I had a great chat with indie band Wave Chase about their new single 'Can't You See', a bit about the bands history and future plans.
Hello, thanks for talking with me today. Could I please ask your name and position in the band?
My name is George, I play the microphone and a bit of guitar in the band. I try to be a frontman too I guess... We have Mr Tim Baldwin on the bass guitar and angelic backing vocals. Mr Mickey Golicher on lead guitar... We don't let him sing... he's tone deaf! And finally Mr Charlie Cane on the drums... he's the most talented one out of all of us... the glue if you like!
I'm curious to know a little bit more about you guys. What's kind of the history of Wave Chase?
I (George) and Mickey have been playing in bands around the Bournemouth area since we were 14/15. In fact, my old band supported his old band and we stayed in touch. Eventually both our bands came to an end when we all left school, so naturally Mickey was the first person I called upon to start a band with. We are so similar in our taste of music... and clothes to be fair... we quite often got mistaken for twins which is kinda annoying actually! I met Tim properly at college in Bournemouth and Charlie joined soon after, the line up just jelled straight away which is very rare when starting a fresh band of people that barely know each other. We gigged all around our hometown of Bournemouth relentlessly for about two and a half years... playing said out headlines and some decent support slots around the South Coast. Then a couple of years ago, we took the plunge to move to Brighton for Uni and we've been firmly rooted here ever since and loving it!
You guys have recently released a new single 'Can't You See'. What was this song written about?
It's a song written from an outside perspective of a friend trying to tell his mate to move on from a past relationship. I think it's something everyone goes through as a twenty-two year old... When you just wanna go down the pub and have a few bevvies, but your mates sat in the corner being a wetty, crying over his ex... jokes aside... check in on your friends from time to time!! By the way... the songs about nobody in particular... definitely not...
Do you have a favourite lyric from the new song?
"Now you spend all your days just staring at the ground, but the pavements interesting worship the ground she walks upon, hide the feelings you have and put them into a song..." That's pretty much an entire verse.
What do you think makes this new track different from previous releases?
It's definitely got a lot more surf/punk influences. Bands like FIDLAR, SKEGGS, WAVVES, HOCKEY DAD. It's a style of music we've always loved, but never really embraced. It's not too thought out, it's just simple and fun, in the past I feel we've really over complicated the song writing process - when all the best songs are the simple catchy ones! What's also different about this song, is that we recorded it ourselves with our friend Henry... it also uses vocal samples which is a first for us!!!
I would say you guys have definitely got that cool British indie sound. Who would you say are the main influences on your music?
We all love different music, so influences are quite varied. Collectively The Strokes are probably mine and Mickeys biggest influence in terms of song writing. Mickeys guitar playing copies a lot of Johnny Marr (The Smiths) mannerisims - which adds a jangly guitar element to our quite intense sound. Tim loves a bit of everything, but Jamie T is definitely his idol. Charlie is originally from a thrash metal background, so that adds a cool element to his drum style. However, we both actually bonded over our love for 2000's pop punk bands like Sum 41 and Good Charlotte. In terms of all-time greats, I'm the biggest Beatles nut and 60's music in general... It's the best decade of music ever released!
Are there any artists that would be the dream artist to collab with?
I think we all have our own preferences... however... Jamie T would definitely be cool to sit down and write a song with! Kevin Parker (Tame Impala) would be a dream of mine... some of our new stuff that's unreleased at the moment is heading in more of a jangly/synth direction... his production over that would be absolutely insane!
Having a look at your social media I can see you guys keep busy with gigs. Are there any upcoming ones that you're particularly excited for or want to talk about?
We are heading home to Bournemouth on Good Friday (15th April) to headline at The Old Fire Station alongside some great local bands. It's always been a dream of ours to headline there since we started the band. We were lucky enough to open for The Magic Gang there last summer... and we got a taste of what it'd be like... SO BUY YOUR TICKET!!!
Do you have a favourite song to play live?
For me personally it's an unreleased one called 'So Much to do, So Little Time' which hopefully we can get recorded and released by the summer. In terms of released ones 'Call Me Selfish' is super fun! It's the only song of the set I don't play guitar on, so it allows me to get a bit loose!
What's your favourite and least favourite thing about being in a band?
Favourite thing is the live shows! There's nothing better than feeding off a live crowd and playing songs I wrote in my bedroom to a packed room! Worst thing is trying to stay relevant... so once again... please come to our gig on Good Friday (15th April) at The Old Fire Station in Bournemouth... Tickets on sale now from the link in our bio... ONLY £9 FOR BANDS? WOW WHAT A BARGAIN!!!
Do you have any plans for 2022 that you would like to share with me?
We originally said our EP was going to be released late last year... however that never happened...and I'm glad it never did because it's allowed us to write some brand-new songs, which I personally think are a lot better than what would've been released. So... in terms of plans... an EP of all new unheard material this year!!! It's gonna happen...
I have a couple of this or that questions before we finish:
Money or free time?
Money to spend on beer...
Facebook or Twitter?
Neither... Insta for the win!!! Although we'll all be in the meta verse soon wont we...
Air guitar or air drums?
Air bass never gets the credit it deserves...
Thank you again for your time today. Is there anything you would like to say for people reading this?
Live long and prosper... also please check out our music! x
Interview by Kayleigh McKenzie
Check out Wave Chase HERE
