The journey began a couple of years ago in England where songwriter, and British native, Sid Wilson first starting penning new material. Upon arriving on American soil, further songs were written, and subsequently the band, Interstellar, came together.
Interstellar blend their innovative songwriting with a psychedelic shoegazery, rolling along in their anthemic rock n roll stride. With shimmering atmospherics, the new album “Winter Heart” is drenched with an oceanic aesthetic and reverberates with a vintage swagger.
We caught up with Sid Wilson before the band hits the stage at The Basement at Graveyard Tavern Friday, November 15th for their album release party! Join in on the fun!
Congratulations on releasing the album this week, that’s awesome!
It’s coming to a head, it feels good, and our single was released on November 8.
That’s so exciting!
The single is called Holy Roller. It’s a free download on NoiseTrade.
What’s the song about?
It’s really about the different kinds of people you meet, being in a band, and also in life generally; some have the genuine kind of spirit and it’s a pleasure and some people rub you the wrong the way. It’s also about rolling along being part of the scene in amongst the wheelers and dealers.There’s a lot of love out there and it’s interesting how we all respond to each other. Not trying to be holier than thou, but you’ve obviously got to try and be a good person to the people you meet and get on with it. And like most bands you have to believe in yourself even when you’re in the firing line and just focus on the good.
What was it like making your first album as a band?
It was really good, a lot of fun. About half of the songs I wrote back in England and the rest over here in Atlanta. Since we formed the band we’ve played quite a lot of shows and week after week the band have been working really hard crafting these tunes into something worthy of recording. You know you’ve only got a few chances in recording and writing. With that in mind, it was exciting. The prospect of getting in there and documenting our art and putting it all together. It was definitely a fun time for sure.
Interstellar has their CD release show at the Basement at Graveyard Tavern, so that’s cool. Have you guys ever played there before?
We’ve not played it before but seen a few shows there and it’s always a good vibe. We’ve been trying to play a few different spots instead of always the same venue. We hung out there a few times, and figured it’d be a good local East Atlanta kind of indie place where maybe the venue’s not so daunting that we don’t think we can’t sell it out.
You haven’t been a band for very long. How did you guys come together to form this band, did you know each other beforehand? How did that happen?
We all knew each other from playing in other bands before. Our drummer, Patrick, was in a band with me before here in Atlanta, and our bass player, Jon, had done a few tours together when he was in a different band and we had always wanted to play a similar kind of music. So, when I returned to the States, me and the bass player kind of got things rolling, and he knew a guitar player, so he roped him in, so we all knew each other in one way or another.
So you guys have played a few venues around Atlanta, what are some of the Atlanta venues that you are hoping to play in the future that you haven’t played yet?
I guess a couple of them would be Center Stage in Midtown, that would be cool. We played a few shows at Vinyl, and in our previous band we played in the Loft, so the Loft would be cool again too. I’d love to play the Tabernacle, it’s a wicked building, beautiful old massive theater on the inside. Any of the festivals would be great to play as well.
Are you guys going to try and plan a tour, and travel around the country a bit?
Yeah, we don’t really have plans in place, but we’ve definitely talked about it. Well, first of all we’re going to do a tour in England. So that’s kind of the first thing I want to put our energy towards and make it happen, back over there. The band is kind of English and American, so it would be great to play lots of shows in both places.
I’m sure you each have a lot of musical influences, but as a band, who would you say influences your sound and your music the most?
I think to be honest, I would say that what we’ve produced, and in some way aimed to put into the band, a kind of the 90’s vibe along with more vintage influences. But we definitely tap into that Verve-esque way of production. I’ve gotten a lot of inspiration from those guys, that big wall of sound, drenched in reverb, it’s awesome. And we wanted to have a punch to our sound and keep it current and modern. I think there are a couple of tunes that sound like that on the record.
So when you guys are playing a live show, how do you connect with your audience and get them involved?
I’m a firm believer in letting things be as natural as they can be without trying to force anything. I figure, in my opinion, that a lot of English bands have a more chilled out performance compared to American bands who are a lot more animated. On our stage we definitely have confident showmanship but it’s a bit more chilled out, like the performers in England, because there’s a culture thing that we certainly have noticed. For our live shows, the last thing I want to do is generate fake hype. I don’t talk too much, I like to engage a little bit with the crowd, but I let the music do the talking. Hopefully the music strikes a chord in their soul, because it’s about the tunes, not about us. If people like it, then that’s great.
Have you guys talked about the overall goal of the band? What are some of the goals that you all want to accomplish over the next year?
I can highlight a few of them, but as far as overall goals, we haven’t really talked about it. As an artist writing songs, there’s always a mind to record and perform, even if it’s just to your grandma if she’ll listen. We haven’t really said we’re going to try and take over the world or anything like that. We have a much more relaxed approach. We’re doing the best we can like any other indie band, although we have put our blood, sweat, and tears into it. I think the main goal was to get our act together and then recorded. We’ve obviously been working on our live shows and then our release to get the music out there. After that, the main one like I said before, is an English tour just to get our music over there and have fun doing it. I love hanging out with the guys in the band, I love being in a band, the whole journey of it, I’m not trying to take over the world in any way.
Head over to The Basement at Graveyard Tavern this Friday, November 15th to support Interstellar and their new album, Winter Heart!
