Do you use retro gear? If so what is your favourite piece of kit?
Joe: We use equipment that gives us the desired sound, whatever its age. An input on an MPC 2000 might sound better than some old valve pre amp. I think too much focus is placed on getting the right gear to make the sounds rather than actually getting on with doing it, most sounds come out by necessity rather than design.
Dan: It’s true to say we do have a few nice old guitars and drums between us, mostly acquired for cheap from ebay and charity shops. But then again, some of Jack’s overdubs on Steeple were done on a budget Encore Strat with three strings on it!
Jack: I like the sound of old, slightly broken things so I tend to rescue bits and pieces and use them, but I use loads of new stuff too, as long as it sounds good. I’ve got loads of worthless old junk in the studio but the thing I use most is the computer!
Best gig ever you been to (or played at)?
Joe: Dungen at the Luminaire in mid 2010.
Jack: Yeah Dungen was special. We supported Alela Diane a few years ago the first time she came to England, she was on her own then and she was incredible. Also, Sam Pulham who supported us in London a while back just destroyed me, and he’s only done about 2 gigs in the last two years.
Starting out, what’s been the least amount of people at one of your gigs? (not including the band)
Jack: We did a gig at The Social in London once for about 8 people. It was a thing our friend put on during the day on a Sunday. It was really good fun though actually, like rehearsing with your mates.
Joe: I reckon (and this is no bad thing) but at our first Tapestry festival in Wales, there were only 20 or so people there, and most of them have stuck with the band. Some of them now help to run it, and one of them became our bassist, Dan. It was an important gig. Most people buggered off to see Hypno-dog, so the remaining few showed real strength of mind to avoid his set.
Jack: Yeah it was a test!
You have fans in many countries, do you have any plans to tour the US / Europe/ America? Do you like playing live or working in the studio best?
Joe: Playing live is great, it has shaped the nature of the band, when it all goes right you’d be hard pressed to find a better feeling, but the actual part of performing doesn’t come naturally. We perform because we really like playing as apposed to playing because we love the act of performing, if you see what I mean. We are all just record and gear nerds who happen to be in a band. I’d love to go to the States, we’ve had some good feedback from there, and I want to see where our label lives.
Jack: We are planning some dates in Europe next year and perhaps the US by the end of next year.
Who would you like to support on tour?
Joe: The Besnard Lakes.
Jack: Yeah, them again. You’d struggle to find a band that is more fun than Besnard Lakes.
If you could have a special guest to play with you at one of your gigs who would you choose?
Joe: Reine Fiske or Richard Thompson.
Jack: Are you sure Joe? I think you’d melt. I wonder what we’d be like backing up a female vocal. Cate le Bon, Katell Keineg or Olivia Chaney maybe? We’d have to play quieter.
Who do you sometimes listen to that you are secretly ashamed of?
Joe: I am ashamed of nothing.
Jack:I listen to some folk stuff that I wouldn’t share with everyone but I’m not ashamed. Peter Bellamy at the moment.
I am told you are a fan of Oliver Postgate, which is better Ivor the engine or the Clangers?
Dan: What about Pogle’s Wood or Noggin the Nog ?
If it’s down to those two though: Ivor.
Jack: I concur with Dan. Noggin and Pogle’s and Pingwings come out on top, but I was bought up on Ivor. It’s an actual influence for me though, and it takes in Peter Firmin too of course. Obviously I’m not animating and narrating Children’s TV programmes, but there is an attitude to their work and a lightness and gloriously polite Englishness that they both had that is definitely something to aspire to. There is an air of magic to what they did that goes beyond the mechanics of how they did it. I often think of them when I get stuck.
Flush the fashion’s ethos is about not being scared to try something new, do you think you’ll ever do a disco album or go in another radical direction?
Joe: We could do a double album that represents the polar opposites of the band’s influences and guilty pleasures, one would be the ultimate trad-folk excursion, almost “Morris On” esque, while the other would be the filthiest drone space funk you’ve ever heard, ever.
Jack: If we keep making music it will certainly shift, but I don’t think we’ll ever avoid sounding like Wolf People as long as we’re all in the band. Let’s do a hairy-glam album.
So there you have it, Wolf People, give them a listen.
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Their new single ‘Silbury Sands’ is out now. Wolf People are on tour in February with Twisted Nerve recording artists The Liftmen support on most dates. Click on date to get tickets.
February 13 Nottingham, Bodega 7pm, £7 adv
February 14 Bristol, Cooler w/The Liftmen 7.30pm, £7 adv
February 15 Brighton, Prince Albert w/The Liftmen 8pm, £7 adv
February 16 London, Cargo w/The Liftmen 7pm, £8 adv
February 18 Oxford, Jericho Tavern w/The Liftmen 8pm, £7 adv
February 19 Manchester, Deaf Institute w/The Liftmen 7.30pm, £7 adv
February 20 Leeds, Nation Of Shopkeepers w/The Liftmen 8pm, £5 adv
February 21 Sheffield, Harley w/Wet Nuns 8pm, £6 adv
February 22 Glasgow, Captain’s Rest 8pm, £7 adv
You can keep up to date with all their news on the Wolf People website www.wolfpeople.co.uk or buy their record on iTunes.
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