WAWAWOW

WAWAWOW

For local Sydney band WAWAWOW it is all about their indie, electro, psyche-rock music. From their live show to their new album, Pink Elephant, and even right down to their name.

According to WAWAWOW’s Wade Van Den Hoek (vocals and synth) the band’s name came from guitarist Adam Pilcher’s “excessive” use of a wah pedal.

“We had a list of random phrases and stuff we found funny, for a while we were going to be called The Lemon Sticks. Ultimately we decided that because our guitarist used a wah pedal quite exxesivley, and it made that wawawow sound, that we should go with that name because our band is all about sounds.”

The sounds that Van Den Hoek speaks of are heavily influenced by bands such as Queens Of The Stone Age. WAWAWOW’s music can be described as “diminished dark, silly rock” as they blend together a plethora of riffs, effects and samples in their seven minute plus epics.

This mantra of focusing on the music rather than individuals is something WAWAWOW carried through to the style of their live performance.

Unlike most bands WAWAWOW’s performance style has little to no audience interaction or banter from the band members whilst on stage. Instead they simply walk on stage and play through the entire set as one continuous piece of music before walking off stage exhausted.

“Our live set has always been one big song with no gaps… it’s a fun non-stop rollercoaster ride which leaves us all pretty frazzled by the end,” said Van Den Hoek before explaining their mindset further, “For us this is a fun alternative way to showcase music rather than personalities because that is what we’re all about.”

Given that the band performs in this manner it was natural for them to in turn bring that style across into their new album, Pink Elephant. However, in doing so it meant there was a lot of extra thought and planning required before recording.

“People were telling us that making an album like this was a bad idea because it would be hard to get the songs onto Spotify playlists or the radio. We thought about it for a while but we really liked the idea of the album being like our live set, you can get lost in the music and before you know it you’ve listened to 10-15 minutes.”

Since the band was so set on this format for the record it meant that the normal recording process simply wouldn’t have worked for them explained Van Den Hoek, “If we went into a studio and recorded for say 2-3 days this album couldn’t have happened. We had to meet up 2-3 times per week, not necessarily to record but to instead talk about or listen to the music and suggest different ways to make it all work.”

Finally after two long years Pink Elephant officially hits shelves on Valentine’s Day.

“It’s been way too long coming… we thought it would be released a long time ago, so we’re very excited to have it out of our hair,” said Van Den Hoek before sharing his excitement for the upcoming launch show, “We can’t wait to play gigs this year… playing gigs is the reward for being in a band after all. Writing is fun but its 80% mentally exhausting and 20% fun/creativity. Whereas gigging is 100% fun.”

Feb 22. Town Hall Hotel, 326 King St, Newtown. FREE. Info: www.facebook.com/wawawowband

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