Our writer Maddi recently had the opportunity to talk to NJ rock band, Wild Mothers who consist of Luke Peterson (vocals/guitar), Brett Thompson (Vocals/Bass), and Alex Bierman (Vocals/Drums) recently releasing their album Wild Mothers they've brought a firey kick into the game, and aren't just going to stop there. Maddi spoke with them about their album release, the creative process, and everything in between!
Well, hello there Wild Mothers. Thanks for taking your time to answer my questions today! I always like to start off with a lil’ vibe check, so dear friends, how have you been?
Vibin', Boolin', you know.
Congratulations on the release of the self-titled debut album Wild Mothers! How does it feel to finally have it out for the world to hear?
We feel like if we die tomorrow, we've at least left some half decent music behind. We are very proud.
What has surprised you the most about the album release?
We're most surprised that our instrumental track, Doom Funk, is in our Spotify top 5.
How would you describe the band’s creative process of Wild Mothers?
Our creative process is a very group oriented thing. Every song is a melting pot of all of our creative influences.
I’ve heard that you wrote, recorded, and produced this album entirely on your own (*cue the standing ovation*). What was this experience like?
Thank you! It was awesome. It was actually our first time working with an engineer who’s become a good friend of ours, Tyler Skye. We kinda like to do whatever we want musically, so it was nice to have a small team without any interference.
There are some really interesting instrumental and vocal sounds throughout the album. If you had to summarize the sound of this album into a single sentence, what would it be?
We would describe our sound as a "Rock N Roll Mosiac". It's basically a collection of our favorites sounds across many eras of rock.
I’m interested to hear about what you felt influenced the album. What inspirations do you feel really shines through your music?
As you could probably guess, the list is long and sporadic:
Led Zeppelin
Black Sabbath
The Beatles
Nirvana
Queens Of The Stone Age
T-Rex
Portishead
Beastie Boys
Justin Timberlake
And so on...
Lyrically the album is mostly influenced by relationships we've been in or had the pleasure of observing.
One of my favourites off the album is ‘Far Away’, I really like the juxtaposition of loud rock tones with more mellow instrumentals, it’s a really interesting track. What gets Wild Mothers into a creative music-making space?
You have good taste! With songs like Far Away, we love to subvert peoples expectations by writing something catchy and hooky, and then departing from that in a surprising way. Other than that, for us it starts with just getting together and jamming. That'll always get the creative juices flowing. Some of our best ideas have come from the spontaneity of improvisation. Sometimes we just improvise for up to 20 minutes straight without a word said to each other.
Okay, here comes the question I’ve been dying to ask. You’ve been calling this album the “unofficial rebirth of rock n roll”. And that’s one darn big call to make, dear Wild Mothers. What makes Wild Mothers different from previous rock albums?
We feel as though we have a bigger sonic variety than most rock you'll hear today, and it's not everyday you hear a band with three lead singers either.
What bands/artists are you listening to right now that we should check out?
Alex is currently listening to a lot of old outlaw country, most notably Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins. Brett, the soul man of the group, is listening a lot of live soul records from the likes of Donnie Hathaway and Bill Withers. Luke is testing the waters of hardcore punk with some Turnstile.
What’s in the works for Wild Mothers? Anything we can look forward to?
Taking over the world and stealing yo girl. Oh and maybe some touring!
Words by Maddi
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