Fresh from Alt J’s tour bus, London four-piece Wolf Alice are back on British soil – but only for a two-day pit stop before crossing over the pond to kick off a 13-date headline tour in the states.
Since the release of their debut single Fluffy in 2013, it’s been non-stop for the female-fronted band who have racked up support from fans and critics alike with their impressive live gigs and experimental sound.
The band, made up of Ellie, Joel, Joff and Theo, announced the release date of their debut album, ‘My Love is Cool’ yesterday and MM caught up with the four twenty something’s to talk life on the road, drunken nights out in Manchester and Miley Cyrus.
“We flew back from the tour to play the BBC Radio 6 music festival in Newcastle and then we had a video shoot and then last night we played a show in London at The Boogaloo last night so it’s been pretty hectic,” says 22-year-old bassist Theo Ellis.
“Supporting Alt J was amazing. It was quite a strange bill because we’re completely different bands. We’re not playing venues as big as them but we hope to one day so it was good to be able to watch how they do things.
“We had some nice chats with them they’re really lovely people and they gave us a few drunken pointers every now and again in the dressing rooms so that was cool.
“It was our first time on a tour bus and that’s one of those things that you don’t think is ever going to happen so it was like a dream – except there were about 12 of us on there so there were a lot of smells and lots of close body contact.”
The platinum blonde bass player from Finchley, North London, joined lead singer Ellie Roswell and Joff Oddie in 2012 with drummer Joel Amey and the four-piece began gigging on the local circuit.
HUNGRY LIKE THE WOLF: The band say they can’t wait for fans to hear their debut
They released track Leaving You online on SoundCloud as a free download which gained airplay from BBC Radio 1 and featured in NME and they were later named the single most blogged about artist in the UK the following year.
Their latest single Giant Peach, released on February 24, has already been received praise from the likes of Zane Lowe and Fearne Cotton but Theo says the band won’t be disappointed if it doesn’t hit the top 10.
“We’re not really interested in chart positions we just want people to enjoy our music and think, that’s good.
“We never set out to just be an indie band I think it’s really nice to explore different avenues and we’ve done that a lot on our new record.
“We haven’t even put it out yet and we’ve had a lot of people pigeon holing us already but I think the new album will give us more definition to our sound.
“I think we just get a bit bored of the idea of making one genre.”
Theo says the band count Queens of the Stone Age, Beach Boys and Willy Mayson among their biggest influences and even confesses to loving pop stars Sam Smith and Miley Cyrus.
“I fucking love Miley she’s more punk rock than any other musicians out there at the moment and she writes on her record,” says Theo.
“Her album is riddled with some quite bizarre songs but Wrecking Ball is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard and that Beatles cover she did on Saturday Night Live with Flaming Lips was really cool. There’s not many pop stars who could collaborate with them.
“I think her next album might be really cool.”
Wolf Alice will be heading out on the road in the UK to promote their own album on a 14-date headline tour which kicks off in Glasgow on March 23 and Theo enthuses he can’t wait to play Manchester’s Ritz.
HOWLING RHYTHM: The London four-piece performed live at Worthy Farm last summer (© BBC, via Youtube with thanks)
“That venue is so cool. We played a show there with Swim Deep last year and it was so good. I think that’s going to be one of the highlights of the whole tour,” says Theo.
“Manchester’s always a wicked night out we’ll definitely be heading out and about after the show.
“We went to some little underground club near Troff in the Northern Quarter last time and someone ate some hair gel. I want to go back there, it was so weird.
“We love playing in Northern cities, the crowds are always wicked. Our show at the Academy was so fun we really like playing up North.
“I’m really excited to play more shows in the UK because this will be our first headline tour so I can’t wait to get out there and see what everyone thinks of it.”
Closely following a string of tour dates at venues around the country, the band will then head off to play some of the biggest festivals in Europe including Orange Festival, Best Kept Secret, Longitude and Reading & Leeds.
“We really want to hold our own at the bigger festivals and play alongside the bigger bands and do as well as we can,” says Theo.
“We are going to play some of the old material because I know I hate going to a gig when bands just play all their new stuff that nobody knows so we’re going to try and drop snippets of the new stuff in there.
“It’s going to be really exciting I can’t wait to play to UK crowds again, it’s the best feeling in the world to be honest.”
Wolf Alice will play The Ritz, Manchester on March 26.
