Following on from their successful album launch in Melbourne this month, Wild Meadows now look to Sydney to bring their short east coast jaunt to an end. With excellent rhythmic quality and a strengthened sense of instrumentation as a result of a strengthened band dynamic, Wild Meadows is a snapshot of a band in a thriving creative space.
Ahead of the Sydney launch at the Oxford Art Factory, Dylan tells us some more about the making of the album and what’s coming up for the band next.
How has the recording of this album made you think about the way you want to record in the future? Did the final result of the process match the initial vision you had going into writing and recording?
It was definitely a learning experience! We knew we were in safe hands, working with Paul ‘Woody’ Annison, but given this was our first attempt at a full-length album there were definitely some nerves going in. The basic process was to track everything together, initially, and then record over that with individual takes. We then had a few sessions adding overdubs and vocals, as well as a few embellishments in parts with extra percussion, acoustic guitars etc.
We’re really happy with the way the record turned out – the overall sound and production was pretty much bang on what we were envisaging. We’d look to record in a similar way next time, but our new songs are a bit more jam/noise-oriented than some of the ones on our debut, so we definitely want to allow space and time to do a bit more experimentation. We’re looking to record with Woody again, hopefully later this year, and can’t wait to see what comes of it!
Is there any particular track/s that still resonate as being particularly significant to you, and why?
I think “Uzi” stands out as one that was given new life by the recording process. Woody had some great ideas for how we should change the arrangement of the song. Once we did that, and it all locked in, the song went to another level. I really think we captured something special with that one in particular, and it feels like the perfect closer to the album.
What has been something you’ve learned about yourself as a writer and performer throughout making this record?
I think for me, as one of the guitarists, it was just having the confidence to do my thing. As one of the last to record my parts, I’d watched everyone go through the arduous process of recording their instruments to each of the tracks in succession.
When it came to my turn, I was pretty nervous about playing ‘in time’ and hitting all the right notes, and I think that made me a bit stiff, but with some cajoling from Woody though I learnt to just forget about the recording process and just really go for it. I think next time around we’ll all be more confident because we know what’s involved, and we know Woody will tell us when something’s not up to scratch!
How was the Melbourne launch show?
Bloody great! We had a near-packed house down at Yah Yah’s and everything went off without a hitch. The support acts, Capital Gains and Ferla, were great and there was just an awesome buzz all round.
What is the rest of 2018 looking like for Wild Meadows at this point?
We’re heading to Sydney for the first time, playing at Oxford Art Factory on Friday April 20th with Miners and The Nah, which we’re stoked about. We’re looking to do an in-store for Record Store Day up there as well. Once that’s done, we’ve got a residency on Wednesdays in May at The Tote front bar back in Melbourne. We’ve lined up some amazing supports for those five shows, and The Tote’s one of our favourite local venues, so that’s sure to be really special.
There are a few other Melbourne gigs on the horizon later this year too, but from June onwards it’s pretty much going to be all about finding time to get back in the studio to record our second album. We’ve pretty much written that already – just need to add maybe a few more songs in the mix and fine-tune a few before deciding on the ones we should definitely record. So, in short, lots of exciting things on the horizon!
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Wild Meadows perform in Sydney on April 20th – for tickets, head here!
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