For those who haven’t heard Wild Beasts before, how would you describe your sound?
Eccentric Pop. We have far more ins and outs than your average band.
Was becoming another jewel in Domino’s already glittering crown overwhelming at all? How has it affected the ambitions of the band?
We don’t feel pressure but we do feel honoured. It’s a really good label to be on and the people who work there, make it what it is. We’ve always had quite high ambitions but we were never expecting this to be our job. We were never sure if we had something of worth, but we’re honoured to be doing this and we’re honoured to be on Domino; a label of such high integrity. You do taken more seriously due to their catalogue as well. We have absolute freedom. We’re working on our second album now, and it feels like now we’ve broken the ice we can push things a bit more. We’ve a lot more to prove and a lot of minds to change as well, because we think our first album was a sort of statement of intent and there’s a lot more places we can go with our music from here. There will be lineage from the first album but there will definitely be growth, there are so many musical avenues we want to explore. There’s a character to our band, so every record will definitively be a Wild Beasts record.
How is the band reacting to critical and more widespread acclaim?
It’s nice to read a good review and we think we deserve them because we do put some work in, but at the same time we’ve read so many bad reviews. But we aren’t too bothered, because so many bands have come and gone in the time we’ve been around that its just ludicrous. You can’t take it too seriously because you’ll read one thing saying you’re ‘the best new band’ and another slating you and neither really effect record sales.
How do you respond to tags of being ‘theatrical and eccentric’?
That’s a fair claim. We make an effort to do things that are a bit outside of the box and push things a bit. We’re bored of a lot of these standard issue bands, and there are a lot of them. We make an effort to push things a bit and give a bit more of ourselves.
What should fans expect from a typical Wild Beasts Gig?
Expect to be entertained. See a mixture of emotions. Be happy and sad, you can be tragic and funny about the same subject, so therefore it’s quite theatrical. We wanted to bring more of a theatrical element to our show. For years we’ve been playing in bread and butter, sausage and mash, dirty venue gigs. We’ve done tht now and don’t want to be the band to do that again. There are a lot of bands who are really good at bantering with the crowd, and I do respect that, but we really immerse ourselves in the character of the songs so we don’t really have to acknowledge the crowd. I mean if you want to the theatre you wouldn’t expect the characters to starts bantering with the audience.
You’ve been described as a very articulate and literate band. Would you agree with this? Is this intrinsic to the bands identity?
It is intrinsic, all of the music we enjoy does have extra depth but we do also strive for that instant element. We do strive for a certain depth and worth. The words can really inform how to approach the music.
What’s your opinion of indie-by numbers bands dominating the charts with tired and tested quiet-loud-quiet-loud garage rock?
We gave up a while ago. We only pay attention for a laugh. There’s a shameful predictably to most music at the moment. You can always tell what’s going to sell and music shouldn’t be that, music should be a part of yourself, it should be something to fall in love with, you shouldn’t always be force fed a product.
What, if anything have you learned from touring with Foals?
We’ve learnt a lot already. They’re an amazing band. They do everything so properly and wholeheartedly. Stick to your guns and keep going with what feels right.
Andy Trendell
http://www.myspace.com/wildbeasts
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1bW6USsmR70
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