New York band Misterwives have been having considerable success since their EP Reflections was released. The titular track was released as a single and sold over 100,000 downloads, having 15 million streams and reaching #1 spot on Billboard’s Emerging Artist chart. For their debut album Our New House the band retreated from the bright lights of New York City to a treehouse in their drummer, Etienne Bowler's backyard.
We caught up bass player Will Hehir when the band were in London on their current tour.
PHOTOGROUPIE: (PG) Hi Will, how's the tour going?
WILL: It's been awesome, we flew in from Dublin yesterday, we got to go an see Walk The Moon - it's been too much fun. It's like I'm on vacation!
PG: Mandy Lee (lead singer song songwriter) was heading towards a solo career before the band formed so how did you all get together?
WILL: I met Mandy 3 years ago through a mutual friend and she knew drummer from working in cafe's round the block from each other. Then we met our guitar player in a local bar and then we all got together and have been playing music ever since.
PG: You EP Reflections was a big success, how did it feel to know that you had reached an audience and broken through?
WILL: It feels like we won the lottery! It's really worked out well, people liked our songs so we carried on playing. It's a combination of the right timing and the right people and it's all worked out for some indescribable reason.
PG: Did you approach your debut album (Our New House) any differently from the EP?
WILL: In a sense yes, because we had more resources. When we recorded the EP we were literally doing it in our drummers bedroom - we put a sound booth in his closet! There were things we wanted to do but we didn't have the equipment so we made an EP. When we were putting the album together we had a studio which was new to us, we could record live drums which we were excited about.
PG: Were Etienne's parents annoyed about all the noise in the house, is that why you built the treehouse?
WILL: (laughing) No, the treehouse in Riverdale was inspiration for Mandy. It was a quiet place to put her mind at ease and write her music. When she was there she was able to find the inspiration from the birds and the bees that were flying around.
PG: There are some great graphics on the album, who designed the artwork?
WILL: That would also be Mandy. I remember walking in and she was doodling the album cover and she had a concept behind it and the whole thing fitted together.
PG: Do you have a favourite song on the album?
WILL: That has to be Queens, Mandy and I are both from Queens originally. I remember when I first heard that song I had my mind blown!
PG: What's it like to come from the great music scene in New York - it's got a fantastic lineage behind it?
WILL: It's great. We're not really at home any more though, but when we were there we had the luxury of seeing every band we ever wanted because they always came through New York which was absolutely brilliant. London's not too shabby when it comes to music either, you have a great scene there too!
PG: Who are your influences?
WILL: Walk The Moon would definitely be up there, No Doubt have a special place in our heart especially their first album, we try and capture that sound and and bring that to life especially. Hot Chip, LCD Sound System. We love Motown too. Mandy is definitely inspired by the Motown movement and Aretha Franklin. Everything they were doing in that era is hugely inspirational.
PG: What's next for the band, can we expect any more music soon?
WILL: We are going to be touring for the foreseeable future. We're outlining our fall tour in the US, and in the summer we are touring and doing festivals and we're shooting around the United States. Mandy is constantly writing and we should be able to get home for a few weeks and work on the new album stuff. But we'll probably get back to working on the music in the winter because it's too cold to do anything else!
www.misterwives.com