Interview by Ash Wallace

American alternative indie rockers WAVVES are heading back down under for their 10th anniversary ‘King Of The Beach’ Tour, where they will be performing the album in full plus some fan favourites to propel the shows into one big dance and singalong party!

With this generations infatuation with nostalgia inducing music, ‘King Of The Beach’ is full of treasures. Skipping school to smoke and skate your friends, partying and staying up all night, falling asleep and waking up on the beach in a haze. Ten years on from its release, fans and music lovers still hold this album in high regard so the anniversary tour is sure to be a huge, and sweaty party. Good Call Live had a chat to frontman, Nathan Williams about the upcoming tour and more.

You guys will be back in Australia shortly for the ‘King Of The Beach’ 10-Year Anniversary Tour in March and April, what are you most excited for?

“Just generally will be good to be back in Australia, it’s been maybe two years since we were there so just excited to go back, we all love touring Australia, it’s our favourite place outside the US.”

Looking back to that album you released 10 years ago, would you change anything about it?

“Nah, I wouldn’t change anything about it now. I remember being pretty worried about certain songs when we were going through the process, I remember in particular the song Green Eyes, just worried about how people would perceive it because it was so different to what I’ve done before but no, I wouldn’t change anything about it, it is what it is.”

Has your mindset both personally or musically changed from creating that album in contrast to your last record ‘Your Welcome’ in 2017?

“Yeah, I was 22 when I recorded ‘King Of The Beach’ and seven years later I’m a completely different person. Yeah, it’s different but still the same, growing up, maturing, slowly but surely.”

So, are there any plans for new music anytime soon?

“Yeah, we actually just finished a record and we’re getting it mastered this week and it should come out this year at some point. We also should have some singles coming out in the next few months.”

How did you find and refine your sound for this upcoming album?

“We tried to record it once with a producer and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted so we fired him and I asked a friend of mine Dave Sitek from the band Tv On The Radio if he would produce it. We took a couple of days of just sitting down, smoking weed and just listening to the demos that we had at the time and sort of coming up with a game plan and went at it. It only took two weeks and one day of vocals, so it went a lot differently than some of the previous albums. ‘Afraid Of Heights’ (2013) took us almost a year to make so this one just sort of came out.”

Who do you think is the most influential band or artist to you at this current time?

“Lady Gaga probably. “



What’s a band or artist you listen to that other people would think is unusual for you to listen to?

“Probably a lot of the stuff I listen to people who don’t know my history would not expect me to listen to, I don’t have any guilty pleasures or anything but before I started WAVVES, I managed a record store for years and my musical taste is pretty all over the place but I sort of hit a point though where I mostly listened to a lot of older music and recently I’ve been writing music for film, but I’m all over the map, nothing in particular.”

Worst experience you’ve had performing at a live show?

“I lost my voice, we we’re playing in Mexico City and I got sick and lost my voice. It’d never happened to me before and I lost my voice completely to the point where nothing would come out, nothing I couldn’t even talk. It was probably our best and worst show ever. My friend Damien Abraham from the band Fucked Up, they were playing a show with us as well and he did some interview once where they asked him what his best and worst shows he ever saw were and he listed that WAVVES show as one of the best and one of the worst shows he ever saw. But I basically got people from the crowd in Mexico City and had them come up and karaoke the songs because I couldn’t sing and it was a pure shit show but in an amazing way.”

What would you want the bands legacy to be?

“I’ve never thought about that, I’ve never thought about legacy, I think we just want to continue being able to make music and just keep doing it, I’ve never thought beyond that. “

‘King Of The Beach’ 10th anniversary tour tickets are on sale now here

TOUR DATES

Sunday, March 29: Amplifier Bar, Perth

Wednesday, April 1: Lion Arts Factory, Adelaide

Thursday, April 2: Corner Hotel, Melbourne

Friday, April 3: Oxford Art Factory, Sydney

Saturday April 4: Crowbar, Brisbane

With thanks to Maric Media