Wolf Alice Interview

Since Wolf Alice exploded onto the scene around three years ago, it seems as though every music fan worth their salt was waiting for the foursome to release a debut album.
And it was a serious wait.
"I'm happy that we left it," smiles singer Ellie Roswell, not about to apologise for testing our patience. "If I'm honest, we wanted to put an album out about two years ago...and a year ago, and six months ago, and even three months ago! But I don't think we were actually ready, despite what we thought then. It's to our benefit that we took that time."
Enjoying a rare week off from touring, a weary air in Ellie's voice betrays just how hectic things have been for the London based foursome over the past while. It's little wonder they'd be in demand. The arrival of My Love Is Cool was perhaps the most eagerly anticipated debut from a British band since the Arctic Monkeys made their bow a decade earlier. Now that it's hit the shelves – and the charts – Roswell acknowledges that it wasn't always easy to hold back on the release, especially as the excitement among the press and fans alike was building.
"There's a pressure to get an album out as soon as possible," she admits. "You want to be able to say that you're not merely riding the hype train. I feel as though you have to put out a full album to really establish yourself. We had EPs and singles, but an album cements you as a band. Maybe relief isn't exactly the right word, but it's definitely a weight off our shoulders."
Happily, the album proves that the hype was most definitely worth believing. Over 12 tracks, the quartet leap from fuzzy, grungy rock to infectious indie with no shortage of pop intelligence. Confidently diverse and comfortable in themselves, even if they're not comfortable with one sound.
"People ask 'What sort of band are you?', and we don't have an answer," Ellie shrugs. "But you don't have to. You don't go through life feeling the same way every day, so variety seems the only natural thing to happen. I wouldn't be afraid of being pigeonholed, but that might be because it will never happen. There are different avenues to explore, and there's nobody to stop you from doing that."
Indeed, from the dreamy pop of a re-recorded 'Bros' ("We felt the old version just wouldn't fit – and when we were going to do it again, there was a bunch of stuff to be added") to the riot grrl growl of 'You're A Germ', the album certainly runs the gamut. Perhaps the standout track is 'Your Loves Whore', a triumphant blast of hook-laden indie rock. Ellie reveals that the song came about in an unlikely fashion.
"We had this instrumental introduction at our live shows," she explains. "After a while, we realised it was a complete waste of a good piece of music. We threw in a mish-mash of ideas we had for other songs, and 'Your Loves Whore' was the result."
Allowing things to develop organically is the key to the group – both in terms of their growth and their songwriting. Does this mean that they journey thus far can be traced pretty easily?
"I don't think so," Ellie shrugs. "We tend to write an awful lot, and different sorts of music too. I can look at a track like 'White Leather' and I could quite easily find myself writing that again today. There's other tracks where I look back and think 'What was I doing there?!' It's not always easy to trace that line of evolution."
Interestingly, the band even have diffuclty in pinpointing exactly where they are right now. While they're firmly established as headline news – and a headline act – on this side of the Atlantic, much of the summer so far has been spent in the US. Life over there, it seems, is signifficantly different.
"It's almost as though we've got two separate lives as a band," Ellie muses. "One on each side of the ocean. Because the States is so vast, we don't go back to the same places, which means we haven't had much of a chance to see things growing yet. Granted, every time we go it seems to be that bit bigger and more buzzy than before, but it will probably take a few more trips before we see it take off. But our recent tour was amazing, we were quite surprised by the reception we got."
Breaking the American market, of course, has been the white whale for many the British act. Wolf Alice at least pass the first test of recognising the course of attack – "You pile into a van, and work to hit as many places as possible" – but that in itself is of little surprise. Hard work, it seems, is something that comes naturally, even when a lesser act might be happy to rest on their laurels.
"We work hard to please people," Ellie admits. "We don't allow people to change what we put out, or to steer us in a particular direction, but having a fanbase built up does make you work hard, especially when they're as passionate as ours. You feel as though you owe them something."
And if all that hard work is rewarded with a little bit of luck further down the road, then maybe it's because the universe owes Wolf Alice. Like a butterfly flapping its wings and causing an earthquake in Japan, when a Foo Fighter falls in Gothenburg, Wolf Alice miss our on a debut UK number one. Florence + The Machine landed a surprise headline slot at Glasto, enjoyed the according sales bump, and beat Ellie and co. to the summit by a few hundred copies. Bitter?
"We can blame Dave Grohl's leg!" Ellie laughs. "The resentment is just for the leg, though, not the man."