Nattatouille

Hah, Max literally returned them to me last night-- which was kind of better as I've been in Spain the last week :laugh3: Don't worry about it though, he's a pretty cool guy and I'm sure they won't have been received that creepy-- tbh, I thought they were fine so... But still I will say something if it would make you feel better.

I haven't received it yet; so I assume it's either still with Olivia or it is on it's way to me...? ETA (4 hours later): Just got the post and the scrapbook has safely made it to me.

Hey everybody. Max has kindly responded to the majority of the questions we posed and has just returned them all to me. I'd just like to thank you all for taking the time to submit questions and things to make this so successful. -------------------------- How did you come up with the name Wolf Gang? Would you change it if you could? My sister came up with the name actually, and for a while it caused a bit of confusion with Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All fans which made me sometimes think of changing it even though we were the first to use it, but that problem has sort of died out since and I'm happy that we are rolling with it. It wouldn't feel right changing it. Who/what inspires you to make music? I've always been inspired by my parents record collection, that mixture of songs from the 70's and 80's that had real melody,verve and personality to it. I grew up in a musical family as well so there was inspiration and encouragement all around me. Where has been your favourite place to play so far (both as a support and as your own headliner)? Well we've just come off the Coldplay tour and that is definitely the best and most fun support we've done, in terms of headline shows, we had an amazing one in Vienna last December which was brilliant, the crowd has so much enthusiasm it made the whole night so much fun. Is it really true that ‘Suego Faults’ came to you in a dream? Have you been anywhere else in your dreams? Yes it is, and yes I do, as I'm sure most people do, surely everyone is well travelled when it comes to the realm of dreams?! What is your favourite and least favourite track on ‘Suego Faults’? I don't have favourites actually, retrospectively I think that there are powerful moments and weak moments in each song. Do you have any pre/post gig rituals? We do a vocal warm up about 40 minutes before we go on, then we just sort of dance around and get ourselves geared up. Can you give us any updates on how the second album is coming along? Will this tour with Coldplay influence you in any way? Yeh the writing is going well, we've got a good few songs under our belt and it doesn't seem to be slowing down so that's encouraging. We watched Coldplay's set almost every night and it was interesting to start paying more attention to how the songs are structured and propped up instrumentally, who knows maybe some of what we learned will subconsciously drift into our own songwriting... Do you plan on touring the USA extensively to support your second album (if so, can you come to Pawtucket, RI)? Actually we are still playing to support the first record as releases in Britain and the US are delayed. The radio stations out there are still playing singles from the first album so we'll be headed back out in October to do our own headline tour of the east and west coasts, and the bulk of our set will be primarily derived from Suego Faults. In a typically difficult American market to crack, what are the advantages and disadvantages of opening for a massively popular act in front of an audience largely unfamiliar with your work? How do you approach this differently to your festival sets (such as your captivating set at Coachella) or your own shows in terms of audience engagement and setlist choices? Opening for Coldplay has been massively advantageous in spreading our music in the US, I think radio stations used it as a reason to play our music, Coldplay fans who weren't aware of us left the show and got in touch on twitter and Facebook, our album downloads spiked during the tour. I don't want to jinx anything but hopefully our shows where we supported them will be quite busy because of that exposure the band allowed us, so I couldn't stress enough how positive for us that tour was! In terms of our setlist, we kept it short and punchy like the Coachella show, I think when you're playing to a largely unfamiliar audience it's better to leave them wanting more rather than to overexpose yourself. When you moved from London to Berlin, did it change your attitude and approach to music? It didn't really change my attitude, it was quite simply a pragmatic move to go somewhere where I could be in an empty room with a piano every day and not have distractions around me! What was great though was the band came and joined me, and we really hit upon a sound that we have since followed up on, it did seem to set a precedent for the songwriting for the second album out there… How is it you came to open for Coldplay? I think it came through Guy Berryman the bass player who had heard and liked the album. What is your favourite Coldplay song? And why did you choose to cover ‘Life is for Living’ before going on tour with them? There are so many songs I love it's hard to choose a favourite but 'Amsterdam' does something special for me. Covering 'Life Is For Living' was just a spur of the moment thing, it's a nice and short number too... What is your favourite memory of the tour so far? There are so many, playing the first night was really adrenaline filled, meeting the band was awesome, the long drives through beautiful stretches of land, meeting our fans out there, there were loads of really nice moments. How has watching Coldplay perform changed the way you view your own shows? Do you want to get to stadium tours one day? Oh absolutely! It's very inspirational watching the performance. As a frontman it's great to watch Chris, he moves around so much and genuinely seems to be really enjoying himself up there, which is so infectious. What is it like to tour with Coldplay? Would you do it again? We would hands down love to do it again some time, the whole experience was amazing, and their crew were the nicest people to work with ever. How did you prepare yourself for a tour like this? We didn't smoke and we didn't drink… Do you spend any time with the members of the band? Do you find that strange? We bumped into them a few times backstage which was nice, it was great to be able to thank them in person for having us. They all seem really chilled out and down to earth. But it was nice to shake the hand of someone who you genuinely really respect. What are your plans once you have finished touring with Coldplay? We're back to writing more songs, we have a couple of European dates, then the American tour in October!

^Yeah. It pays to be in the obscure music scene. I met him at The Great Escape festival in Brighton and then he came back there on tour a few weeks later so I went again and he recognised me-- so he signed a poster for me and spoke for a while after the set. Then I pointed out something to him on Twitter (which was he was saying he was still in the studio at 1am working-- and I saw that his laptop actually had Twitter up so I said it looked like hard work and he then sent me a Twitpic later of his work screen and then followed me) and since then we've spoken over there every now and again. Then on the third time he was back in the area I went again and obviously because of Twitter and meeting him before-- he said I could come backstage and meet everyone and see what it is like; and he was really nice and cool. And then we had some drinks and whatnot. Got me a setlist and some merch too for free. Max is really lovely to his fans though; so if you tweet at him he is really nice and responsive. Down-to-earth guy. Also I just got the questions back and he's answered a massive chunk. So I owe him a drink when I can next get up to London it would seem. ETA: The interview can be found here

Depending on the wind direction you might be able to get some actually landing by you. In the case of The Emirates gig-- there was loads of confetti up in level 4 as I was leaving so I got tonnes. If not, just be polite to security and I'm sure they'll either let you down or get some for you.

^Ha that's no worries; I just found it eerie that despite all that water/pond distance we were on the same wavelength.

^^Fair point actually. I do class it as a him most of the time... But as more people have discovered Wolf Gang the instances of 'them/their' rocketed. Which made me doubt myself. Admittedly, I corrected the woman next to me at Snow Patrol when she was like: 'Oh Wolf Gang, they were quite good. I didn't think their lead singer really did the rest of them justice.' RAGEQUIT.

:inquisitive: That was weird.

^ Heh, I'm in the 4% that favour Showbiz; I have no say on the later albums.

Oh guise; some of you missed out then. We've just wrapped up a Wolf Gang Q&A over on the Live subforum. But anyway, this thread is long overdue. It is no secret I love Wolf Gang; a lot. I've seen them 3 times (once at The Great Escape, one headline tour of his and when he was on the NME tour). Each time the show has been superb and I've got to say that Suego Faults was one of my favourite albums from 2011. I've also met Max a few times and hung out with him on some occasions. And he is absolutely lovely (even if when I first met him, he was absolutely stunned that I had paid £80 to see Coldplay and hadn't listened to VLV or MX :laugh3: irony) Also-- a question I have been meaning to pose. Would you say it is a 'him' or a 'them' for Wolf Gang? I mean, it is Max that writes and records all the music (or at least he did for Suego Faults) but he has a band he takes with him on tour which has been the same line up each time...?

^Why? I am so confused :cry2:

It's all over and sent off. Thanks everyone that has submitted questions. I will post the answers as soon as I get them.

Alright guys, only a few more hours to get those questions in before I compile them all and send them off for answering!

Pretty sure it is called 'Playhouses' by TV On The Radio... [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alN0XYd2rzQ]PLAYHOUSES-TV ON THE RADIO - YouTube[/ame]

It is Michael Phelps you're right. It's well done; as I said when I first saw it-- I bet there is a video editor somewhere out there with his feet up on the desk and being like 'yeah, I did an awesome job' just for that clip :wink3: I believe wasn't it a crowd surfer in a rubber dingy?

I do agree with you on this point. But I do also see Michael's point. Coldplay has meant significantly less to me since MX-- to the point where I dismiss them a lot of the time. They disappointed me and what they did in the past is somewhat diminished because you know where they will go in the future.

Yeah. It's going to be full of Union Jacks and I feel that is ironic considering Matt's so anti-establishment. I'm going to get sick of it though. Aw, that's a shame but I understand completely! I'll just have to tap you up when I come across there next summer (all going well) :dozey:

On teh moneyz. That's because Muse fans (in particular the .mu boards) are a bunch of hyper cynical, moany, doubters. So unlike Coldplayers, they are more vocal about what they dislike. Hence their distaste so early on. :dozey: HIPSTER. :escaping: But seriously, no Wemblayyyy then? :cry:

I agree with pretty much all this comment. It could of come straight out of The Resistance era. Except it's slightly more flamboyant. Like they looked at The Resistance and went-- we can expand the horizon for flamboyance. Let's go one more step.

Hey everyone! Now I'm sure a lot of you are aware that the amazing Wolf Gang are currently supporting Coldplay on their US leg of their tour. Over here at Coldplaying we've been lucky enough to get Max McEllingott (the lead singer) to agree to an exclusive Q&A. [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tD34hPG1-c]Wolf Gang - Back To Back (Official Tour Video) - YouTube[/ame] That's where you all come in. We want to collect a bunch of questions that you want answering! Do you want to know more about the band? How they ended up on tour with them? What it's like behind the scenes? Or do you just want to find out utterly random things? We'd like to collect as many questions as possible by Friday 6th July. Before we throw as many of them as we physically can at Wolf Gang. So get your thinking caps on-- and post some questions! [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbFUcqMbpU4]Wolf Gang - 'Life is for Living' (Coldplay cover) - YouTube[/ame]

I stand by what I said earlier. All I can imagine is that Matt will sing this in a sparkling, LED Union Jack suit whilst boyband air-grabbing with fireworks and confetti. It's as overdramatic as a bad soap opera.

Yes. :stunned:

Eh, it's not the best, not the worst. Some of the worry and panic was founded, others not so much.

YES. :lol: Bigger emphasis on groove? Hrm, don't know what to make of that.

Basically: - Lyrics are pure cheese. Sugar coated cheese. Injecting cheese into your veins. - The prelude is really nice, super expansive and all like WHOAA. - The choir are scary as bollocks. It sounds like they are all possessed. We need an exorcism up in here. They kill the mood. - Matt's voice is all over the range. It's like he didn't really know where to play. It reminds me of (someone smite me for saying this) Jessie J. - Guitar riffs are pretty good. - There are so many ideas going on here. Just too many. Fuck's sake, I feel like we are through every emotion and thought in 5 minutes. Which might work in terms of it being Olympic-y but it makes have a headache. So in conclusion: not their worst. Not their best. Meh. It's a pretty decent Olympic track though. I'll hate it by the end of the summer coverage-- odds on.