An Interview with Wild Front

Wild Front epitomises that lazy summer afternoon; Hampshire-based with Hypnotic lyrics mixed with vibes you can’t force. The band blends the Indie movement with a funky retro sound, and with growing numbers on Spotify and YouTube, it’s clear that they have big things coming. Following up from the latest single release ‘When We Were Young’ on February 9, I got the chance to jump on a call with lead singer, Jack.

How would you want people to remember Wild Front? How would you summarise yourselves? 

As a band? I think we like to be known as a live band, we have a hard time nailing down a certain niche, we tend to say we’ve got three sounds. Like a cross between dreamy, ambient pop funk.

I know you record, engineer and mix all the tracks yourselves, can you give me any insight on what that is like?

I think there’s a few reasons. One, we save a lot of money that way. Instead of paying for studio time, and equipment, we can have total control over a home studio. Last year we were putting out a new track every month and we’re going to try and get back into that. Two, we all really like the vibe, at this stage in the band to have that vibe, you know the feel to the band. There’s also no time constraints, like for us to really hone our sound and to work on it as much as possible together.

You guys just announced your headline tour, and I see you guys are playing independent venues such as the Edge of the Wedge in Portsmouth. Do you think independent venues are important?

Yeah, I think they’re hugely important, we’ve actually done a few interviews on just how important we think independent venues are. We’ve done fundraisers as well, to keep these venues open, we all think that these venues, such as the Wedge, are so crucial for a band to grow. We really cut our teeth on independent venues, such as the Joiners in Southampton. They’re just so crucial to any city and without them so many bands really wouldn’t be around.

Who is the dream to tour with? 

We’re actually so split on this one, because there’s so many different main influences, personally I’d love to tour with Bon Iver, but the others would probably say like Zeppelin, Queen for another. We’d probably not fit each vibe, but we’d love to tour with them.  

What’s the strangest thing that’s happened to you in the music business?

[He laughs] We saw David Beckham at Glastonbury which was mad. There was also once in Dublin, we were setting up for a show, I was setting up my pedal board, and someone was carrying this massive wooden chair and like turned around with it and hit me right on the temple and actually knocked me out. I was only out for a couple minutes but I had to skip sound check and go to the hospital, we still played the gig, but it was the strangest one of my life.

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, what would it be?

I think mine would be ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’ by Bon Iver and ‘Grace’ by Jeff Buckley.

Where do you see yourselves in a year from now? 

In a year from now…I think touring on a level where we’re selling out 200/300 cap venues. We can do well at venues locally, like the Joiners in Southampton but like outside Southampton, London and Newcastle we’re not selling out venues there. I think that would be the goal.

While I’ve got you here, are there any bands you think deserves some more exposure?

We’re actually currently touring with a couple but, Nakamara, Arcade Hearts, Submariner and like there’s one in Leeds we love, Heir. We’ve actually got a show with Heir coming up.

Be sure to check Wild Front out on Spotify, Twitter and Instagram. Don’t miss out on tickets for their headline tour throughout February and March and be sure to check out their new single ‘When We Were Young.’