North East-based captivating alternative pop outfit WOLFRED have mesmerised many times before and are gearing up for the release of their new single ‘Sleep’. To celebrate this release they’ll be playing two shows at Newcastle’s Alphabetti Theatre on the 22nd of June, time for us to sit down with singer Wilf, and ask him some questions!
Could you introduce your musical project to us, and how did it come to be?
The name of the music is WOLFRED. We play out of North East England but have been all over. We’re made up of myself, my brother Bernard Stone on drums, our bassist and long term friend Dan Jupp on bass and synths and Paul Holdsworth on guitars and keys.
What is your latest single ‘Sleep’ about, what inspired the writing of the single?
‘Sleep’ was one of those songs that just kind of happened. There wasn’t a concerted effort to write about something specific – I was just writing what was there – sat in my friends kitchen with a DIY recording set up and a guitar – all the original drum and bass parts were written on my acoustic. Then we took it to Chris McManus at Blank Studios and it evolved into what it is now, and then after that we put it into a live setting with the full band and it took on a new life again – harder and heavier.
How do you usually start writing songs? Is that with a melody, sounds, lyrics?
Usually everything comes at once. It’s rare I’ll just hear a melody or chord progression. It’s an internal barrage of drums and guitars and vocals and rhythms – usually imagined live in front of an audience. There’s normally brass sections and choirs and flashing lights and all the emotions that accompany a performance. Then it’s about making sense of all the noise and creating something tangible and not shit.
What do you hope you will achieve as a musician?
More shows. More records. More time with the band. One foot in front of the other – do what we do and enjoy the process.
Who would you love to perform live with, what artists would you like to support?
We all love Enter Shikari, Alt-J, Noga Erez – all sorts – just show us the stage and we’ll play it.
What’s next on the Wolfred-calendar?
We’ve got two shows coming up on the 22nd of June. They’re at Alphabetti Theatre in Newcastle – we’ll be playing their 75 theatre space so they will be really canny shows. We’re playing them to celebrate the release of Sleep – we’ve got a bunch of new merch that’ll be on sale – there will be new versions of old songs, new songs – it’s going to be fucking lovely, go get tickets from the Alphabetti website.
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