Wolf Alice

Despite all attempts at trying, pigeon-holing Wolf Alice into a genre is something the media simply won’t be able to do. If anything, the band’s music is a reflection of life in general, there’s no simple formula or pattern – it just is what it is.
“It’s not so much that I find it weird that they try to do it with us, but I find it weird that they do it with any band,” lead singer Ellie Rowsell says.
“Quite a few people are like, ‘How come you’ve got such soft songs and then you’ve got such heavy songs?’ Well I don’t go through life always being angry and therefore always writing angry songs. Some days I feel really sad so I write sad songs, sometimes I feel really happy so I write a really happy upbeat songs and other times I feel more introspective so I write something that reflects that.
“I guess that’s why you can’t really be pigeon-holed because you’re always influenced by these different things, and I don’t understand why we are pigeon-holed. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to find out why some bands have the same kind of vibe in all of their songs? That would be more interesting to me.”
Covering around three years of emotions for Ellie and the band, their debut LP My Love Is Cool fluctuates between in-your-face anger, softly sweet harmonising and thoughtful lyrics of a past life. If there’s one thing that’s constant about the album, it’s that it tells a story of relationships and life in general. One such relationship came from Ellie’s childhood friendship as depicted in ‘Bros’ – the clip also filmed in her hometown where the friendship flourished.
“It was especially nice to do it around where I live and where I grew up because now when I watch it I feel, I dunno… like you said, lots of people can relate to it but it’s a lot more personal to me because I recognise that street or that’s the bus I used to take, so it’s really nice,” she says.
“I had a friend that lived around the corner from me, but I made it kind of ambiguous – it could be written about anyone. But when I grew up I had this one friend that I walked to school with and we’d go to each others house after school. I guess because she lived around the corner from me I had most of my memories growing up in this place with her.”
In talking with Ellie it soon becomes clear just how important the perception of their band is. How is their music enjoyed live, where does it fall in the industry and, more importantly, what do people think of the band’s overall image? These decisions are deliberated upon by the band, and having accepted an offer to play at Splendour in the Grass, it’s easy to say their reputation is safe on Australian shores.
“These decisions are so important to us because they’re going to reflect on how people see us and not anyone else in the background,” Ellie says.
“So we always make sure that we’ve gone through the pros and cons, but I like to think that we seize most of the opportunities that have come our way, because we’re still a new band and I think that’s the real way that you make mistakes and learn from them. But we don’t take things lightly – we’re serious about what we do.”
When & Where: Corner Hotel, Melbourne – July 23 & Splendour in the Grass, Byron Bay – July 26
Written by Amanda Sherring