A person of few words, Ulysses Wells is here to explain a unique sound and take to songwriting.
Simple things first – where are you from?
Banbury.
How long have you been playing as a solo act?
Around 4 years.
What are your influences?
Hip hop, Western, rock and roll, and blues.
Describe your music. What makes you unique?
I try and mix a lot of genres, write the most aggressive broken-sounding music I can, then the next song I write I try and make it a little more attractive. In terms of production – I try and use stuff that’s in the room: from bottle caps to books etc. and record them into my vocal mic. The best bits usually, for me, are happy accidents. In terms of my guitar I’ve got it do some pretty incredible things. Now with what’s available on our laptops you can create stutters and choirs all sorts, its really never-ending what you can make now but I spent a summer building a pedal board that would allow me to play with it live.
Do you have any particular lyrical themes?
Yeah, these EPs all have titles I use as framework; thanks to the brilliant Chica Seal who did my artwork it gave me a bit of a framework:
- Contemplation
- Fight
- Freedom
What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?
The live show is high-energy, balls-out rock but we do bring it down. It’s a lot of fun to play. We’ve played around 30 shows.
What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?
I saw Jasson Gale, the bass player, pull an incredible face at a girl in the front row who was on her phone and she started crying.
What guitars do you play / etc.?
I play mainly a Fender Strat/Telesonic
What, if anything, are you plugging/promoting at the moment?
We’re plugging the release of these next three EPs.
What are your plans for the next 6 months or so?
Just to keep writing as much as possible and try and organise some online gigs.
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 think it would be Nick Cave to open for and Madame Jesus to open for us.
