Gearing up for their first album release sometime later this year, Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell took some time to chat with us. By Patrick Muller
Ellie Rowsell fronts North London four piece Wolf Alice have kicked off the New Year playing the Falls festival, before kicking back for a few drinks in the CBD. Not only have they been gigging heavily, but the band has also been picking up accolades, being named one of iTunes’ Artists of 2014 and NME’s Young Britannia – Future of British Music.
“It was amazing,” she says of Falls. “This is our first time in Australia and everything has lived up to and exceeded our expectations. All the shows were really different, but they were all really good.” When asked about any specific memories, Rowsell commented on the surrealism of the experience: “It’s always crazy to hear people singing along to our songs, especially when it’s halfway across the world.”
New music, new growth
The band has been gigging on the back of last year’s EP, Creature Songs. Rowsell recognizes the growth the band has had, with this release being a more polished product than their 2013 EP, Blush. “It’s in a similar vein, I think we just got a lot better and had a lot more time to pick and choose songs. Our first EP we were struggling for content, scraping the barrel for songs that were fully formed. With Creature Songs, we had a lot more songs to choose from. Everything sounds a lot more complete and there’s no throw away songs, all the songs fit each other. Blush is more mismatched, with a naïve charm.”
Not showing any signs of slowing down, the band has been hard at work, looking to get recorded content released sometime this year. “In 2015, hopefully everything will come to life a bit more, because we have our album coming out. We finished it just a few days before Christmas, and when we get back we’re going to mix it with our mixer and finish off track listing and artwork and stuff, so it should come out at some point around may.”
Their diligence looks to being paying off, with anticipation for the yet-to-be-untitled album building. Yet Rowsell seems to be very chilled about the entire lifestyle, being unfazed by the pressure of it all and even being the only girl touring with a group of guys. “I don’t really think about it. I only think about it when other girls in bands talk about it. I play in a band with three lovely boys and I don’t feel any different from them.” When asked about experiences on the road, she answers, “There have been a few things that have made me raise my eyebrow, but nothing too horrible.”
Boys who dress as…girls?
It was Rowsell’s idea to dress the boys up as girls in the film clip for their tune, Moaning Lisa Smile. “I was sitting in the van on tour, trying to think of a video and I thought of this story of a girl who wanted to do this dance competition but didn’t have any friends to do it with,” she explains. “It’d be pretty boring to get actors and there’s only one girl, but I was like, ‘Eh, I’m sure the boys would be up for playing girls,’ and every time I thought about it I chuckled to myself. “ The clip itself is definitely chuckle-worthy, as the whole band busts some smooth moves while the boys are all in drag. “It was one of our biggest achievements of last year.”
This year is shaping up to be a big year for the English quartet. They’ve even made a new year’s resolution. “Umm, Yes!” Rowsell responds when asked about any band resolutions. Turning to bassist Theo Ellis, they replied, “to read more. We want to be cleverer.” Let’s hope they can get cleverer than ever, as this group clearly has a promising future.
Wolf Alice’s debut album My Love is Cool is out June 19. Listen to their new single Giant Peach below.
