A Chat with Wild Love (31.08.21)
If Coldplay and Wallows were to have a lovechild but it was raised by Green Day, the chances are Wild Love would be it. With the soothing indie-pop sound and pop-punk attitude, the international band are ensnaring listeners all over the globe. We speak with frontman Brendon Gorman and guitarist Mike Crecca about their single ‘I Hate That I Need You’, go-to songs and early memories.
OSR: A bit cliche, I know, but how did Wild Love come about?
Gorman: I wish my answer wasn’t as cliche either but like every other great band before us, it was started in high school. I’d recently moved to the US from Ireland and wanted to start a band, so I was lucky enough to have met Si and our drummer at the time. We started practising, played our first gig two weeks later and it hasn’t stopped since.
OSR: What can you tell us about your latest single ‘I Hate That I Need You’?
Gorman: Everything is on the tin, to be honest. I’m a pretty honest person and my frankness is on show. ‘I Hate That I Need You’ is what it is and my hope is that people see that and feel comfortable to sing out their internal monologue without feeling guilty.
OSR: What are your thoughts on genre labelling? Do you think bands should be categorised?
Gorman: Honestly, I don’t really think it matters. People need labels to understand things but, in the end, they will listen to whatever they want. We are so overexposed to music as listeners and artists that it’s all getting muddled regardless. In the end, I think any band will just be happy that people are talking enough to say a genre.
Crecca: I love that it’s getting harder to label artists – it means that we’re pushing the bounds of genre names trying to find new ways to define how things sound. We’ll always be trying to label things, it’s just part of the process of listeners trying to understand and enjoy music.
OSR: What was the recording process for ‘I Hate That I Need You’?
Crecca: Brandon came over one night and had what was a slow, melancholy version of the song you hear today. I really liked it but with what he was saying we felt it needed a nice balance of attitude and shine. We were really on the same page as to what we were after, so within the hour we had the bones of what you hear today.
Ryan Yount and I produced the song and we knew that this song was different than anything we’d done before and we’d need to push ourselves to do something different with it. In pushing ourselves to try some sheen sounds to balance with the attitude-filled guitars and drums and drums we know so well we found some part of ourselves as producers we hadn’t known before, which was super rewarding. It was a lot of fun and Ryan’s the best to work with, he keeps me sane.
OSR: What is the best gig you have performed to date?
Gorman: It’s hard to say. We played Nashville’s Live On The Green before the pandemic and that was a massive one for us, but really, I love those small gigs with a bunch of people packed into a room getting all sweaty.
OSR: What inspires you to make music?
Gorman: That’s a hard question because it’s just something I do and can’t really stop doing. Regarding the topics of the music, it’s inspired by my life, conversations I have with friends or even ones I overhear in passing. Inspiration also always hits in the shower and I can’t tell you why, as soon as I’m in there new melodies just come out.
OSR: What influences can we hear in ‘I Hate That I Need You’ and your other music?
Gorman: With ‘I Hate That I Need You’ I was heavily inspired by the likes of Sum 41 and Blur. I know, two very different groups but they both follow the same lines of honesty and attitude which are two things that are very integral to our music and us as people. Got those punky rhythms mixed with dryness and pop melodies. I think it makes a good little tune.
Crecca: Yeah, you can’t really keep the punky attitude and drive out of what we make, but you can also hear the pop influences we’ve all been taking in our own ways whether that’s Jeremy Zucker’s influence on Brandon’s recent writing or Valley’s influence on my production.
OSR: What is your earliest memory?
Gorman: Earliest music memory is my granny lifting me up on the kitchen counter when I was 3 or 4 years old and asking me to sing her Elvis. Turns out I was a starving musician even then because I wouldn’t play unless I got a Euro. Robbed my granny dry.
OSR: Do you have a favourite “go-to” song when you’re feeling a bit low?
Gorman: Depends on if I want to dive into it more or get out as quickly as possible. If I want to be even more of a sad sod I’ll put on ‘The Winner Takes It All’ by ABBA. If I want to get out probably ‘No Hope’ by The Vaccines.
OSR: What advice do you have for emerging artists?
Gorman: Don’t compare yourself, it does nothing else but bring doubt. Just deal with your own shit because that’s all you can control.
Crecca: And make sure to keep the music and having fun a priority, especially nowadays. You can get so lost in making content, numbers and, as Brandon said, comparison culture, but you’re not in it for money and fame (or at least you shouldn’t be and if you are please get out of the way for the people doing it for the right reasons). You’re in it because you love music, you love your music and you want to enjoy your music and share it with others.
Thanks to Brendon Gorman and Mike Crecca for speaking with us. For more from Wild Love check out their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.
