Introducing
Wallflower
Having absolutely knocked it out of the park with their stunning debut, Teach Yourself To Swim, Wallflower are one of the most promising UK bands right now. We spoke to vocalist and guitarist, Vini Moreira-Yeoell, about studio time, live shows and tweeting Opeth.
Interview
Live Photos by Callum Jupp
Tell us a little about yourself. Where the name came from, how long you’ve been going for and anything else new fans would want to know.
We are Wallflower, a band from lots of different places in the South of England. Not really sure how we all agreed on the name, I think naming a band is probably one of the most arduous tasks that come with being in said band and it was the first one we could all agree on. We’ve been playing together for a fairly long time now but we were a very different band when we started, we usually say things really kicked off for us around 2016 when our drummer Charlie joined and we started actively touring. If you’re new to us then just know that we are sorry for what you’re getting yourself into.
Let’s talk about your first memory of music.
It’s hard to say what the very first memory I have of music is, I grew up in a household where everyone has a lot of varied tastes, so it’s always been there. One of my earliest memories was going into town with my brother with some Virgin Megastore birthday vouchers I’d received to buy my first ever album. I chose Enema Of The State by blink-182 but the woman at the till wouldn’t sell it to us because it had a parental advisory sticker on it… so we just took the sticker off and went to another till. I was about 8 and I’m pretty sure it’s the most punk thing I’ve ever done to this day. If I’m being honest, I’m pretty sure if I asked any other member of Wallflower the same question the answer would have something to do with blink or Green Day.
Is there a band or artist that you’d love to collaborate with and/or open for on tour?
We’ve been tweeting Opeth for about a year and they haven’t responded yet, which is a bit rude really, but we will let it go if the offer ever comes through. There are honestly so many bands we would love to tour with, I think I dream of us touring with Paramore once a week. It would be pretty amazing to just sit in a room with the guys in Manchester Orchestra and watch their process, their songwriting is immense. Touring with them would be pretty good too, we missed them the last time they were in the UK as we were touring so it would make up for that to see them play every night.
Speaking of live shows, what’s your favourite story from a show so far?
One time we played a pub in Bristol and a woman with a bag of wigs and percussive instruments danced through our entire set. She was the personification of everything our band is not – joyful, charismatic & fun to watch. I think about her every day.
Your debut album, Teach Yourself To Swim is out today (congrats!) – what was the most fun and most challenging aspects in the studio?
Thank you! The studio is honestly one of our favourite environments as a band. Being given the opportunity to run wild with the ideas and sounds we’ve been working on is always such an enjoyable experience. Very early on in our band’s life we established a very good working relationship with our Producer friend, Lewis Johns who has been involved in everything we’ve ever released. Lewis has always done a great job of pushing the best out of us and so much credit has to be given to him on his ability to see our vision through every time so it’s always a blast to work with him.
Of course – sometimes getting the best out of yourself can involve some emotional strain. I think any band can pinpoint a moment in any session where something just wasn’t going their way and it can end up being very stressful and upsetting. When you set the stakes so high for yourself and invest so much of your emotion and creativity into something, it’s a real killer when you can’t get it right. I definitely had a little cry at one point when we were tracking the vocals for this record because on that particular day everything I was doing was rubbish. All that being said, I don’t think we’d have it any other way when the end result is what it is.
Settle an argument for us (and the rest of the world) pineapple on pizza?
This is an incredibly upsetting question. No. Never. I actually just hate pineapple full stop and the idea of ruining something as sacred as pizza with it is not ok.
Music
Inspiration
Rising to the challenge, Wallflower have put together an electrifying collection of songs that best encapsulates the artists and music that inspire them as a band.
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