Interview: BlackWolf
You’ve heard their music, now it’s time to get to know our featured artist a little bit better. We caught up with vocalist Scott to find out more about the people behind that wall of sound.
Liam Gore Photography
First of all, you’re a fairly new band but have managed to secure some great support and festival slots, were you surprised how quickly things started happening for you?
Yes and no. yes because it’s always great to get recognition for all the hard work you’re all putting into the thing you love, but no because that’s exactly it. Any success we’ve had and will have is because we’re constantly busting our sides to write better, play better, perform better, record better. And all the promo and securing opportunities, well as iIm sure you know, these don’t just knock on your door. You have to go out and get them, fight for them. It’s amazing how much about being in a band is paper-work and networking, pestering people (in the right way of course) or approaching industry folk. If you’re lucky and work hard enough, and have music that’s good enough, you’ll be able to get yourself in-front of people that can really help, then you can start to build a little momentum. But we’re very aware that each success we achieve, our next one has to be bigger and better in order to keep that momentum growing. If you don’t you just disappear. There’s so many great bands out there sometimes it really can just come down to who’s trying the hardest and making the most noise.
You recently became involved with Home Grown Rock, have you noticed any major changes since?
Home Grown Rock are one of those industry set ups I just mentioned. they’re a great set of people and if they like what you do and what you’re about then they can help you start opening doors for your self. I say for your self ‘cause in the end it all comes down to what you put into it. They’re great at recognising something special in a band or an artist and their passionate about promoting them, which is obviously really important for bands like us that are just starting to step out of that grass-roots scene. Home Grown Rock have been really great to us over the last few weeks though. it’s thanks to them that we’re finally starting to get chances to play on some of the stages we’ve always wanted to play.
How important do you think social networking sites are to spread the word of new music?
It’s hugely important now, more than ever. with the shift that’s been going on in the music industry it is becoming more and more important that we, the artists and bands, take up the reigns more, and things like facebook, twitter, reverbnation and so on are amazing tools to help us do that. They’re also brilliant formats to communicate and bond with your fans, or family as we call them! It’s weird though cause on the one hand it’s a great way to create and maintain a close and personal relationship with the people that love your music, but on the other hand nothing will ever beat meeting people face to face. We just try to use them as another way to connect with our folks along side our shows and any other promotional stuff we may do, like this for instance!
You’re EP Taking root was released earlier this year, any plans for an album?
Yeah an album is definitely on the horizon. we have plenty of material to make one but for us we want our records to mark where we are as a band so we want to really make sure we have the right songs for it. When we went in to studio to record Taking Root, it was about us saying ‘look, this is who we are’. That’s why the record doesn’t have any fillers (besides the fact that we don’t believe in them!) and it’s why each track on their has a strong sense of it’s own personality. We wanted to make sure the record showcased each side of us effectively. Hopefully if all goes to plan, and the stars align in the right kind of financial way, we’ll be recording our first album sometime in 2013. It’s going to be big when we do though. We want our first album to make a loud announcement to the music world and hopefully we’ll achieve this with the songs we’re currently writing.
Who are your main influences?
They come from all over the board really. we have a big classic/blues rock tinge to our sound and that comes from bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Free, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Who. Where as that kind of sleazy, off the cuff lead guitar work can often come from John being inspired by Guns’n’Roses and some of the other west coast bands of that era. But then there’s some big doses that have come from more recent bands like Black Stone Cherry, The Answer, Down, Avenged Sevenfold, Pearl Jam and Rival Sons. So we take our influences from a lot of places really. But like most bands we love music and our influences are typically just our individual starting points. Our sound comes from our own personalities understanding those influences as individuals and as a band, and then through them finding our own voice and what we want that voice to say. That’s what BlackWolf is. Above all though we aim to make music that’s honest and authentic but also present and never comfortable. That’s what rock’n’roll’s all about, being all these things but then not being afraid to just throw everything up in the air and have fun with it.
Lastly, to the people who say rock n roll is dead, how do you respond?
Rock’n’roll, and I mean real rock’n’roll, is going through somewhat of a revival right now. bands like Rival Sons, The Answer, Black Spiders, Wolfmother, Vintage Trouble, Saint Jude and countless others they’re all helping to bring rock’n’roll into the present by keeping true to what it’s about, but making it relevant to today’s listeners and we’re proud to be riding this wave with them. People often refer to rock’n’roll and the music that ourselves and these other bands play as ‘through-back’, but it not that at all. it’s more ‘come-back’ music. We’re not just simply playing what was being played in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, we’re adding the next step to where those bands left off. We really do believe that there’s a strong revival of this type of music happening right now and there are a lot of great bands, big and small, that are helping to make this happen. So to any one that says rock’n’roll is dead, we say it can never be dead, ‘cause rock’n’roll isn’t a sound, it’s a feeling, it’s an attitude and you can’t kill things like that.
