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New Music Friday: Wishing Wolf

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Kettering emo rockers Wishing Wolf have a new single with accompanying video out, entitled ‘As Long As You’re Here Tonight’. The five-piece – Danny Ray Holmes on vocals, Ben Essam and Kyle on guitar, Jazza Wallace on bass and James Angelo Moodie on drums – have been tearing up the local hardcore scene these past couple of years. It was time New Boots got the lowdown.

How did you get together?
Danny: We got together early 2017. Wishing Wolf was originally just me and a few acoustic tracks that I threw together, and while I loved doing that, I wanted to take it in a new direction with more energy, I was listening to a lot of pop punk at the time, and really wanted to throw my own take on it. So I asked Moodie, Jazza and at the time Skye to join, who were all happy to jump on. Moodie then introduced me to Kyle, and he jumped on too. After a few member changes we now have Bessie on lead guitar, and Kyle on rhythm after leaving for a short time.

How would you describe your sound?
Bessie: We take a lot of inspiration for a whole multitude of artists and I think that is reflected in our sound. I don’t think there is a single genre we fit into. We speak amongst ourselves about it and people ask us at shows, ‘what genre are Wishing Wolf?’, and we just say ‘our own’.

Who would you say are your main influences?
Danny: We’re influenced by a lot of different bands, being that all of us listen to a diverse range of music. Most of the songs start from me and the guys add in the their own touches at the end. Our most obvious ones are the older post-hardcore/emo bands such as The Used, My Chemical Romance, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, as well as newer bands like Neck Deep and State Champs. There’s a lot of lead parts as well, since most of us have come from metal bands in the past, and I’m also really into the orchestral sounds of music, like strings and pianos, that I like to throw in too.

What was the reaction like to last year’s ‘True Eyes’ EP?
Moodie: We felt that even though we didn’t have much of a following at the time we did have quite a few positive reactions from various people, whether that was from people buying our EP, or just leaving good reviews for us. On the build up to the release we were all quite anxious about whether people would actually enjoy the music we created. However our current rhythm guitarist Kyle wasn’t in the band when the EP was released but was still good mates with us all. So it was helpful to have someone on the other side. As for the feedback from social media it was nice too hear that people really enjoyed it, as well as others giving constructive criticism on certain things the audience would like too hear/see.

Tell us about the new single.
Moodie: We were all nervous and excited about it. The EP had a mixture of different sounds and ‘As Long As You’re Here Tonight’ was the first song we’ve released with much more of an established sound. We decided to go further in the direction of emo rather than the pop punk songs from the EP. From the get go we were nervous about people’s reactions. Thankfully people gave us some great feedback! The reaction was overwhelming and overall made us very proud of the release. We felt this song was the first one to really put us out there and getting gigs and interviews like this off of the back of it only continued the good vibes.

What are your live shows like?
Kyle: We certainly aim to keep a nice balance with our live show, of course as musicians it’s important for us to play to the best of our ability, however as fans it’s important for us to put on a great show. We put a lot of energy into our live show and that’s because we love doing it. We take a lot of inspiration from some of the classic bands of the genre in terms of both music and stage presence – Paramore, My Chemical Romance, The Used – as well as new bands in the scene such as State Champs and Neck Deep.

Are you part of a wider scene in Northamptonshire, playing with like-minded bands? Any favourite bands/venues to play with?
Jazza: We would say we are part of a wider scene in Northamptonshire, although we think we have a unique sound from other pop punk/emo bands from around here. We are very close with a select few local bands including Last Chance and The Young and Restless; we love to play shows with those guys. So far we’ve been lucky enough to work with a few local promoters as well including Metal Wave Promotions, Rocked Up and HOP Events. We also love putting our own shows on: choosing who we want to play with and helping out some of the smaller local bands that are just starting out, for example PT-33, who killed it on their first ever gig!

What has been your favourite band moment of the past year?
Danny: It’s hard for us to really say. Just the joy of jamming together at practice and gigs, and just generally hanging out is the best part of being in a band. It’s essentially a second family when you’ve got the right chemistry. Releasing the music that we’ve got and playing all the shows we have up to this point is probably the most exciting things we’ve done, but we love just being a part of Wishing Wolf all the same.

What was the last album you bought/streamed?
Kyle: My Chemical Romance The Black Parade
Jazza: I Prevail Lifelines
Moodie: Panic! At the Disco A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out
Bessie: Polyphia Renaissance
Danny: The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus Don’t You Fake It

What is your burning desire for the band to do in the future? What plans do you have?
Jazza: Play as many shows as we can and try to build a bigger fan base. We’d love to have the chance to play festivals in the future and have fans show up to our set and sing along with us. We’re also looking forward to bringing out a full album, so we would love to have the chance to make a tour or mini tour out of it when released.

As Long As You’re Here Tonight is out now via the usual platforms

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