Xtreme radio’s Alex Evans speaks to Theo Ellis and Joff Oddie from Wolf Alice ahead of their show at the Muni Arts Centre.
Alex: How is the tour going so far?
Theo: Yeah, its been really good. Got a little day off yesterday, which was quite nice. Quite a strange hotel. Before that we’ve been to Scotland and done Derby… and we’ve done
Joff Oddie: Middlesborough?
Theo: Middlesborough, yep so its been really good.
Alex: One thing i’ve noticed is that you’ve played gigs in the US and Japan. Are you going to do some more later? Is it a massively different experience to playing gigs here?
Joff: Japan’s quite different – a different kettle of fish, so to speak. On the whole our experience is that they’ve been very polite, not too noisey. It’s interesting… still very good though.
Theo: I remember being really moved at one of our shows in Japan, because i think its quite a different experience for a lot of people in the Japanese culture to go to shows with moshing and stuff like that – and there was at the show we did in Tokyo. I don’t want to sound patronising but it was really sweet and it was kind of a different experience, so yeah it is different. Americans are just nuts – thats always a good laugh as well.
Alex: Do you enjoy these smaller, intimate gigs as opposed to the festivals you’ve been doing?
Joff: I love them, I think that they’re great the small shows. You can see peoples faces in a little room and you fgeel like the floor is gonna break at any point.
Theo: I mean, this is quite a big venue. When we walked in we were like ‘this is massive’. In our head i think we were gonna do a couple of weeks playing pubs. The Middlesborough one was genuinely like a working mans club – the top half of one.
Alex: Your last tour was filmed as part of Michael Winterbottom’s film. Was that really strange experience or did it add much extra work or stress onto the whole thing
WA B: Its quite funny. I always find it nice to have lots of people around on tour.
Theo: Hmm, I know… but not with all those cameras.
Joff: Yeah, but they all had cameras, so… maybe it wasn’t ideal. It was a laugh. It was fun. You kind of got more relaxed towards the end, as you would expect really. At the beginning you were very aware there was a camera around.
Theo: It wasn’t long enough for it to ever get normal. We saw them for bits and bobs and a month isn’t… for people that aren’t used to being filmed, you just never feel truly comfortable. And the whole point of it was to get in our comfortable surrounding or whatever. The whole time it was like ‘i’m sitting so weird’ and ‘do I have any double chins?’
Joff: *Laughs*
Alex: Did it change your performance in any way knowing that as soon as you came off you’d be filmed? Or was it the same as normal?
Theo: Nah it was the same.
Joff: Same old half job Wolf Alice. Half arsed attempt at a gig.
Joff: *Laughs*
Alex: Funny you should say that… my next question is, what is the defining aspect of a Wolf Alice concert? What will people remember after they’ve seen you?
Joff: Drums!
Theo: *Laughs*
Theo: We’ve all gone to live music all our lives and performances have really resonated with us in the past and it would be amazing if people walk away with experiences like we once had. Quite a lot of kids are growing up now. Some of them we see quite a bit. One of the girls at that Middlesborough gig said ‘i’m going to Uni now’. I remember she snuck into the gig the first time because she wasn’t old enough. It’s quite cool
Alex: I know you’ve got quite a polictical side to your band in some cases. How important do you think that is as part of your identity as a band?
Joff: I think its quite an important part of us as individuals. We’re very luck that we all share a similar… apart from John, who’s a big UKIP supporter…
Theo: *Laughs*
Joff: Nah, hes not a UKIP supporter… we all share a similar kind of world view really. I don’t know how important it is for us – the band as a whole, but for all of us collectively as individuals, I know it sound like a bit of a contradiction…
Theo: Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. Its the fact that all four of us have the same beliefs and we have this platform given to us to say something and we’ve chosen to be vocal about it.
Alex: What would you say is the best part of being part of Wolf Alice? Is it the touring or being able to go out and perform?
Theo: There are so many different bits. For me its going to places that i’ve always dreamed of going like Japan and going to America. Touring sometimes is like… somedays you wake up and its the worst thing and somedays its the best.
Alex: Is there anything in particular yoou want to say to students that are listening?
Theo: Don’t vote for UKIP – they’re fucking scumbags!
