Interview: Wavves

I interviewed the stoners of Wavves earlier in the year for Tone Deaf. It was quite easily the most entertaining phone call I’ve ever had.

—

Speaking to the duo that now make up Wavves, lead singer Nathan Williams and bassist Stephen Pope, they seem completely oblivious to the ripples they’ve created in the music world and just come across as two completely normal – albeit endearingly immature – twenty-somethings from the land of LA.

They’ve just arrived back home from a 6-week tour and have earned some free time “just hanging out” before continuing their American tour and heading overseas to Japan and China.

“We just spent the afternoon playing golf and we absolutely sucked. We’re not the sportiest guys so we probably looked like idiots, but it was fun,” laughs Pope, obviously aware that people don’t associate them with such recreational activities.

The close dynamic between the bassist and Nathan Williams is palpable through the delay-ridden phone line as they finish off each other’s sentences and engage in laugh-out-loud banter, shooting off in rapid streams of consciousness that sound like a script for a Seth Rogen-starring comedy.

“There were a couple mice in our studio-” “-they were more like mutant rats-” “-and eventually we were able to catch them with our bare hands” “-then we roasted them on sticks and ate them,” they jibe, firing back and forth.

For a band whose personalities clearly mimic the uninhibited nature of their music, their career has been clouded by its fair share of controversy.

Williams’ infamous onstage dummy spit at Spain’s Primavera Festival in 2009 ultimately culminated in the four-piece dropping to a pair, whilst their progression from a lo-fi sound to a clearer production receives constant criticism from garage purists. Again, they seem genuinely unfazed by the general fuss surrounding them.

“We really don’t care. I mean, they’re just a bunch of grown men commenting on the music that we have fun recording,” Pope drawls in his thick Californian accent, “and the people complaining about our stuff on YouTube – actually, it’d be cool to meet them.”

Wavves were recently unveiled on Splendour In The Grass’ 77-strong bill (rather, they announced it themselves via Twitter several months early), which will make it the band’s third trek Down Under in the short space of two years. As such, it seems these punk princes just can’t get enough of our sunburnt country.

“We’re super excited for Splendour and we’re excited to go to Byron Bay, we’ve never been before. We’re also spending five days in Adelaide this time around which should be pretty cool – what are the girls in Adelaide like?” laughs Williams, possibly feeling the effects of more than just post-golf endorphins.

“But Australia’s great – it’s definitely our favourite place to tour,” he slurs casually but with complete sincerity, confirmed when his partner pipes in with agreement in the background. “I don’t think there’s a place we’ve been to in Australia that we haven’t liked.”

Their most recent trip was just over 12 months ago for last year’s Groovin’ The Moo, where they ignited rural stages with their heavily electrifying live performances, and, as our Tone Deaf reviewer recalls, treated punters at their sideshows to a bit of rock and roll vomit action.

“Groovin’ The Moo was really cool. Between the shows we got to go to Magnetic Island and took some magnetic acid,” laughs Nathan as he makes an umpteenth reference to illegal substances. “We also went to the beach, took drugs, took photos with koalas – we were clearly really productive and successful during our last visit.”

It’s no secret that much of the band’s inspiration comes from their hometown of San Diego. Their acclaimed 2010 record King Of The Beach is practically an ode to it; a collective of rock and roll anthems for surfers, stoners, and rockers worldwide.

“Australia’s actually really similar to California, so we don’t get homesick when we’re doing touring,” explains Pope. “It’s all really nice weather-wise, and there’s just a generally laid-back vibe. We really love it.”

In March, the band dropped their second full-length album Afraid Of Heights; the highly anticipated full-length follow-up to the summery King Of The Beach after a slew of EPs and collaborations in between. It saw Wavves’ sound charting into unexpected, unprecedented territory – the realm of maturity.

Their latest studio effort is clouded by themes of angst, insecurity and isolation, as an infusion of heavy Nirvana-esque grunge backdrops Williams’ most introspective lyricism yet. Whereas previous tracks were breezily light-hearted (‘I Wanna Meet Dave Grohl’, for instance) years of extensive touring seems to have developed a hardened, grown-up edge.

“It’s a little more personal, I guess. There’s definitely a more serious sound to some of the songs,” admits the frontman with an audible shrug, not at the stage of completely indulging in emotional talks just yet. “I suppose King Of The Beach sounded more summery, whereas this time around things are a bit darker.”

Despite being more serious in content, their newest material is still delivered in that familiar, infectious Wavves packaging. Catchy melodies make it scarily easily to hum along to the lyrics of ‘I loved you Jesus/You raped the world/I feel defeated/Guess I’ll go surf’ (on ‘Gimme A Knife’), or “None of you will ever understand me” over the bombastic hook of ‘Lunge Forward’.

The recording process for their sophomore release was markedly different, too. Created over the course of a year, Pope details how they made a conscious effort to record independently and give themselves full control of the process, something which they feel they didn’t have when making their debut.

“We paid for it all ourselves, we didn’t have a label involved this time around which was a much better vibe for us,” explains the bassist.

Admitting that whilst they “didn’t feel any pressure making a second album”, the self-financing at times “got a little stressful”. Nonetheless, it eventually paid off with Afraid Of Heights sounding like their most cohesive creation yet.

For a pair of cliché stoners they keep themselves relatively busy between games of golf. “We’re recording a song on Sunday for something, but we can’t really say,” Nathan teases.

It will be interesting to see their future unfold as they tread the line between their hazy, reckless youth and impending adulthood maturity. However, as they joke about an acid trip from their home in LA, it’s difficult to see Wavves growing up any time soon – which is certainly nothing to complain about.