Wilde Interview
Interview date: 7-21-17
Paul Palos - Lead Vocals/Rhythm Guitar
Timothy Briones - Lead Guitar
James Shine - Violin/Mandolin/Keyboard
Steve Keider - Bassist/Backing Vocals
Keenan Feller - Percussion
How Did Everyone Come together As A Band?
All: It was all Paul. We didn’t know anybody except Paul.
Tim: I knew James and Paul From a previous band that we played in.The First time I met James he dropped my Ibanez.
James: Yeah it was a really nice guitar, not the best of introductions but he forgave me.
Where Is Everyone From?
James: We’re pretty much all from the North Side/ South Side of Chicago.
Steve: I’m Originally from Cleveland Ohio
How Did You Come Up With Your Band Name?
Keenan: We Were Originally Paul Wilde, It has a nice ring to it. In our early days we decided to research what our online presence was. Unfortunately our first result on google was not our band. It was an adult film actor. So we came to the conclusion that we’re Wilde. Its nice that our band name is one collective name that doesn’t individualise anyone. It Illustrates further that collaboration involved with everything we do.
Keenan Feller on drums, Photo credit: Chris Volek
Can You Share a Little About Your Upcoming Album Hurt Fever?
Paul: It's spanned over a course of time but, “The Pearl” and “Elizabeth” are the two songs on the single. We wanted to incorporate other artists, not just musical artists, into what we are doing. So we asked five different friends who all do visual arts if they could come up with an idea for what they thought the Pearl was. All I gave them was the name of the song and lyrics if they asked for it. So on our Instagram we did a count down to the release of the song by sharing the artwork that each of the artists have done.
Keenan: It’s cool to see what other people thought of our music without even hearing it. We had a specific idea in our minds for The Pearl but, then to hear and see what other people think is just awesome!
Steve: We have enough songs to fill the album and then a few extras. So it’s just a matter of picking which ones we want on there.
James: Anywhere from 10 to 17 songs will end up on the album and we have about 30 original songs.
Artist's Concept Art Provided via Wilde Facebook Page
How Does the Band Go About Writing Music?
Keenan: (jokingly) Everything that is written comes specifically from me. The drums, every instrument, I do all of it! I just direct everything, Im more of a director than a drummer...no, im just kidding.
All: Laughing
James: Paul does a lion’s share of the base of the songwriting.
Paul: I’m happy you ask that question! One of the the coolest things about this band is someone will come up with a blueprint and be like “hey here’s an idea for a song.” Then everyone will trust the ability of everyone else to do their part and to play their part. Some songs are originated by someone but, at the end of the day we don’t go on stage saying this is Paul’s song or Timmy’s.
James: Sometimes two different ones will mesh together. Like “Road to Nowhere”. Steve Wrote the Chorus
Steve: The chorus, bass line and then Paul had some lyrics sitting around and when we put them together it was like “Oh we got bread where we started with yeast and flour!”
James Shine on Keyboard, Photo credit: Chris Volek
Paul You have So Much Energy on Stage, Where does that Come From?Have You Always Been That Way?
Paul: It’s a mixture of the songs, that live experience, and the audience reacting. If they’re diggin it then I’m like “Oh man They’re dancing I should be dancing!”
Tim: When Paul and I first started out in the Ideas, Paul was like 12 years old. He was green behind the ears, no experience on stage and we’re like “Hey we have the perfect instrument for you. We’re gonna slap you on bass.” and the first show that he played they unplugged him because he was that bad.
Paul: Yeah, so bad and my brother was like “Listen, pretend like you’re playing something. No one will know.” Sure enough someone came up to me after the show and said “Sweet bass playing up there!”
Tim: Shortly after that we decided to take Paul off Bass Duties. This was when James joined the band and took over bass. Eventually Paul landed on guitar. Almost instantly he was in love and every show we played, I don’t know where it came from, but since that time he was just all over the place.
Eventually Paul landed on guitar. Almost instantly he was in love and every show we played, I don’t know where it came from, but since that time he was just all over the place.
- Tim Briones
You play at the Elbo Room Often how did That Come To Be ?
Keenan: We had a friend of the band who found an ad on craigslist for a company that was doing a show here. We organized it with them, played one show here and Elbo Room loved us and we loved how they treated us. From then on we’ve been invited back, we’ve reached out to them and it’s been very mutual and we really appreciate that!
What Are Everyone’s Musical Influences?
Paul: I love Hip-Hop and James Brown and lyrically There’s so much more to say if you just say more! So i try to fit as many words as i can in there. So thats my biggest influence just drawing from that. On stage, it’s a lot of James Brown, Freddie Mercury. You go up there and you’ve gotta put everything out there! Musically, vintage 50’s/60’s, our song “Frown” was really inspired by that!
Steve: I’ve been influenced as I grew up, with different bands that I guess might fall into a genre you could call whimsical,almost cartoon rock. I was really into a lot of Primus, Ween, Phish and other Jam Bands. The common thread between all of that is even if the album can be a little hokey or wacky. You go and see it live and it has a certain energy and it takes a certain energy to pull that stuff off live. So that’s been a huge influence for me. I just love how much fun they have. You go and watch Les Claypool dancing around up there with Primus and that’s a huge influence for me. I grew up and saw how much fun he was having and I want to do that!
James: It boils down to one of three things, and mainly because of the nature of the instruments. Irish Traditional Music(fiddle), Bluegrass(mandolin), and Jazz(piano).
Tim: My main influences are a lot of 70’s Punk Rock. Like the Ramones & Stiff Little Fingers. A lot of my guitar work comes from the blues because when I was in The Ideas. John, the lead singer in that band was like here you need to learn a scale. So he taught me a blues scale and i loved it. My dad worked on that and he encouraged me to listen to Buddy Guy, Son House and other blues musicians. I fell in Love with the Delta Blues and that’s where a lot of my guitar work comes from. Then it was heavily influenced by my brothers because they were into Metal, and Slayer and Mastodon and all these other bands.
Keenan: My first instrument was the Piano. I started that when I was four. I actually didn’t get my first drum set until i was fifteen, when I finally convinced my parents that I would use it. When I was a kid, Every Sunday my dad would make pancakes and he would have on Breakfast with The Beatles. So to me that was music, that was what I grew up with, The Beatles. There’s no doubt that Ringo Star had a big influence on how I play drums. When I started off, I remember our very first show, just so reserved. I was afraid to do anything that wasn’t the beat because I was afraid these guys were gonna turn around and be like “what the hell’s this guy doing?” but I really enjoy listening to Mitch Mitchell from Jimmy Hendrix Experience, play on the drums. It’s powerful but not over powerful and simple enough where it’s not gonna confuse anybody but enough intricacies where you can have some fun. I Like to keep the beat strong, keep the beat obvious, but at the same time have some fun throwing in little intricacies.
As a Band What Is Your Biggest Accomplishment(s)?
Paul: There’s a couple Benchmarks. Playing out of state for the first time was really cool. We also used to play at this Place called the white room which doubled as a studio for recording music. It’s actually where our first album was recorded. I remember it was a really cold day we hadn’t been a band for a year. It was in December and snowing and by the grace of God there was over 100 people at the venue on this cold day. The venue owner said that was the second biggest event they’d ever had there. So as a young band, you know like a little tadpole swimming around in a lake, not know what the heck were doing that was really dope!
Keenan: For me it was the first show we had ever played. Fun fact about that show it was actually the first time all five of us ever played together. I remember only four of us had practiced all together. Steve hadn’t made a practice yet. I had never met Steve, and as the drummer not meeting and playing with the bassist made me have some reservations about that. I was having a conversation with Paul, maybe an hour or two before we went on. Im like “ is it really necessary for him to be here? He’s never been to any practices.” We sounded okay without him, or so I thought but, let me tell you all five of us took the stage and started playing and there was something definitely going on there. From that moment on I just laugh at the fact I thought we wouldn’t need a bassist.
What Are Your Goals For The Future?
Paul: Make more music and keep growing together!
Steve: Were leaving the state here in a couple months at the end of September to play a couple shows but Right now we want to get our next album,Hurt Fever, Recorded.
Music, at its core is a conversation. That’s what it’s always been. They say that’s the universal language, it legitimately is.
- Paul Palos
What Do You Want Your Fans To Take Away From The Music?
Steve:Whatever they do, I’m not gonna tell anyone else how to enjoy our music. As long as they enjoy it.
Paul: Music, at its core is a conversation. That’s what it’s always been. They say that’s the universal language, it legitimately is. I know...I’ve got a problem with this(jokingly). I like to talk a lot during our sets. The whole root of that is I want people to be, conversing. Even if its not in words, It’s how they’re dancing, they’re looking, and moving. People need to be having fun! You can Listen to music on YouTube. You go to a show and you want to be like Heck Yeah! Cut a Rug, Rip A Carpet!
Follow Wilde on: Facebook, Twitter & Snapchat @thatwildeband & Instagram @wildemusic
Listen to Wilde Music on:
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/the-party/id1093351540
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2qvMUcPlXGdGJOb7oFHI0q
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/wilde-15