Wooly Mammoths is a Brussels based psychedelic pop band that it’s time to become acquainted with if you haven’t already. Comprised of band members Sean, Mikey, Wouter, Freek, and Cedric, Wooly Mammoths is preparing for their debut EP, out fall 2016. We’re excited, so we’re sharing the first track off that EP, “Floated”, below.
We had a second to throw some questions at guitarist/vocalist Sean while the guys were traveling and scattered across different continents. He was all too happy to get us some more info on their project, and now we are more than stoked for the album release.
If you could introduce yourselves to our audience in any way–money not being a factor–how would you do so?
A live concert on jet ski’s probably, that’s the dream.
Please, regale us with the origin story of Wooly Mammoths.
So Cedric (Drummer), Wouter (Bass), Freek (Keys) and I (Sean: Guitar/vocals) played in a dreampop band. I started a side project where I let my inner-psych run around freely and I called it Wooly Mammoths. I made a few demo’s and I sent one of the songs to a big radio station in Belgium as a joke, and it got picked up which was crazy. We played the song live on ‘Studio Brussel’ and we got a lot of interest from labels and music industry people and so on. So we just picked it up from there, everything evolved really naturally. We added an extra guitarist (Mikey) and we headed into the studio. We love being in the studio and working on sounds and textures and playing around with the songs. Afterwards we tend to mix it up for the live shows to keep it funky. We like the idea that the studio and the live gig can sound different. In the studio we tend to be more ethereal, on stage we tend to be more explosive. The rest is history basically.
Often referred to as psych pop, how would you describe your sound specifically?
Well, we mix up a lot of stuff because we all have different music we like. The common ground is our own music. It’s definitely psychedelic tinted because we like things sounding spacious and dreamy. But we also love pop music so we like our songs to be catchy at moments, have good grooves, stuff you can nod your head to. We love sweet vibes, but also don’t mind some melancholy in our tunes. It can be bittersweet at times, but we don’t mind throwing rock in there because our music is definitely guitar based. We’re a bunch of chill dudes, playing music for good times.
What’s the writing/recording process been like with you guys?
So I write the songs and introduce them to the band. If there is something we feel that needs to be changed, we figure it out in rehearsals. In the studio we do some layering. And after the studio sessions we rework the songs for the live show.
Where do you pull the most inspiration from regarding your music?
I get my best ideas when I’m doing the most mundane stuff, like gardening, washing dishes, old people’s bday parties, 9 to 5 jobs .. When I’m not making music, I’m most motivated to make music. Separation makes the heart grow fonder.
You’ve had a lot of success with the digital releases of your singles in the past year. Has this affected your views on the music industry, and what it takes to be successful?
The music industry has changed so much over the past few years, for better and for worse. For a starting band like us it’s great that we can get our music out there so easily. And we don’t mind giving away our music for free, we’re just glad people like it. But we understand a lot of bigger bands (not the absolute top) are suffering from the changes. The big artists just get bigger, small artists get a platform and easy access, but the rest in between can’t monetize their success. For us it’s been great, but we also like physical releases, so we’re hoping we can afford to make lp’s soon. Best of both worlds.
Your debut EP is getting set for release this fall. What are you most looking forward to about that release?
We just can’t wait for the audience to hear the songs. We’ve been playing them at shows for a year now. We’re looking forward to people being able to recognize the songs when they come to our show. We’re also intrigued to see which songs will be whose favourite.
The lyric video for your single “Floated” is pretty interesting… whose idea was it to spin some pizza? Most importantly, is it a real pizza and–of so–was it consumed afterward?
I am lactose intolerant since last summer, and my favourite food was pizza. It’s an ode to my former favourite dish. Nobody ate it afterwards though, because the record player was fairly old and dusty.
Can we expect a full-length video for “Floated” or any upcoming singles anytime soon?
!SCOOP! There will be a video for our new single ‘Come Undone’ in September, so stay tuned!
If you could sum up your aspirations for the band in just a few sentences, how would you do so?
We just want to be able to make music for a long time without having to worry about jobs, and want to bring our music to our fans by touring the world and hanging out with our wooly bro’s and girls :3
What’s up next for Wooly Mammoths?
We’re releasing our EP this fall, we will be going into the studio shortly after to record the follow-up. We’re just trying to play as much shows as we can, bringing our music to the people the old school way. Getting some mileage on our live engine. We’re going to play a show in Finland in October and that’s definitely the furthest away from home (Brussels, Belgium) we will ever have played. That’s gonna be really fun and hopefully a taste of what is to come in the near future.
