What is your name and role within Wilderglow?
My name is Matt and I’m the vocalist/ guitarist in the band. In Wilderglow there is also John – synth/ keys, Josh – guitar, Adi – bass and James – drums.
Where are you currently based and what is the music scene like there?
We’re currently based in Melbourne. The music scene in Melbourne is great, there are always a lot of gigs happening and a lot of local bands we like. In certain suburbs just about every person and their dog is in a band.
How did Wilderglow form?
John and I played in a different band that didn’t work out, so we decided to start Wilderglow as a new project. Josh had helped out in our old band towards the end and it was pretty natural that he continued on with us to form Wilderglow. John, Josh and I all went to the same high school and university too. I knew Adi from around the area and he was in another band around the same time as our old band. We had been shooting demos back and forth for a while and when Wilderglow was started he ended up joining us. Josh knew James from work and ended up coming on board to complete the band.
What or who influences your sound and songwriting?
Our sound is influenced by a LOT of different bands, we all have quite different tastes in music. I’m into bands like Oasis, Blossoms, The Strokes, DMA’S, John’s into early Coldplay stuff and indie pop bands like Parcels and Phoenix. Josh takes a lot of inspiration from Eagles and Pink Floyd and more recent bands like The Moses Gunn Collective and Blossoms, Adi digs Death Cab For Cutie and Safia and James attributes a large part of his influence to Rohan Rebeiro of My Disco as well as bands like Tropical Fuck Storm, Idles and Hiatus Kaiyote.
The songwriting can be influenced by anything and everything, from other songs I hear, to girls, to just things I encounter in daily life.
You’ve just released your first music video ‘My Days’, how was this whole experience and how did the video come about?
The experience was great, we filmed the video over the course of a day pretty much, so it was quite a big/ tiring day but all worth it.
We were put in contact with director Zach Harris through Johns’s girlfriend and he ended up pitching us the idea of the music video which loved from the get go. The idea was for the video to be set in this dystopian world where an office worker falls into a trance/ dream state and is lead through various trippy locations by a mysterious girl. We wanted our first video to be quite epic and really showcase the song in the best way possible.
Who did you work with?
For the video we worked with director Zach Harris (Hoodwolf) and cinematographer Steven Abilla.
Who are you listening to at the moment?
Idles, The Moses Gunn Collective, LANY, Parcels and Blossoms.
What do you have planned for the remainder of 2018 going into 2019?
Our new single called ‘The One for Me’ that we self recorded and produced is coming out on the 30th of October (already on Triple J Unearthed at the moment). We also have a single launch party on the 31st of October at the Workers Club.
This is in the lead up to our second EP that we have planned to release towards the end of the year. We will also hopefully be playing some more support spots around Melbourne throughout the year, so yeah quite a bit happening!
How do you usually go about writing music and lyrics?
Our songs pretty much always start as a demo on a computer that one of us sends across. We use the demo as the bones/ structure to a song and then work it as a live band after, with everyone adding a bit of their own touch to it.
The lyrics I write tend to come out on the spot at the time of writing or hearing a new song idea, I then further develop them at a later time. The lyrics are always quite simple and introspective but also abstract so they can be open to anyone’s interpretation.
What do you like to do away from music?
All of us are working and/ or at university so the band is kind of our escape, but if it’s not the band then probably just hanging out with friends and family.
Favourite food and place to hangout?
Favourite food – Pancakes.
Favourite place to hang out – Our drummers place (where we rehearse).
