Wolf Alice are back after the breakout success of their debut album My Love is Cool, which has garnered them major success in the UK and the USA. Their bassist Theo Ellis talks to Brig Newspaper about the new album and life on the road.
How’s life?
Good, thanks. I’m just on my way to rehearsals right now.
You’ve certainly been busy after the success of ‘My Love is Cool’. Where did you find the time to write and record your second album?
We just kind of wrote while we were on the road, making notes on iPhones and iPads and whatever. It was good that we had our own space to go away and record the album.
Was the creative process different this time around?
Definitely in the sense that it came together in that time while we were writing on the road. The process wasn’t too dissimilar, though. We did still have a pretty similar process to last time around.
‘Yuk Foo’ is a definite departure from the sound of your previous album. What was the reason for releasing it as the lead single from the album?
We wanted stuff that was going to get people to jump around to live. The excitement we got from the recording of that song was kind of the reason behind releasing it first because it just felt like that.
Do you have a favourite track on the new album?
‘Sky Musings’ is my favourite because it sounds just like how I wanted it to come together when we first started writing it, after it had been mixed and everything.
I remember getting a postcard in the mail in May with the title of one of your new songs on it. What was the idea behind such an individual way to start an album campaign?
We wanted to do something more tangible. Rather than just doing stuff online it seemed more personal to send out the postcards and then people could go online and start piecing it together on Twitter and stuff.
You were on a very intimate tour last month and are heading back to large venues like Ally Pally in November. Do the different sizes of these venues affect the way you perform at all?
The way the band performs doesn’t change but there’s more of a production in the larger venues. We want to try and give the best performance we can every time so it doesn’t really matter what size the venue is.
You’ve played the Pyramid Stage at Glasto. What gigs do you still dream of playing?
There’s loads more gigs and venues I’d love to play, we’re playing some of them on our tour in November. The bucket list just keeps growing.
So, what can we expect from your tour in November?
The greatest show you’ve seen in your entire life!
What is life like on the road?
Being on the road is fun, amazing. It can be hard to keep your mind on the road, though. We tour so much it can be like a marathon but it’s what we love doing.
What advice do you have for any of our readers who want to be in the music industry?
I can only really give advice if they want to be in a band, but if that’s what they want to do then just play as many gigs as you can and practice your instrument everyday.
Wolf Alice’s new album Visions of a Life is out on September 29 and they play the Glasgow Barrowlands as part of their UK tour on November 11 and 12.
Music editor
