With their second release, full-length album Glory Glory, ex-Christchurch duo Wet Wings are touring the North Island to show off some pretty diverse musical textures. Lucy Botting and Darian Woods are bringing it all together under the roof of Lil Chief and their new home base of Wellington. UTR interviewed the pair via email to find out what’s happening with Glory Glory.
Hi, how’s it going?
Darian: Lucy’s sitting in the corner reading The War Against the Jews. I’m typing. So it is going pretty nice.
When did you start out as a band?
Darian: 2009.
How far have you come since then?
Darian: 400 kilometres since we moved to Wellington. Our relationship has now moved to the third base.
How long have you been at work on your album?
Darian: Some of the songs are up to three years old. The recording and mixing took a few months of work in my bedroom in between economics exams and assignments.
Was it a particularly difficult process?
Lucy: It was pretty dreamy. We recorded it in Darian’s house which is now yellow-stickered (i.e., no one can live there until the apartments are repaired).
Is Glory Glory exactly what you envisioned it to be?
Darian: No.
Lucy: I have visions all the time. Most of them involve house music. I was wrong.
What’s the story behind the album cover?
Darian: It’s from a Dutch artist called Sebastiaan Bremer’s collection of photographs, Schoener Goetterfunken. The photographs are of a family’s hiking trip in Europe. This one’s called ‘In der grossen Weltenuhr’ (In the universal time machine).
What’s your idea of a perfect album?
Lucy: Something real zany.
Darian: Something wild.
Lucy: Something special.
Darian: Something mystical.
What does each member of the band do?
Lucy: In life?
Darian: Live: guitar and trying to sing.
Lucy: Viola, keyboard, sampler, singing.
How regularly do you play shows in Wellington?
Darian: Not regularly at all.
You only seem to have release shows planned for Auckland and Wellington, but will you make it down to the South Island at any point?
Lucy: We are scheming. We are probably going home at some point.
How many of your friends from Christchurch have moved up, too, since the earthquake?
Lucy: I know one person. I’ve had lots of visitors.
Darian: Either one or two. One had already planned to move. One was too rattled to stay.
Which local musicians do you hang out with? Who inspire you?
Darian: We hang out with Jon Lemmon and Jonathan Phillips.
Lucy: Jon Lemmon makes me want to be funky.
Darian: Dangerously funky.
Lucy: J Phil inspires me to learn more industrial British history. Seth Frightening makes me want to be a rabbit frog prince. City Oh Sigh makes me want to get viola lessons again.
How does this band compare to other musical projects you’ve been involved with?
Lucy: I have only been involved in choirs and orchestras. This is way more chill. So chill.
What’s the collective ambition of the band?
Lucy: Travel to Europe to visit concentration camps.
Do you have any ideas for the future yet?
Darian: More of the same.
Lucy: MORE HOUSE.
How do you feel about the state of music in New Zealand?
Lucy: Drew Neemia.
Michael McClelland
