Wallflower: "We're so in touch with how out of touch we are"

Wallflower are making up for lost time. They've been a band for a couple of years, but in the first half of their story, not much happened. They did little bits here and there, but it was sporadic. A lineup change last year brought Charlie Pollard into the fold and "since then, we decided to focus a lot more time and effort into this band. We've just been touring as much as we can," starts Vini Moreira-Yeoell backstage at 2000trees. "We did little things but nothing like this. The Boston Manor tour we did last year, that's when Wallflower became a thing." Once they started moving, there was no stopping them. This year has already seen them play Download, tour with The Maine, Knuckle Puck, Decade and Milk Teeth and given them countless reasons to be excited. "Download was crazy," explains Vinnie. "I'm pretty sure for most of us it was the first festival we ever went to when we were kids. I know it's a cliché thing to say, but it was so overwhelming to be able to do that. That was a completely new experience for us." "We went and had lunch after we played," continues Sam. "We were sat in catering, and Chris Jericho was sat two tables over from us, ‘cos Fozzy were playing. That was wild; I never thought I'd be able to say that, it was surreal." And those wide-eyed stories have only just begun. The band are primed to release their ‘Where It Fell Apart' EP, four-tracks of emotional catharsis, pretty melodies, rugged honesty and a soaring want for something more. "When we started this band, we had an idea about where we wanted to go eventually," offers Vinnie. "It got to the point where we said maybe we should stop sorta putting it in the future and just go for it now. Stop trying to pigeonhole ourselves and try something new now. We started bringing in electronics and these different things. We've gone a lot heavier on the record, but there are some much lighter bits as well. We've just taken what we've been doing in the past and tried to expand on it as much as we can." "We just exaggerated every element of it," adds Sam. "When we started, we wanted to have three guitars because a lot of bands we really liked had that big guitar sound. We did that on the first EP, but we got, not bored, but having it all come at you at once, after a while it gets a bit stale. We wanted to explore what we could do with dynamics and textures. We wanted just to try and be a bit different with guitar music. I wouldn't be as bold to say that it's a concept record, but there's a theme it carries. It's called ‘Where It Fell Apart', it's got some structure to the way it pans out, and we tried to reflect that with the artwork. We just wanted to make it a complete piece as much as we could."

Where It Fell Apart' is a solid block of a record. Fifteen minutes of doom-soaked struggle, transfixing adventure and tumbling rabbit holes. Across just four tracks, Wallflower tell a story of dissolve. It starts with "We're so in touch with how out of touch we are with ourselves," before grabbing you by the throat and leading you headfirst into a torrent of heartbreak, destruction and resolve. There's always something happening, but the record still finds space to breathe. "With the first EP, we never played it live until it was out but these songs, we've been playing them for months. We got to know what was and wasn't working, and where we could fit certain things in. Sometimes you realise something isn't needed. Sometimes less is more. That's definitely the approach we've taken to for this EP." As for where they take it next, there are more stories to be made on the road. "We want to be doing this for as long as we can milk it for. It's one of those things where we're just really grateful for people to have us on whatever is thrown at us." They'd love to do a full-length record at some point, but there's "no promises as of yet. We're still working that out. Whenever we write something new, we never know where it's going to go until we're in a room and we start playing it. ‘Oh, I guess this is how it's going to sound'. We're going to figure out where we're going with things in terms of music and the next direction. If you carry on doing the same thing, over and over, it can get boring. You want to try new things. You want to explore new places with where you go. It's going to be as much as a surprise for us as it is for other people."Taken from the September issue of Upset. Order a copy below. Wallflower's EP ‘Where It Fell Apart' is out now.

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