Before going on a 12 stop tour throughout Europe, Wild Child brought down the house at Brooklyn Bowl on March 5th. Often times, I’m asked to describe them and I don’t know where to start. Are they singer/songwriters? Yep. Americana? Definitely. Pop? Oh yeah… At the end of the day, I usually settle on indie pop that makes you feel good, even though they sometimes sing about some pretty dark times.
After a fun intro by their multi-instrumentalist Matt Bradshaw they dove straight into a crowd favorite, “Pillow Talk” and didn’t let go throughout the entire night, playing all the well-knowns and some brand new songs off album number three.
Kelsey Wilson brought all the feels when she had the entire venue sit down for a “Bridges Burning” sing-a-long. I don’t know how she did it, but it made Brooklyn Bowl’s space feel almost homey.
After the show, we got one glorious encore and we all sang “The Tale of You & Me” right along with them. In their live performances, this band grabs right onto your heart strings and ties you up with them.
And even though they’re currently on the first leg of their European tour, I was lucky enough to get a few questions in.
What are you most looking forward to on your European tour?
There are a lot of cities that we’ve never been to before, so that’s exciting. It’s special to play for an audience so far from home. It’s different playing over here; it’s really strange and wonderful to have fans whose first language isn’t English sing the lyrics of our songs back to us. Also, we’re going to Liverpool to check out the homes of one of our favorite bands, Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Can you tell us anything about your next album?
The album is being produced by a number of different producers/artists, friends of ours that we have worked with on the road. We started the record recording some tracks in Philadelphia this past summer with Scott McMicken of Dr. Dog and just recorded some in Austin with Matt Vasquez of Delta Spirit and the guys in Shakey Graves.
We end the tour in Oslo, Norway and go straight to the studio the next day with Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie. We found that this has influenced our recording process; each producer has a different approach to creating and recording music that it’s infiltrated our sound, almost like someone put a Dr. Dog filter on a Wild Child song for example.
There’s a lot of new members in the band, can we expect the same sound or will there be an evolution of Wild Child?
We still maintain what’s unique to our band but seen in new light. This will be our first record with guitar on it. Every album we make we try to do something a little different and push ourselves musically by bringing in new elements. It helps us keep things fresh.
Matt, HOW MANY INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY???
You mean play well? Not that many. Trumpet is probably my main squeeze. I would tell you, but I’ve got to keep some secrets.
Are there now more collaborations in writing, or is it still mostly Alexander and Kelsey?
Generally we’re still maintaining our same writing process where the two of us write the skeletons of the songs and bring them to the band. What has changed is our ability to communicate with each other, since we’ve now been working so closely together for six years. With a band as large as ours, it’s important to learn how to communicate with each other and not step on each others toes.
Kelsey, I’ve never seen you do a show where you’re not ear-to-ear smiles. What’s the secret?
Hah, total and complete fear.
Sadie, can you tell us a little bit about your instruments? They look other-worldly cool.
I’ve always had my acoustic cello with me on stage, I’ve had that thing forever. A couple of years ago I needed to find a solution to travel on a plane with a cello and I found an electric cello from NS Designs. They make awesome instruments and it gives a dynamic to the sound on stage being able to switch between the acoustic and electric.
Alexander, what happened to that glorious mustache?
The times, they are a-changing. I find you have to shake things up in order to grow. I was also getting tired of getting called Ron Swanson everyday of my life. But now I am getting sick of getting called Brad Pitt. C’est la vie.
What’s next for Wild Child?
Stay on the hustle, stay on the grind. We’re in it for the long haul, expect us to always be in a town near you.
All photos courtesy of nubbs.live.
