We talked with the Blackburn-based band “Free from the Wilde” about their history and the magic of playing music together. They’re playing at King Georges Hall next summer at the MMT showcase.
As part of one of the Sunday sessions held at McNally Music Tuition in Blackburn town center, I visited the band «Free from the Wilde» who I saw in the musical showcase organized at the Electric Church last December. In that show, they presented part of their original material and offered an electrifying live show that created a special connection with the audience.
Just before their rehearsal, while they were preparing their instruments, amps, and effects pedals, I chatted a bit with Ed and Tony, both guitarists in the band. They told me a little about their history and their craft of making music.
M: I wanted to ask you guys a little bit about the history of the band. For how long have you been practicing together?
T: Yeah. Basically, we’ve been together since 2018. Started off playing covers, the six of us. Then Electric Church, just around the corner. And then obviously after COVID, we’ve played Confessional Festival and we’re playing Darwen live, and what else?
E: And we’re playing at King Georges Hall, which is going to be the biggest thing that we’ve done. We’re excited about that. When we first started a couple of years ago, we were called Nebula. But then when we started releasing music, we thought we’re getting a little bit more serious. We came up with Free from the Wilde and that’s just stuck. We like that name. I think it represents us quite well.
M: What’s the story behind the name?
T: Well, we did the “Kids in America” cover, and obviously the singer that is called Kim Wilde. So that’s why we’ve got the weird spelling. Yeah. That’s basically the story behind it, really. We’re struggling for a name and then someone said it and it stuck really.
E: It felt right when it came out. We knew that because that cover always went down so well live, and our performances are one of the biggest parts of what makes us the great band that we’ve come to be. So, we wanted to keep that element of it because that’s right where we started. And someone just said, “Free from the Wilde” and it just stuck. And we were all like, yeah, we’re happy with that and we went with it and now it’s ours.
T: Last year we released our first single “Fire in My Bones”. Last June. This summer we’re releasing an EP that we’ll play at King Georges.
M: You mentioned that you started with covers mainly. So, what were the influences of the band when you first started, which kind of covers you start with?
E: Originally, we worked with a guy called Max from Sky Valley Districts. So, a lot of what he liked came to influence us. And that’s why we’ve got that sort of classic rock sort of image with that progressive sound that we have and probably in terms of songwriting, mostly influenced by Jack White and Johnny Marr too. And that mix ends up being quite unique. That’s how we end up standing.
M: You told me a bit about the plans for this year. I know that there’s a huge gig coming in summer at King Georges Hall. So, are you going to have some new material for that concert? What are the expectations for that event?
T: Yeah, well, we’re playing mostly originals now. We’ve grown out of the cover band kind of thing. We’ve got two new songs for these gigs coming up now and obviously, we’re going to play the songs we’ve got on the EP now. We’re more familiar with them.
E: About ten songs, about 45 minutes set. Just same as before, but even more electric than what you’d be expecting. We got two new tunes that are bigger and louder and stronger than the rest that are brand new.
M: Now that you mentioned the new material, how is the process of a new song, how do you compose a new song? Who’s the main songwriter over here or how is this process working for you guys?
E: It’s a little bit complicated. It’s not the same each time, but normally one of us, either me or Tony, or someone else initiates an idea. Then we’ll bring it in and then together we’ll come up with and make it into a full song. So, it might be me having a little riff or Tony and that little melody is just an idea.
Then all together, because we know our strengths and our limitations, brings the sound together and we make it into a full song. That’s the process. Sometimes it can take 1 hour and sometimes it’ll take six months to get a song from that initial idea to be complete.
M: What about the lyrics? Is there any main topic that you guys talk about?
E: You’ll have to speak to Evie (singer) about that, but if you listen to the songs, I think they’re open to interpretation. They’re sensible and related to love for the most part. But I’ve got no real stake in that. I just play my guitar.
M: Do you feel any kind of relationship between you as a band and the city of Blackburn. I know that it’s a city with a lot of history, but some people have told me that the music scene has decreased over the years. What are your views on the state of the music scene here in Blackburn?
T: Yeah, it hasn’t been much in Blackburn for a while now, but I like, what we’re doing here at MMT, building loads of new bands. We’re trying to make like a mini scene around Blackburn and Darwen.
E: Darwen has got a strong music scene, but in terms of Blackburn I think it could be stronger. I think MMT is where it is going to come from, because all the young people that want to get in bands, they are giving the facilities. That’s how we came about and that’s how we made the progress that we have. This is a really strong feature for music locally and we’re lucky to be a part.
M: Where we can find information about the band. Are you on social media? How can they find your stuff?
E: We got Instagram, Facebook and TikTok down yeah, Free from the Wilde. We’re on Spotify. We have one single available for now but in June we’ll have the EP available on most streaming.
Thanks so much to Ed and Tony for this conversation. Besides them on guitar, “Free from the Wilde” are Evie on vocals, Scott on keyboards, Ria on Drums, and Jacob on bass. You can listen to their first single “Fire on my Bones”.
