The Wild! – New Album – Aerosmith meets AC/DC with Headstones punk attitude!

Kelowna based The Wild! are set to release their third album Still Believe In Rock And Roll later this week. The album is an evolution of their straight ahead, in your face rock they’ve become well known for. I sat down with Dylan Villain recently to talk about the project.

 

 

Kelowna BC is nestled in the heart of wine country. When you think of Kelowna the first thing that comes to mind is peach trees, sweeping vineyards, boating on the Okanagan Lake, brunch on the pier with mimosas and farmers markets galore. But what’s that we hear? A low rumble similar to several Harley Davidson’s roaring along highway 97. Could it be an invasion of sorts? It’s Bad News for sure, but not in the ‘hide your valuables’ way. It’s the opening track from The Wild’s latest effort Still Believe In Rock And Roll. A solid follow up to Wild At Heart. After listening to this album, I can safely say I still believe in rock and roll. This latest effort is a real as it gets these days. And the lead track sets the tone for the rest of the album. Dylan says, “Listening to Bad News I had to scrap most of the songs for the project and rewrite everything based on this feeling. It’s essentially what made this record, the record it is today.”

If you like your rock straight up, then look no further than The Wild! as they have a certain swagger to them that is missing in many bands these days. I would compare it to Aerosmith meets AC/DC with the punk attitude of the Headstones all mixed into one. Dylan adds, “With us it’s the attitude and energy of punk, rock and roll with a blues edge on it. We just like to do it louder, harder and faster than most people.” That attitude is quite evident through out this album and it really kicks into the next gear with “High Speed” the fourth track.

Engineered by the great Mike Fraser, who has worked with AC/DC, Aerosmith, Metallica, Jimmy Page and Dave Grohl to name a few, and front man Dylan Villain, the album is crisper and punchier than the previous two outings.  Dylan mentioned that this album had to be a bit of an evolution, “You spend time developing your sound and your song writing to coincide with that sound you are doing for the record. We were finding our lane. This record really captured what I had imagined our sound to be.” The process for this record was really trying  for Villain. They were touring and breaking and touring and he was writing and laying down tracks in between. “To say it was a test of my stamina is an understatement. I don’t really sleep when things are good. I wear a lot of hats with this band as manager, writer, producer,” Dylan describes the process of making this album, “I had my hands full for three months. All that fatigue and delirium propels creativity if you can find the right channel for it.”

 

The lead single, “Playing With Fire” is burning up the rock charts with it’s punchy hook and hard driving guitar. Head to YouTube to check it out. The next single due up will be a “King of This Town” with a great rock chant inspired by the soccer hooligans during the world cup One on my favourite songs on the album is Nothing Good Comes Easy that is quite infectious. Give it a listen and right from the opening chords you will hear the swagger I talked about earlier. We were speaking about “Nothing Good Comes Easy”, Dylan’s only co-write on this album. He wrote this with Keith Nelson one of the founding members of Buck Cherry. He was flying from Europe back to Canada and then down to LA. “I ran into Keith to do some work and Keith asked me how I was, and I said,I’m tired but ‘nothing good comes easy.’ As we were jamming on different things, I said to Keith, ‘What was it I said to you when I came in the door’ and Keith replied, ‘nothing good comes easy. and I immediately said we’ll build a song around that tag line.” Villain shelved the song for some time, went back to touring and as they were laying down the tracks for Still Believe In Rock And Roll he brought the song out and it fit. As does every song on this album.

The Wild! sound like they’d be as comfortable in front of 50 people at a dive bar on a Thursday night or a wall of Marshall stacks at a huge open air festival. Villain says, “We treat every single show the same way, whether there’s 500 people or 5,000. We love our fans and we love playing music. It’s a rush. It’s better than anything else you’ll ever do. It’s better than sex, it’s better than drugs, it’s better than booze.”

As this interview was being set up, The Wild! were preparing to head over to Europe for a few weeks, however due to the global Corona pandemic that has been put on hold, along with the rest of the music industry. Everything was set up for the release of Still Believe In Rock And Roll. The lead single, “Playing With Fire” is on the top of the rock charts in Europe, shows were sold out. “We are bleeding because of this, and that’s as honest as I can be with you.” Adds Villain. “This leaves a big hole in the year. There was so much momentum revolving around this album. When you have all these plans in place, when everything is set up to propel you to the next level, when you are unable to deliver, not only for yourself, but for the fans, it’s disheartening. We want our fans to know that when this is cleared up, we will come back louder harder and better than we ever have.”

The Wild! are straight ahead rockers with a great party attitude. Many of these songs will become the soundtrack to your summer nights rocking you on. This Friday, March 20th, be sure to pick up Still Believe In Rock And Roll, where ever you get your music. In today’s streaming world, Villain recognizes that it’s part of the industry, “People say rock is dying and there’s no good bands out there.  As a result of this stuff, that not only us, but every other band is going through, if you keep supporting the bands that you love, if you go to their shows and tell your friends about them to stream them on Spotify, buy their merch, if you keep supporting them and championing them, then rock music will never die. It’s that simple.” You will want to tell your friends about The Wild! and one listen to Still Believe In Rock And Roll will leave you wanting more.

Head on over to https://www.thewildrocknroll.com/ for more information on what’s sure to become your new favourite rock record. It’s become mine!

UPDATE: The Wild! will be live streaming a concert this Saturday with their production company SW Productions in Kelowna. They will have a full stage, lights and as Dylan Villain says, beers. This will give them an opportunity to bring the music to you. They will also be live streaming the set up starting Thursday. The band wants to also use this a teachable moment for kids who are interested in getting into the industry on how to set up a full stage, run cables and set up lights. Head to their Facebook page for more info. It’s going to be a ricking good time. https://www.facebook.com/thewildrocknroll/