By Andrew Bansal
Bristol (UK) based hard rock quintet BlackWolf was formed in 2010, and came through various nationwide competitions to earn their place on many prestigious venues in the UK. Their music has an instantly catchy, no-bullshit, honest quality to it that makes fans of heavy music take notice straightaway, and that was the case with me too. The band released their debut EP ‘Taking Root’ in 2012, and have now launched a Pledge Music campaign for their debut full-length. I caught up with vocalist Scott Sharp and bassist Ben Webb to discuss in detail the debut album, band’s history, the UK scene, and lots more. Enjoy the chat below and get a taste of their music.
First of all, I saw that you launched a Pledge Music campaign for your debut full-length album. How’s that going and when are you expecting to release the album?
Scott: Yeah, the pledge campaign is going fantastic so far. We’ve been blown away at the amount of support people are giving us; it’s a very humbling experience. In five days we’re just shy of our 50% mark which is amazing for us. We’ve still got a long way to go though. The bulk of the album will be recorded in August but the release won’t be until late November 2013. Everyone that pledges will get it a few weeks earlier though. However to keep people going until then we will be releasing two new singles that will also be on the album over the next few months, which we’re going in to record on the 20th April.
How long has it taken you to write the songs for this album?
Scott: We’re still actually deep in the writing process, which to be honest won’t stop until we are actually standing in the studio and we still play around with things then!
Ben: However, a good 70% is done.
Stylistically, how does it compare to the ‘Taking Root’ EP? Can people expect a similar brand of rock ‘n roll?
Scott: Hell yeah, if you like BlackWolf you’re going to love the album. In comparison to the EP though the album will show a much broader scope of our sound and have a lot more of the dark and light shades that our live shows have. ‘Taking Root’ was a balls-out holler at the world to introduce ourselves to everyone. The album will be a much more deeper and richer look into who we are and what we’re about. There will also be a bigger presence of that soul edge that laces through the EP.
Ben: It Is a much broader range of ‘what we are about’, while still heavily linked to our blues influences, we draw from a number of places and this will be better reflected on the album. There are so many things we have learned over the last year as song writers and performers that it will be a big step up from ‘Taking Root’. The key elements from that, such as the big riffs and soulfulness will still be dominant throughout.
You’ve come through quite a few ‘battle of the bands’ type competitions in the past couple of years. Having the need to win those competitions, has it made you a better, more professional band even at this early point of your career?
Scott: For me they’re a great way of testing yourself and seeing how the industry and audiences receive you at a certain level, so yes. We’ve gone on to do some great things because of those and had some amazing experiences with them to.
Ben: They have opened doors to us that wouldn’t have necessarily have been opened at the earlier stages in our career. You have to be careful about these competitions though, as we’ve come across some which are more based on how much money you bring into a venue as opposed to the talent of the bands playing.
According to my knowledge, the city of Bristol hasn’t really had a rich history of producing rock ‘n roll bands as much as some of the other cities in England. What was it like growing up in Bristol and how did you all gravitate towards rock ‘n roll?
Ben: Only two out of the five of us originate from Bristol, Scott’s from Derby, Tom’s from Cheltenham and I’m from Surrey, but all of us were brought up on Rock n Roll by our parents and friends from a very young age, so it was all ingrained from the get go.
Scott: I think that’s the key thing about rock’n’roll, it has that way of grabbing a hold of you even when you’re so young and unlike a lot of other styles of music it just never seems to let go of those it does grab. I think that’s why so many people say they were brought up on it. For us it was part of our five-a-day.
How’s the gig environment there right now? Do you get a lot of local gigs or are you playing mostly outside of Bristol?
Ben: We are more focused on spreading our fan base over the country right now, and as such playing one or two higher profile shows, but Bristol fans fear not as we are working on something special for the summer there!
When people hear your music, I’m sure they immediately start drawing comparisons and wonder, ‘Which band do these guys sound like?’ Do you sometimes wish that wouldn’t happen, and people could just look at you purely as a rock ‘n roll band?
Scott: It’s always a compliment when someone says you sound like this great band or that great band, because everyone is always going to hear what they want in you and normally if they’ve taken the time to point it out it’s because you’ve reminded them of someone they really like. The thing is though we set out to play our vision of what rock’n’roll is for us today. So you will hear all those other bands in our sound, just like you can hear Muddy Waters in the early Rolling Stones records or people hear Led Zeppelin in the Rival Sons records, but just like Rival Sons and other bands like Black Stone Cherry and Heaven’s Basement we aim to give people a further step on from those other bands. We’re not a throw-back band, or even so much as a revival band, we simply play rock’n’roll and we’re playing it now. The way it feels to us today.
You’ve obviously listed your influences already, but amongst your contemporaries, which of the newer bands do you guys enjoy listening to?
Ben: I quite enjoy the Black Spiders and Voodoo Six and a Swedish band called Graveyard.
Scott: For me bands like Rival Sons, Black Stone Cherry, Saint Jude and most recently The Temperance Movement and Jamie N Commons.
You’ve done a ton of touring in the UK already. When are you planning to venture to other countries in Europe and beyond?
Ben: I think next year we will look into crossing over into Europe.
Scott: Yeah, definitely. This year our major aim is to really raise our exposure further in the UK, but next year we are definitely wanting to get on the back of a European tour. We’d also love to get over to the states in 2014 as well.
You played the Bulldog Bash in 2011, which is a motorcycle and rock festival. Would you say your music goes well with that kind of crowd, and may be you’ll be open to playing more motorcycle fests in the future?
Scott: Those crowds have been good to us in the past and we certainly wouldn’t be opposed to playing a few more of those types of festivals.
I believe Scott joined the band in early 2012, and I think his voice has a great impact on the music. How did you discover his talents in the first place?
Ben: We met him through an online band “dating” site believe it or not, it’s how we all met, it was a very different process than meeting up with your mates to form a band, when typically in my experience one person has been the decider on everything.
Scott: It was love at first site.
Ben, I noticed in the ‘Seeds’ video that you play a 5-string bass. Is that your primary instrument of choice, or do you use it only for some songs? What does it add in your musicianship as compared to a 4-string?
Ben: It has been my instrument of choice for the last 8 years, I play it on all songs we use, even if I’m not using the extra low notes on every song. I feel it helps me add an extra dynamic and create contrast in a song, without the obvious; ‘I’ll just throw in a fill there’ that may not be adding to the song, but merely serves to detract from the overall composition. Also sometimes just chugging out on the low B string sounds awesome.
Links:
facebook.com/ukblackwolf
twitter.com/ukblackwolf
ukblackwolf.bigcartel.com
reverbnation.com/ukblackwolf
instagram.com/ukblackwolf
pledgemusic.com/projects/ukblackwolf (pledge for the debut album here)