Our Wild Lies are an Auckland-based post punk band who have spend the last few weeks fastidiously recording a double A side single. UTR caught up with Nigel Moore from the group to discuss what they've been up to since their last release and what we can expect from them throughout 2013.
We caught up with you guys in mid-2012: what have you been up to since then?
Yeah, it's been just over a year since we put up our bedroom produced 'Take It and Run' on your site. We definitely enjoyed the response which gave us momentum to keep at it. We played quite a few gigs as a two piece. It was a lot of fun but we noticed limitations to our live scenario.
Before Christmas we decided we wanted to expand the pack with the addition of a drummer and bassist. Since finding the perfect new members, we've ben writing, jamming and most recently recording some new material....
You described your music influences as My Bloody Valentine and Little Dragon, as well as dirty rock 'n roll: is this still a valid summation? Tell us a little bit about how your influences have diversified or changed over the last year.
Those are definitely bands we love and respect but they are not necessarily direct influences on what we're doing right now. With the addition of members comes an even bigger variety of influences.
What's most inspiring in this new faze, is writing songs as a band which are a lot heavier and eclectic. We personally can't really draw any comparisons at the moment which is VERY exciting for us.
You also mentioned you had a few live shows booked in: were there any particular live highlights of the past year?
'You sound like you're on the moon, I love it!'
You've just finished recording a double single: tell us a little bit about songs. When were they recorded? Is there any thematic countenance? What were you inspired or influenced by when writing?
Social politics and quantum physics...
We have recently finished 2 tracks over the last couple weeks. We want to do more and develop an EP or album, but really just testing the waters right now with recording in studios along with writing as a band. As opposed to just the two of us on our computer at home.
Our name leans to what we write about conceptually. Nothing is as it seems. Everything has a dark side. We are inspired by life experiences, human perception or lack there of.
Where did you record and did you have any external help?
We recorded at Under_Score Recordings in Auckland.
It was great to be able to self produce our sound and be very involved in the mixing process, a luxury we never had in other professional studios with any of our previous projects.
We think we got a great result and this was mostly due to a few short mixing sessions that we did days apart from each other post recording. York Street Studios did the final polishing by handling the mastering for us.
Was there anything sonically you were particularly trying to do in the recording and production process?
Our major goal and concern was to keep it low fi and true to the original sound but adding the right amount of clarity and atmosphere offered by hi fidelity recording. We also tried really hard to capture the live energy we have grown into. We always want to keep it as raw and moody as possible.
What are the future plans for Our Wild Lies?
Initially we want to play a lot more live shows, that's why we doing this really. We'd like to record our progress thus far perhaps in the form of an EP or more singles and enjoy the process of doing so. Stage dive. Guitar solos with industrial fans.
