It’s been a while since we’ve been to the Land Down Under. Complete with didgeridoos (may not be true), here are Wildheart…
Simple things first – where are you guys from?
We are from Brisbane, Australia!
How did you meet?
We all came from different Brisbane bands that either had broken up or were on the way out, we were already friends and we all wanted to keep creating music so we decided to get together and start writing and recording music together and that resulted in our debut EP A Thousand Days.
How long have you been playing as a band?
We’ve been around close to 4 years now, I think!
Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?
It was the first name that all 5 members didn’t hate, the word heart was getting thrown around a lot along a heap of other plurals and something came out with ‘Wildheart’ and we thought we’d roll with it and see how we felt after a while and here we are 4 years later!
What are your influences?
We draw influence from so many different bands as we all listen to heaps of different stuff but we’ve been compared to old For The Fallen Dreams, The Ghost Inside, Counterparts even Architects which is mental to me as that band is super next level. I try not to pin it down to any bands in particular and let the listener decide for themselves.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I personally enjoy our… for lack of a better term, ‘simplicity’. I remember watching Devin Townsend talk about how he’ll take layered melodic passages over someone (his words not mine) “wacking off their guitar any day of the week.” Not to say I don’t enjoy technical music but I always find myself striping layers back from what I’m writing trying to just get to the barebones energy or vibe of whatever emotion or message is being portrayed.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Our themes have fundamentally remained the same. We write about personal struggles, dealing with anxiety and depression, heartbreak. However especially on our latest release ‘We Are’ we went a bit further, instead of just speaking introspectively we tackled some things that bigger than the individual and more ‘worldly’ so to speak.
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
We always aim to give absolutely everything when we play live, been plenty of blood on occasions too…
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
Like I said there’s been blood, usually self inflicted haha. Smacking into each other or tripping each other over. Occasionally audience members deal with these same issues as well.
What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?
I switch between a custom 7 Suhr 7 String and ESP EII T-B7 7 String, Jaya has a couple of different Ibanez & String RG’s one being a prestige (I think) Kerry a Sub 4 String bass and a custom built 5 string and Andrew uses a Pearl ELX Export. I won’t go into amp and pedalboard setups as that’ll take all day!
What are your plans for 2019?
We plan to play to as many new and old places around Australia and get our music heard and possible even sneak some overseas tours in too.
If you were second on a three-band bill, which band would you love to be supporting and which band would you choose to open for you? A chance to plug someone you’ve toured with, or a mate’s band we’ve not heard of before!
I’m just going to say Tapestry from Darwin because we miss them terribly and can’t wait to tour with them again and, I dunno… Fit For A King because I’m absolutely sweating their new album at the moment.
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