by Silja Slepnjov
We Came From Wolves is a four-piece guitar pop/jaggy rock band from Perth, known for their flair for epic hooks and choruses with a tinge of signature Scottish rawness and honesty. They’ve been compared to the likes of Biffy Clyro, Twin Atlantic and Fugazi – truth be told, they measure up. With their recent move to Glasgow and the promise of an up-coming debut album, we caught up with frontman Kyle Burgess to find out what the Wolves are all about.
Hey! First off, how did We Came From Wolves start?
Hey! The WOLVES started as a writing project for myself (Kyle) when I left a band I had been in at the time, just an escapism and outlet for ideas I’d had but that hadn’t fit in my previous ventures.
Could you summarise your sound in 5 words? Who or what are your main influences?
Catchy, Emotive, Thoughtful, Honest, Loud.
We are influenced by loads of different styles of music but musically I started this with inspiration from bands like Further seems forever, Armour for Sleep, The Smiths, The Arctic Monkeys, Reuben, Canterbury, The Futures etc…just well put together bands with great melodies, guitar sounds, melodies or a mixture of it all!
You released a new EP in March. What was the main idea behind ‘Paradise Place’?
It’s just a bit of ironic alliteration, the EP is all about experiences growing up in my hometown, which is a nice looking place, but pretty rough under the surface…it’s a street there, in Perth, so I liked the name since I was a youngster walking past it, I always knew i’d use it for a song/band/record so when the subject matter of the EP was beginning to come together it just fit into place.
There’s also talk of a debut album release. With two new members and a real progression in sound from ‘Cope’ to ‘Paradise Place, do you feel like you’ve honed (further) into your own style? What can we expect from the album?
Sure, we are always progressing as writers and musicians as we learn from each other, draw new influences from other bands, experiences and constantly trying to better previous work, we definitely have a sound, but we dont work to a blueprint…all the songs come together in different ways. The album will be a journey of feelings, there are summery jams in there, real pop numbers, then darker, seedy tunes which will require some proper bass-faces when jamming to them we have some great riffs for this record, some real head bangers and some ballads too…we are really conscious of it sounding like a piece of work though so it’s going to be a big effort getting it all together and slotted together, but we cant wait for the challenge!
I love that you keep your accent in your songs, it seems like most flee at the sight of a mic. Is this a conscious effort, do you think it’s important?
It was a conscious effort at first, the band I was in when I was younger was a heavier, more American influenced affair, and as I grew older I didn’t feel the honesty in what I was singing as the accent wasn’t my own. It was strange when I first started to sing in my own accent, I kinda felt like I was being half arsed and just speaking loudly, but you learn how to work best with the tools you have, and to refrain from impressions, from that comes the real voice and the real emotion you can convey when you sing a lyric and try to tell truths and stories. It’s pretty commonplace now for Scottish vocalists…it’s not a faux pas anymore. The Proclaimers were widely mocked when they used to sing in their accents, Idlewild, Biffy Clyro, Mogwai and more recently Twin Atlantic kinda laid the groundwork for every Scottish band doing their thing now, to anyone outside of Scotland it maybe sounds the same: “Scottish”, but they are all different dialects and accents, I sing as I speak, from Perthshire and proud.
You’re originally from Perth, how was the transition to Glasgow and breaking into the local scene?
Glasgow is a tough one to call…for a start, everyone in bands are SUPER nice people, driven and really talented, I guess everyone with ambition kinda goes there as it’s the best platform in Scotland for music, but it can be pretty cliquey, perhaps unintentionally…but promoters have their favourite bands, bands have their pals etc etc…crowds can be the same…breaking into that can be pretty daunting, but we’ve played two headline shows, amongst plenty of other shows on other bills, and we’ve sold out both of them, Broadcast and King Tut’s…so we are holding our own. We are so grateful for our growing base of friends and fans of the band, the support we receive and have received thus far is phenomenal, we play our first over 14s show on October 25th at the Garage with Rival State from NZ so hopefully we can get a bunch of people down who have never seen us play before and start to get ourselves even more familiar with the lovely people of Glasgow!
You’ve been gigging quite prolifically with a UK and EU tour, Wickerman and T in the Park under your belt, with Waves (Bratislava) coming up, your schedule must be hectic. What was the tour and playing massive festivals like? Did you come back with any insane stories?
Yeah it’s been an awesome year, that was our third year in a row touring the length and breadth of the England and Scotland, and the second of some Euro shows…we can’t wait for Slovakia, European shows have been amazing so far!
Stories…jeezo too many, Rob (bass) ate a chicken sandwich with nuts in it (hes allergic) whilst driving and had to pull a u-turn on the motorway and put the foot down to the hospital…he was told he would have died if 15 minutes later….was pretty funny though…our guitarist Taylor was wrestling with our driver/tech and hurt his wrist, played the remaining shows then when home found out it had been broken…we had been telling him to stop bitching all the time ha ha…Harrison (drummer) had a fun time in Leeds, we all went drinking in a working mans social club (£1 spirits 35ml measures) and we were (foolishly) keeping up with the locals and playing some pool, after about 2 hours we had genuinely had about 10 drinks, pints & nip chasers…Harry was no where to be seen, he was having a heart to heart with the toilet bowl…on the way home he decided to seek solice in a nearby bush and protested he was fine and to leave him there…safe to say we got him home and in his bed!…there’s been lost passports, scuffles, injuries, fall outs, laughter fits…you name it…(we really should film more)…but it’s the most amazing experience in the world.
What’s the best about touring and playing festivals, any negatives?
The best thing about the touring and the festivals is getting to live your dream, be paid and taken care of to visit places you would never get to se or be there if you weren’t being asked to in the band…we’ve already done more than I ever truly thought I would…my ambition is high, but my expectation levels are low…we are underdogs but we always keep working, and it’s been a good formula so far…only negatives are that at this level, it’s not easy,sometimes driving ourselves all day (sometimes 19 hours…thats the record drive so far), comfort levels can be low, sometimes you can get a raw deal on a rider or a sketchy promoter and be out of pocket, but listen…these are all little sacrifices on a generally fantastic time we have, and we are lucky that with every year we seems to get things a little easier…we are grateful for everything but also aware we get these opportunities as a result of hard work…and good tunes.
What’s your favourite place to play in Glasgow?
King Tuts, as the alumni of bands who have played there and gone on to do incredible things is so high, and also we recently sold it out and had an amazing time playing, so it probably ranks highest!
The amount of quality bands coming out of Scotland at the moment is absolutely bonkers. Any bands you’re really excited about this year?
Pronto Mama are fantastic, Fatherson are obviously brilliant. Model Aeroplanes are another great band on the rise from Scotland…there really are tons that deserve a mention but those three are probably my favourites just now.
Finally, what have you guys got planned for the rest of the year and where can we catch you next?
Our calendar for the rest of the year is currently like this –
Sept 27th & 28th – Loch Fyne studios – a two day retreat by a nice loch to get some hardcore writing done for the album!
Oct 3rd & 4th – WAVES festival in Bratislava and Austria.
Oct 25th – Playing at the Garage, Glasgow 14+ show with Rival State from New Zealand.
November – 1st to the 20th – Recording our debut album.
Then some shows in November and December to road test some of the new material at home and around Scotland before hitting it
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