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Prior to their gig in Glasgow with Crobot, we grabbed a quick chat with the engine room team of Cannock based trio Wolf Jaw, bassist Dale Tonks and drummer Karl Selickis were certainly on top form. But, since then, the band announced on social media the devastating news that their fully packed tour van was recently stolen, if you think you can help, then you can find the list of stolen items here.
Here’s how the chat went..
Right then, Download Festival in the Summer, you actually played three sets, have you come down from it?!
Dale – “I’m not sure if it’s ever going to sink in, it was something that we’ve always dreamed of doing, we grew up as kids going to the festival, so to play there is phenomenal. It’s local for us, only about 40-45 minutes for us to travel, so that’s why it’s the one. To go there year after year, then all of a sudden you’re going there with all your gear. To get the initial phone call to say you’re doing it, and then two more after, asking can we come do two extra sets, it was unbelievable.”
Karl – “It was surreal, I think we all have a different take on the weekend itself, for me personally, getting those calls was mind blowing. Like Dale said, it was something we had all dreamed of doing, we got there on the Thursday for the RIP stage and it was like..okay cool, it still hadn’t sunk in. We played to a bloody good crowd, good show, everything went to plan, then we played an acoustic set the next day and again it was good fun. A bit odd for us as it was stripped back, we were well received, we finished, we looked out at Download, people everywhere, some of the biggest bands on the circuit, again it still didn’t feel real. Sunday came and we got there early in the morning, we were behind the Dogtooth stage looking into the main arena when it was empty, and it was like..okay..got myself into the zone, played, and it wasn’t until we had finished playing and I was walking down the back, and then that’s when it hit me! I’ll quite happily hold my hands up and say that I cried for a minute or two! Obviously not upset, just such a whirlwind of emotions, it was insane and we couldn’t have asked for a better crowd.”
Dale – “It was great, we walked on to get set up and the tent was empty, then I went into panic stations as I blew my amp! I was like…what do I do now?! But we quickly got another one and after that was fixed, I turned round and the tent was packed!
It is bizarre how that tent works, how it empties after one band then fills when the other comes on, like a changing of the guard!
Karl – “Especially since it was Sunday, the last day of the festival, a lot of people had been there at least three days, or five days for some, probably a bit worse for wear, and we came on quite early so we weren’t expecting many people to be up and about! From front to back, it was packed, it was incredible.”
You go from Download, the biggest Rock/Metal festival in the UK, to headlining RockWich Festival later this month. With grassroots festivals popping up all over the place, it’s important for a band like yourselves that they thrive.
Dale – “Oh definitely, we were asked about 12 months ago to do it, and the build up to it, the enthusiasm from the people behind it, has been incredible. It’s great that all these smaller festivals are happening, it feels like a resurgence, it’s kind of all coming back now, bubbling under. It’s good that you’ve pretty much got one in every city now. It’s refreshing to see because a couple of years ago when we started doing this, we were scratching around trying to find a pub to put us on, try and get people there, then all of a sudden it seems people have started going out to hear live music now. Maybe they’re fed up with the crap on telly!”
Now the new single, ‘Hear Me’, it’s kind of in-your-face isn’t it!
Dale – “We are going through the process of revamping the band, the name change etc, we’ve got stuff that we were writing that is a bit darker, a bit grittier and that’s kind of the edge that we wanted.”
Karl – “That song, without giving too much away from the new album, that song compliments the album quite nicely. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of variation on the album, but that song works very well in saying this is who we are, and like you said it’s very in-your-face, and that’s what we wanted.”
But then the other track released so far, ‘I Lose My Mind’, is totally different to it, is that an example of the variation you were talking about?
Dale – “That’s the way we like to write, we try to keep it different, nobody wants to listen to an album of the same stuff. If you want that, then you can listen to AC/DC or something similar. We want to try and make it like a listening experience. So every track is slightly different. We want to treat it like a live show, when you are playing live and you chuck the unexpected in, it makes it more enjoyable.”
Karl – “We’ve certainly learnt a lot since Starting Gun, with that album it was pretty much in the same vein. I think there were two tracks ‘Let’s Misbehave’ which started off very slow and then built up, and ‘I Hope’ which was just Tom on the acoustic guitar, and they were the two stand out tracks. With this album, I’m not saying how many tracks are on it, but it varies”.
Dale – “I think the way we wrote it as well is different, we took our time on the first album and there was a learning curve. With this one Listenable Records got involved, so signing to those guys was a help, it was a case of let’s get the ball rolling, get it going. In what, two months, everything was written and more or less probably recorded, a few tracks that we’ve tweaked. It’s stuff that we enjoy playing, and if you enjoy playing it onstage it transmits to everyone.”
Karl – “This was the quickest ever, it just happened, we sort of got into a vibe and went with it. A lot of people write with the mindset of..are the crowd going to enjoy this…, don’t get me wrong, you do want the crowd to enjoy it, but if you are enjoying it, smiling, people will do the same.”
Checking out the video for ‘Hear Me’ and everyone was really enthused over it, apart from one! When a negative comment pops up, can you ignore it? In particular when it’s a case of..I don’t like the new name, the new look or the new sound!
Karl – “Is this the one on Youtube?”
Yeah, that’s the one.
Karl – “We don’t know who that one is from, but you know what, we’ve learnt early on that you’re not going to please everyone. But we’re not here to please everyone, we’re here to please ourselves, play what we want to play and hopefully everyone else will enjoy it, and if they have then we’ll have a bloody good night with them afterwards! We stay in touch on social media, and we have got a very good relationship with our fans, we always stick around after the gig and talk to anyone.”
Dale – “It’s nothing that’s ever going to worry us, it’s just an opinion.We throw enough shit around in the practice room between each other!”
On the subject of Listenable Records, how did that come about? They are a very cool label.
Karl – “They actually approached us for the first album, the only thing was that they approached us once everything was done. Literally, it was just about to come out, we came to the agreement that it was wrong place, wrong time but we were very grateful.”
Dale – “We stayed in touch with them, we would let them hear some stuff, and they liked it. They’ve been such a cool label to work with.”
You’ve just played with Massive Wagons down in Chester?
Dale – “That was a special gig, the atmosphere was electric, everybody was just cool and hanging out. I kind of thought in my head that this was the way that it was thirty/forty years ago, bands hanging out together. It was such a killer show, we got a lot of good comments from this one, a lot of people saying it was the best that they had seen us.
Speaking to bands like yourselves over the years, the topic of “if one band could just break through that ceiling..” always came up, and Wagons have done that. Does that give you hope for the future? That someone somewhere is paying attention?
Dale – ”Oh god yeah, that’s kind of the charge from all the bands out there doing this, you keep pushing and it’s going to go at some point. That was actually the first time I got to see Wagons live! We’ve crossed paths god knows how many times, either the day before a gig or the day after.”
I’ve often thought that there should be some sort of regulation, you know like the one in football that says you have to have an under 21 on the bench, but this one would be that if a band plays an arena they must put on a small, up and coming band!
Dale – “Yeah that would be good, even if a major band goes out and pulls up one local band in each city…”
Karl – “It would give people a chance.”
Never going to happen though is it! Back to reality, how hard is it to juggle the band with normal everyday stuff like work? It’s not like you can phone in sick is it, every bugger has a phone these days and you would be on YouTube!
Karl – “I’m lucky when it comes to work, I’ve been there eight years now and because it’s a family run business, I’m very close with the owners. I do a lot for them and they do a lot for me. They’ve been great from the start, I must be one of the only people that works in a pub that works Monday to Friday! When I joined these guys I told my work that it was going to get busy, as it grew, I told them that I had to leave and they asked what I needed, I told them I needed evenings free for rehearsals, weekends off for gigs, and they said yes, it annoyed a lot of the staff though! But, it’s nice to have that backing, because a lot of people wouldn’t be as lucky as that. On that note, if you fancy a good steak, go to the Royal Oak in Brandon ‘cos it’s banging!”
You heard what the man said, get to The Royal Oak and tell them Karl sent you!
Connect with Wolf Jaw here.
Interview – Dave
