One of the latest bands to tickle my ear drums, Wolf Gang are most definitely one to watch. We saw them at dot to dot festival in Bristol and were able to catch up with the man behind it all, Max McElligot.
I understand you write the music yourself and have a band that you play live with. How did the live band meet?
“I met the guys I play with now over the course of a year or two, I was put in touch with them through friends and people on the music scene.”
Can you tell me a bit about your creative process?
“I usually start by sitting at the piano or with a guitar and trying out chord progressions, humming away little top line ideas on top. I like being completely alone when I’m doing this, otherwise I can’t really concentrate. When I’ve got the basic structure of the song in place, I’ll lay down a rough demo and then work on refining lyrics and all the musical elements.”
I saw you play a couple of weekends ago at dot to dot festival in Bristol, how did you find it this year?
“We had a really fun dot to dot this year, all the shows were really busy, there seemed to be a good level of interest. By the time we hit Manchester we were all a bit burned out from too many late nights, but we still went for it and enjoyed ourselves…”
Your set was amazing (a great way to start the festival), my favorite song so far has to be The King and All of His Men, can you tell us a little bit about the music video for it?
“Thanks, yeah I worked with a director called James Lees on the music video, I think the general premise involved a girl who was leaving behind a former life/lover/situation.”
Who are your greatest influences?
“I’m a big fan of my parents record collection, so anything really from that era, Bowie, Talking Heads, Elton John, Kate Bush, Fleetwood Mac etc…”
What was the last album you bought?
“It was an old record by ‘The Blue Nile’ called ‘A Walk Across The Rooftops’, I got it for a pound from a little record shop in Glasgow.”
I read that you played at SXSW festival this year, I’ve always wanted to go – How was it?
“It was amazing actually, one of the best festivals I’ve been to. Austin is a very lively city, every street had hundreds of gigs going on simultaneously… The weather was perfect too, we spent a lot of time eating tex mex and bbq’s drinking beer in the sun… Oh and the gigs went well too.”
I’m eagerly awaiting the release of your album, Suego Faults (released July 25th) – Is there anything you would like to say about it?
“Nothing really, other than I hope you enjoy it…”
How did the name Wolf Gang come about?
“My sister came up with it while we were brainstorming, it fitted really well as I’ve always loved wolves, and wanted my project to sound plural and inclusive. It’s a pretty easy one to remember too.”
What are your plans for the rest of 2011?
“We’ve got a lot of festivals to play, we’re doing Glastonbury this weekend, then Wakestock, T in the Park, V festival, and a few European ones as well. Coming out of Summer I guess I’ll be releasing a couple of more singles and promoting them. Just playing as many shows as possible I suppose!”
If you want to find out any more about Wolf Gang like tour dates and where you can get hold of the music check out the website http://wolf-gang.co.uk/
