022 is completely sold out, as is the vast majority of the current U.S. leg, which brings them to Newport Music Hall on Tuesday, November 9. A few general admission tickets remain for the show, giving Arch City residents a (dwindling) chance to see the band on its first visit here since 2018. 

    “We’re really buzzing to come to Columbus because we have such good memories there,” Amey shares. “I was saying earlier that I really feel like I know that town, walking up to the venue along that strip on [High Street]. We have a really soft spot for it.”

    I had the good fortune of chatting with Amey and Ellis, who had barely settled into their Seattle hotel room on the opening night of the tour when they obliged me in a deeper dive into the making of Blue Weekend, public critique, collectibles, and what they plug into when they’re not focused on Wolf Alice’s catalog.

    Grant Walters: Thanks so much for sitting down with me tonight – especially when you’re just hours away from your first show on the tour. I’m scared to ask how many cotton buds [swabs] you’ve each endured as you’ve made your way over from the UK, but I’m sure it was a process given where we’re still at with the pandemic. It’s probably pretty joyful, though, yeah?

    Theo Ellis: We haven’t been away in so long. It’s the first time we’ve been on a plane in, like, two years, you know?

    GW: And you’re on the road in America for the first time with Blue Weekend, which I’ve been listening to regularly since it came out this summer. Congratulations on a truly fantastic record. Every review I’ve read has been unanimous in praise, which also seems to be accompanied by many observations about how the band has matured since your last album. How do you feel about that? 

    Joel Amey: We probably all have different psyches about the process, and we’ve probably all had ‘up’ days and ‘down’ days where you think you’re making the best album you can. Other days, you think ‘We should just put this in the bin and start again.’ I don’t think that’s too unique to our situation. But once we got the masters back, we were happy, and we were proud. And I think if you’re proud of what you love then it doesn’t really matter what happens next for you, necessarily.

    GW: And you truly have a lot to be proud of. So, I know I’ve talked about this with one or two other artists in the past, but it has to be a bit strange to have your professional output so widely available for criticism and consumption after you work on it together in a bubble for months, or even years. 

    TE: Yeah, I mean in a way it’s funny because that’s the nature of it, isn’t it? It’s all your thoughts and feelings that usually go into it. It’s quite emotional, or at least for us it’s quite an emotional process making a record. That is a product, in a way, that people consume – and like any product, it gets criticized. But I think, in this day and age, there are so many different means for people to directly let you know how they feel about it. And you have to preserve your art, or at least let it not affect how you create. I think it’s interesting for all artists navigating a world where you’re constantly open. It’s almost like having someone post a letter through your letterbox every day, and it’s tough.

    But I think we’ve bee very lucky with how people have treated our band back home – and pretty much on the whole everywhere else. People have been so supportive and I think we’ve had it alright. I’ve seen some artists get a lot of people who are just kind of being crazy online. But luckily, I don’t think the art process has been affected too much. I still feel a bit like we’ve got sacred ground when it’s the four of us in the room that Twitter hasn’t fucking dissolved yet or something [laughs]. I think when we get back together, we’re still untainted by the outside world.

    GW: Obviously, the two of you have an incredibly special connection to Ellie and Joff as creative partners. Besides them, what are the most important relationships in your circles that keep you grounded and help you maintain perspective as you navigate all of that?

    TE: Each of us have individual people and family and members and, you know, partners and siblings and stuff that motivate you in that way. But I know the linchpin creatively in my life – someone who unlocked a few doors for me when we worked on the second record – is [producer] Justin Meldal-Johnsen. He really kind of gave us a bit of, like, ‘back-to-school’ training [laughs]. But then I think we’ve all got people that we love who motivate us to make good stuff, in a way. Aside from each other, hopefully. Maybe. Or, actually maybe I hate everyone…

    JA: You know, in reference to your question from before, sometimes the people closest to you – their opinions can maybe send you on a different tangent creatively. At least in my opinion. So, if I show them a demo and they’re like, ‘ehh…okay,’ that sucks to me more than getting a one-star review in fucking whatever magazine. D’you know what I mean? But, you know, sometimes the closer the person is, it can be trickier to deal with the criticism – if you have a face or relationship on that criticism. But then there are also the people that if you see them getting buzzed, you know, it’s like, ‘Okay, cool. This could be a special thing.’ I don’t rely on them creatively, but there’s a nice feeling when people you know who don’t bullshit you when they get as excited as you want them to be.

    GW: I’ve read so many pieces of press that have anointed Wolf Alice the biggest band in Britain. But you’ve all been rather humble about your trajectory despite all of your accomplishments, which I think is really quite commendable. What aspect has most exceeded your expectations of where you thought you all might be in your career at this point?

    TE: I mean, everything, you know? Because I genuinely feel a little bit like I’ve got that complex of…we got to play Brixton Academy on our first album. And I remember when I was a teenager, my dream was to play Kentish Town Forum, and that’s, like, half the size of [Brixton]. So, it’s kind of like we’ve been in a bonus game for ages – in a way, in teenage parameters. But then what I think I’m proud of – and I think it has really helped us do and execute things well – is the steady line of things rather than dramatic. Because so many bands get really big really quickly. And most of them do a great job and continue to be great bands.

    But knowing how panicked we are quite a lot of the time, that would be difficult for us. So, I think things getting a little bit bigger and us being the band we want to be at that level rather than trying to fill some shoes we may be uncomfortable in – which I think is really important in performing and creating, and stuff.

    GW: You and your band mates have often spoken about how you incrementally improve your contributions to Wolf Alice’s sonic esthetic. I don’t often get to talk to drummers and bassists, so I’m curious how each of you build competency on a daily basis? 

    JA: Me and Theo didn’t play bass and drums before we joined this band. That was just, like, our introduction to these instruments. In some ways that was an unlearned process to what we were doing, and we were kind of at the same level of learning. I mean, we were best mates before the band, so it was quite a fun way for us to learn together. Which is convenient because of the nature of what you imagine the drums and bass are sonically supposed to do. Neither of us had had any sort of technical teaching, apart from Justin [Meldal-Johnsen] who did genuinely school us on both instruments, so it made it a little unique in the way that we push and pull, and we speed up and slow down – we always do it together.

    Because we’ve rehearsed so much recently, we’ve just got more solid and become more like one unit. Along with the rest of the band, me and Theo are both into quite a lot of programming and drum machines and synthesizers, and stuff like that, and I think that’s probably something I think I’d like us to both explore more and bring more to the fold – at least to scratch that itch, you know? Because we do that in Wolf Alice, but we’ve certainly shelved ideas that have been more, like, genuinely dance. They’re not things that we shy away from, and I think that’d be quite a lot of fun for us to try and bring.

    GW: They might not be danceable per se, but I definitely hear some R&B undertones on Blue Weekend

    JA: Yeah, I think when you listen to bass and drums, regardless of what genre you play, that’s where players come from – like, gospel and R&B, and stuff. It’s such an exciting way to play that even if you’re not playing in that style, it’s cool to try. Like, ‘Formidable Cool’ off the second record – we play that loads, and I feel like the way we play that now there’s more…I think it’s what I think Justin kind of wanted to get to in the studio. It has that soulful click.

    GW: When you’re not writing or recording material for Wolf Alice, what music are you listening to that you find inspirational – or aspirational?

    JA: I did keep listening to that SZA and Kendrick Lamar song [‘All The Stars’] off the Black Panther soundtrack…

    TE: Oh, yeah. That’s a great song.

    JA: Yeah. So, I’ve really been trying to flex my production muscles at the moment, and that song is just done so well in the incorporation of two amazing vocalists, a symphony orchestra, and then a crunchy hip-hop beat. And I sort of study stuff like that. As well, I’m listening to so much techno and dance music at the moment, like Bicep…

    TE: Bicep is so good.

    JA: And, yeah, there’s a lot of really good punk out there now, isn’t there?

    TE: Yeah. Like, I find Spotify so weird, right? I’m not openly endorsing it, but just telling you that I now use a lot of Spotify. My algorithm is so fucked as I was listening to it this morning – in the best way possible. But I’ve been listening to the new Young Thug album that came out, like, two days ago. I’m interested in everything he does. And there’s a beatmaker called Onra who did something called Chinoiseries Pt 1 in 2007, and then he did a part two and then a part three ten years later. It’s all kind of like kung fu films and stuff interspersed between beats, and I’m listening to that.

    We’ve got loads of good friends making good music. Jelani Blackman who’s got a mixtape coming out is a friend of ours from back home. There’s lots of different stuff. But you know what it’s like nowadays – I was listening to Elvis and then a drill artist called Digga D all in the span of about five minutes.

    JA: I want to give a shout out to a guy called Jasper Tygner. I think he’s quite a young dance producer, and I’ve just got his EP [Eyes Closed] on and it’s amazing. And the new one from Wiki who used to be in that rap group Ratking – all the samples are, like, jazz gospel, and his choices are amazing. I’m also really waiting for the new record Arca called Kick II – they’re fucking amazing, and just like the coolest house in the world. Those are probably the most forward-thinking kinds of things on my playlist on the moment – otherwise, it’s all kind of, like, old school.

    GW: Since you’ve achieved a significant level of success and you have some perspective in the rearview mirror, what kind of souvenirs or memorabilia have you hung onto that keep you connected to those earlier days when you were dreaming about being where you are now? Or are there things from other artists you’ve picked up along the way?

    JA: I’ve still got quite a lot of, like, the press cuttings and stuff – there’s a memory box of all the [show] lanyards and things like that. And I think it’s just funny looking at what we used to look like [laughs]. Like, all the different haircuts! Me and Ellie had mullets about three years ago – or even longer ago because we were making fucking Visions Of A Life. I found a picture of me recently and I actually look like Live Aid-era Bono. So, I find the nostalgia of keeping hold of those kind of mementos always really sweet.

    TE: I actually really love music memorabilia. One of the things that got me into music is the cross-pollination of fashion and music. I’m not afraid to say that I wanted to be in a band to look cool – like punk music, and that’s pretty much what punk music is, in a way, yeah? I just fucking love old band t-shirts, for some reason – all of the old designs. I’ve got this old Prodigy one that I really love that’s from their original year. And an old Siouxsie and the Banshees t-shirt that I love. I stopped playing my bass that Jamie [Oborne], the head of our label bought. I’ve stopped playing it live. I never thought that would happen – it’s, like, a 1975 Precision that has these funny little really loud pick-ups on it. And that’s just my favorite thing in the world, that bass.

    GW: I never like asking arists ‘What’s next?’ But, wIth as much change as you’ve all experienced in a short period of time, what have the four of you agreed cannot change no matter what happens along your future journey as a band?

    TE: You know, we have these kinds of unspoken things in terms of the quality of the music we’re putting out, and as long as it reaches our criteria – that we’ve worked hard on it, and committed to it, and made something we’re proud of – then there are no rules, d’you know what I mean? One of the exciting things for us going to the future is that we’re not afraid to try anything. Sometimes maybe to our detriment, but sometimes it’s a positive thing that takes us to a new avenue. I think there are key values of us really doing a good job on making the music and making the art surrounding it. We always want to kind of surpass what we think we’ve achieved before.

    JA: Yeah, and just never compromise on the live show, which is the other fundamental of what being Wolf Alice is – providing people that are willing to come see us the best night of their life. Nothing should get in the way of that, and I think we kind of do that quite…

    TE: The best night of their life?!

    JA: Well, that’s what the plan is when they come to the gig…or their fourth best night. Like, top ten!

    TE: Top ten is really good for me. I’ll take that. Like, better than their wedding day? [laughs]

    JA: Children, everything. It doesn’t matter. That’s when they lock into our groove. That’s when their life makes sense.

    GW: I know this tour is important to all of you for a lot of different reasons. How much time have you all actually invested in preparing for it?

    TE: We spent a lot of time playing for this record, partially because we’ve got a lot of nuances and we’re playing with it. We’ve got an extra member on stage right now, Ryan Malcolm, who’s an amazing and really lovely person. But also, there’s a lot of nuances with the extra sounds and stuff like that, and then kind of getting our heads around playing songs. We played [Reading Festival] this year, and we built up to that for, like, maybe three months, and then rehearsals after that. So, it was probably six months of playing and wrangling with the songs properly.

    It’s becoming quite a big beast, so when the Wolf Alice live thing stars to come back around, it takes you a good minute to get in it. I think we’re in good nick right now – we’re in good shape.

    GW: Are you taking any new risks or approaches to live music on this outing?

    TE: Yeah, I think…

    JA: We’re having more fun.

    TE: Yeah, it’s kind of fun, and a bit more…I think we’re all kind of worried about not being able to play as well as we could, and I think everyone’s got more confidence. This stuff like ‘Safe from Heartbreak,’ which is really vocally dense – which I don’t do fucking any bit of singing on that one, but these guys have quite a bit of these close harmonies. So, there’s quite a lot of singing. I think the whole thing is just a little bit more accomplished than it has been.

    JA: I think we can laugh off mistakes that could’ve potentially derailed a whole show at one point, d’you know what I mean? You just become more competent with, like, bouncing back a second later. There is quite a fun side to us and we can laugh at ourselves, as seriously as we do take this. And the addition of our friend Ryan is, like…I’m just really having a really fun time on stage. And obviously with everything going on, it’s just been, like, ‘We’re back!

    GW: And how do you know you’ve done a good show? Or, maybe what’s your criteria for being satisfied that everything has meshed as it should?

    JA: You wait. You wait quietly until someone else says it, and then you go ‘Yes! You’re right! It was amazing!’ [laughs] But, really, music is a feeling, isn’t it? We did a run of small shows in the UK, and the sheer volume of people singing back the new songs is, like…I find it moving.

    GW: Right. That moment when people are reflecting your art back at you in a really loving way. That has to blow your minds.

    TE: That’s the best, man.

    JA: There’s nothing else like it. And if you leave the stage and, even if I’ve played terribly, it’s, like, there’s something about that sensation you can’t find anywhere else, you know – that kind of unity and enjoyment.


    Wolf Alice plays Newport Music Hall, 1722 N. High St., on Tuesday, November 9 (with special guest BRIA); doors open at 7 p.m. General admission tickets are $23 (plus applicable taxes, fees, and surcharges). Merch, music, and more information about the band can be found on its official website

    Know before you go, from the venue: For this event you are required to provide proof of full vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours to enter the venue. Additional information can be found here. This show is indoors. In accordance with local health and safety regulations, everyone in attendance is required to wear a mask or facial covering.

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    Grant Walters
    Grant Waltershttps://columbusunderground.com
    Grant is a freelance writer for Columbus Underground who primarily focuses on music and comedy. He's a Canadian transplant, born and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and schooled in Vancouver, British Columbia. Grant is also the co-author of two internationally acclaimed books: "Decades: The Bee Gees in the 1960s" and "Decades: The Bee Gees in the 1970s." He has also penned numerous articles and artist interviews for the nationally recognized site, Albumism.
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