Neu Wolf Alice: ‘’‘Fluffy’ Was The Most Extreme Song We Had’

The four members of Wolf Alice share a lot of jokes. We’re talking one per interview question they’re countered with. So when they quip ‘this is a first’ when we tell them most people turning up to our first ‘Hello 2013’ show are there to see these guys, we think they’re being sarcastic. Turns out founder members Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie are frighteningly experienced when it comes to entertaining sparse crowds.

‘Normally we’re just supporting someone or if we’re not supporting someone, no-one will come,’ Ellie says, not out of despondence, just honesty. Joff adds that ‘people in the industry seem to know about us more than just people who listen to music. If we can get real people it’d be quality.’ Wolf Alice are well aware that they could sit back, relax and enjoy their temporary life in a comfy hype bubble. Instead they’re keeping their feet on the ground. Next step: Win the hearts of real people.
‘There was a load of effort.’
We reckon a lot of ‘real people’ will have heard them by now. New single ‘Fluffy’ is a direct, obnoxious rock song. It’s impossible to ignore. ‘I think ‘Fluffy’ was the most extreme song we had,’ says Ellie. ‘We wanted to write something as different to [previous single] ‘Leaving You’ as we could get.’ Drummer Joel Amey joins the conversation, joking: ‘I think everyone thought from ‘Leaving You’ that we’d just have a whole set full of slow jams.’ Joel’s had previous experience in the band Mafia Lights. On the attention surrounding his new project, he’s quick to say; ‘I’m lucky not to know anybody who’s gotten swept up in all of the hype stuff.’ Alongside Theo Ellis, he joined the band late last year, at which point Wolf Alice was something of a ‘folk project’. ‘Fluffy’ was the first song they wrote as a four-piece.

‘At first we were a bit paranoid that we didn’t have a steady sound, a token sound,’ Ellie claims. ‘And then we came to realise that was actually a good thing.’ Again, ‘White Leather’, the b-side to the single is a complete change of pace. Rowsell departs from ‘Fluffy”s frenzied frontwoman and showcases the kind of songwriting that’s stayed a constant in Wolf Alice’s sound, from those early ‘folk’ gigs to January’s show at The Old Blue Last. By the time they take to the stage, it’s one-in, one-out on the door. Sure, ‘industry people’ line the walls, but you can catch some real people at the front losing themselves to ‘Fluffy’s force and sense of drama.

‘I know it seems like everything’s happening really quickly but there was a load of effort, even before we came in,’ declares Joel. A sense of seriousness hangs for a split-second, before Joel turns to Ellie and says ‘you’re a bit of a diva though.’ Cue the in jokes and the ribbing. How do you cope with the weight of expectation? You laugh it off.



The ‘Fluffy’ single is out now physically and via. iTunes.

Taken from the March 2013 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.