by emily harris
photo courtesy of wolf culture
Born out of Bournemouth in the UK, Wolf Culture has amassed a large following across the globe. High off the release of their latest EP Dying in the Living Room, the four-piece are always found writing and creating for their next project. I had the pleasure to talk with the vocalist of the band, Max Dervan, to discuss the EP in depth!
Congrats on the release of your EP Dying in the Living Room! Can you tell us about the release process of the EP?
Max: “Thank you, we definitely enjoyed releasing it into the wild for all to critique. It wasn’t without its nerves but we are so lucky to have had many kind words said about DITLR and that’s the best feeling. It had been too long since Devil’s Plans and we were itching to express ourselves both on stage and in the studio. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we haven’t been able to perform nearly as much as we’d like, but that has allowed us to focus on what’s next and that’s just as exciting.”
What was the thought process behind each song being in lowercase?
Max: “I wish I could give a better answer than ‘it just felt right,’ but it really did. It was a last minute thing and I think this way it creates the impression that each song is a piece of the album as a puzzle. I like that idea.”
The EP starts off with “floods.” What inspired you to start the EP off in this way?
Max: “I’m a sucker for intro tracks and intermissions etc. All my favorite albums have them included. I believe ‘floods’ was written when I was just messing around in our makeshift home studio and I fell in love with the sound of the Wurlitzer piano which seemed to swirl around my head when I had both earphones in. I just pictured how overwhelming that would sound incorporated into our live set and wrote the lyrics around it. I would then go on to include that same motif and a lyrical reference to it in our single ‘nervous’ which thankfully happened really naturally and thus creating a theme for the EP. We did try replacing the ‘driven wurlie’ piano with a Rhodes once we discovered one at Neil Kennedy’s studio (the Ranch) but inevitably stuck with the same sound as we had demoed with which I think is cool. You really are hearing almost exactly the same song I fell in love with writing late one night. The lyrics were written that same evening as I recorded the demo itself so it was definitely the most naturally written track on the EP. Hopefully it will make an appearance one day soon when we play again.”
Following this is “rain dance.” This song varies greatly with “floods.” Can you tell us about the recording process of this song?
Max: “All of the songs were written and demoed at home then we took them to Neil Kennedy at The Ranch to record and completed them in about five days I think. I remember writing most of ‘rain dance’ in 2017 and knew it was special. At least to me. We like to think this EP was a mild departure from the sound we conveyed on our debut, but this song had to be the first ‘proper’ track to kick it off because it included our favorite aspects of more mainstream punk and therefore felt like a solid bridge between Devil’s Plans and DITLR.
Alex Adam (of ROAM fame) helped me revive this track during one of our writing sessions a couple summers ago. At that point it was like six minutes long and had some huge dynamic changes like some sort of rock opera and we decided that this wasn’t going to be Wolf Culture’s Bohemian Rhapsody; as he put it. We chopped it up and kept the best bits and I’m super pleased with how it’s turned out. I like the fact ‘floods’ is almost like dipping the listener into the EP and then ‘rain dance’ attacks you from out of nowhere after the scene is set. Like a charge from out of the fog.”
Following is “spite,” the first single released from the EP. Why did you choose to release this track first?
Max: “We had this concept for a video and got super hyped and involved in trying to bring it to life with our good friend Nathan Roach who really helped bring it all together in a short space of time. We felt ‘spite’ would help our listeners acclimatize to our slightly new direction and what we wanted to achieve with DITLR so we put the two together, and there you have it.”
Can you tell us more about the collaboration with Kellin Quinn on “ultimatum?”
Max: “We reached out to Kellin and he really dug ‘ultimatum’ which really hyped us up and the rest is history. It was an overseas collaboration, so we are still yet to meet officially in the flesh, but it was a great experience and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. ‘ultimatum’ is a deeply personal song to me and to already have heard that so many people connect to it on a similar level is really the best reaction I could’ve dreamt. I also think it could be WC’s heaviest song so far which is cool. IDK, maybe ‘Continents.’”
The last track on the EP, “the lunatic and his moon” is a totally different vibe than the rest of the EP. What inspired you to end the EP on such a somber note?
Max: “‘lunatic’ felt like the perfect comedown for the EP and I have always enjoyed the picture the lyrics paint. I wanted to write the kind of song that you would truly want to sing the moon was crashing down onto us.”
How would you describe the sound of this EP in relation to your past releases?
Max: “More mature. We’re not old men by any means, especially me, but yeah, we’re older than we were when we did The Devil’s Plans for Idle Hands and I think that pleasantly shows. I think when writing the first EP we didn’t restrict ourselves creatively, however we were really aware of what other bands were playing at the time. I think we subconsciously made some creative decisions in order to fit more comfortably alongside other people’s sets when we hit the road. We’re still in love with TD4IH, but DITLR is a step into our creative future and I really think the restraints have been lifted for any songs we create in the future.”
Can we expect more music videos for these songs soon?
Max: “Potentially. We’re working on new music at the moment and we’re always writing, but it would be nice to have some more visual content out there for the people who are interested.”