Wunderhorse’s Jacob Slater on the band’s rise, second album, raw energy on stage and more

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We recently sat down with Wunderhorse lead singer, songwriter and guitarist Jacob Slater to discuss the alternative rock band’s rise and the release of what we’re naming the frontrunner for album of the year.

Nope, not exaggerating – it really is that good.

As one of the most exciting lyricists and all-round talents, not to mention the frontman for arguably one of the best new bands around right now, Jacob Slater is amassing a fiercely passionate following of loyal fans who are lapping every second, from the quietly released solo project to cult favourite live clips.

He also happens to have helped co-write and create one of the biggest middle fingers to so-called ‘sophomore syndrome’ there’s been in years, as Wunderhorse’s second record Midas has genuinely been on repeat in the office non-stop since release – safe to say we had a lot to say in this interview.

Credit: ‘Silver’ music video (via YouTube)/Banquet Records

Interview | Jacob Slater on Wunderhorse gaining serious traction

So what’s it been like watching this thing become as big as it has of late?

We’ve all been in various projects over the last decade or so that have, kind of, maybe gone somewhere, but not kind of like properly taken off to the point where we were satisfied with, and I think this is the first time we’ve all been in something that’s really starting to work.

So, yeah, it’s been sort of 10 years plus in the making and so, yeah, it feels good.

We first saw you supporting Sam Fender at Castlefield Bowl and the crowd was already there – do you have any standout memories from that gig?

Manchester’s always just been very good to us. It usually sells out; it’s one of the first ones on the tours to kind of sell out and people always seem really up for it.

I think from that Sam show it was just that it was a big step up for us. I think that was the day after we did those two gigs with Fontaines [D.C.] at Ivy Gardens, but prior to that weekend, you know, we hadn’t done anything quite like that.

We’d been playing, you know, 200-250 cap venues max, so to go from that to thousands of people was, you know, it’s quite a shock but it weirdly felt right. It was like, ‘Yeah, this is what we want to be doing’, you know?

For sure, and you’ve just mentioned Fontaines there, who also have new music out and you’ve spoken before about them bringing guitar-driven music back to the forefront. How does it feel to be helping spearhead that revival?

It feels good, man. We’ve been lucky enough to play with them a few times and they’re definitely very good at what they do, and it’s nice to see so many people connecting with that kind of music again. And, yeah, if we’re included in that, then all the better.

Now onto Midas itself, we have our own favourites already but do you guys have a particular standout that you’re most excited for people to hear live?

It’s interesting really – I think the one that wasn’t actually going to be a single.

You know, these days you think you’re going to do three singles and you end up doing 10, because you know the general population has the attention span of a goldfish, but it’s like you have to kind of try and keep people engaged or whatever. I don’t know why. If it was up to me, we’d release a lot less.

But yeah, one that wasn’t supposed to be released as a single was ‘Rain’, but actually I realised it’s one of my favourite moments on the record. I probably would have still saved it for the album, but now it’s out, yeah, I like that one.

Yeah, that’s a really addictive song. I’d say it has a lot of the qualities people love about you guys in that it’s very straight to the point – maybe a bit more aggressive. It’s almost like the attitude comes first and the melody comes second this time, is that how you see it?

I think it’s just more of an accurate representation of who we are. The Cub [debut album] stuff, those songs some of them were written when I was a teenager and I was still finding my way in and trying to find my feet in terms of how I felt comfortable writing.

I think Midas is arriving at that point with a band around us and going okay, this is who we are and I’m confident in that, you know.

Did it come out of more of experimentation, that you sort of like got back to that? Like, was there a sound you were going for or just whatever came out in the studio?

No, I mean we came into the studio with all these ideas, most of which just fell by the wayside, like we didn’t actually work them out, which is quite scary.

We were over in America, the label spent a load of money and we didn’t know what we were going to do, but once we got ‘Midas’ the actual title track together, everything sort of fell into place and we ended up just writing most of the record out there in the studio.

It was that old cliche about capturing lightning in a bottle; there was something in the air that allowed us to create this world very, very quickly, so yeah, yeah, it’s just a product of that really.

I think it’s everyone’s input as well, i.e. you’re hearing songs as they’re coming into being rather than after they’ve been learned and played live and kind of levelled out.

You’re still hearing them, with all their errors in, and I think that’s a really magic place for songs to live and they’re only there very briefly, so I feel very lucky that we managed to capture them at that point, because most of the time you don’t.

Love that. There’s also plenty of breadth to the sound as well, from grunge to shoegaze and then more indie roots. I know you’ve mentioned a lot of your influences in the past but what sort of stuff were you listening to when making Midas?

I mean, I’ve always listened to grunge – that was always a big thing, especially for me and Harry [Fowler, lead guitarist] growing up. I met Harry when I was like 14 or something and that’s what we bonded over, you know, that 90s sound, so it’s always been there.

And you know I’ve always loved sort of the older, heavier sort of stuff from the early punk days in the US like The Stooges, they’re one of my favourite bands of all time, so it’s always kind of been there it’s just that on Cub I wasn’t really exploring that.

I wanted to, I just couldn’t get the sound right for it, but this time it’s like, okay, this is more like bringing that into the picture and I feel like it was missing before and now it’s well represented in Wunderhorse.

For sure, I mean you’re very much considered part of this modern post-punk movement – do you feel assigned to that at all or is it just you play whatever you like?

Yeah, we just make whatever music we feel like at the time. Yeah, the whole post-punk thing: I always get confused with the labels. You know, there’s people who sort of can fit everything into all these little tiny little pigeon holes and I get lost with all the posts and pres. I just like what I like really.

The best way to be. What about the contemporary then, who are you listening to at the minute?

There’s an artist called Wu-Lu from south London headed up by a guy called Miles, I’m always interested to see what they’re going to do next.

There’s a band called Sorry as well who are heading out on tour with Fontaines and, yeah, I like bands that you know sort of unpredictable and I just don’t know what they’re going to do next but honestly, I’m a bit of a hermit in that a lot of my music taste is kind like I’m a bit of an old man.

I sort of like live under a rock a bit; It’s great when people show me new stuff, I’m just not that active and kind of going out and and looking for it. If I come across it then great but you know, it usually takes somebody who’s a bit more in the know to give me a nudge and say, oh, have you heard this?

That’s fair haha. Well, going back to old stuff, with the news that one of your favourites, the Sex Pistols, going back out on tour with Frank Carter, if you could front for one band’s reunion who would it be?

Oh I dunno, I don’t think I’d do it with any. I think if it was a band I really liked I’d be sort of quaking in my boots trying to. There’s plenty of bands I’d want to bring back, though.

I’d love to have, you know, seen The Clash around 1979. That would’ve been great as London Calling was kind of coming together, and The Stooges back in the day, around ’69-70, would have been off the chart as well.

Absolutely, and speaking gigs, how excited are you to head out on tour and how do you think the live experience is going to differ from previous shows now, if at all?

I think it’s just that the songs are really, really simple and they all just go pretty hard for the most part. There are a couple of slow ones on the record, but they’re just a great vehicle for just thrashing sh*t out.

I think that’s really what we wanted to do with this album as well: make something super simple, just really simple, good songs, and I think that we’ve done that. It makes it very easy to just take it out, play it live, just have some fun and not be too precious about them.

These songs don’t want you to be precious, they don’t want to be handled with care, so that’s good.

That works for us and yeah, I mean you’re known for a fair few antics and being pretty raw on stage, from sticking your fingers down your throat to jumping in the crowd and pretending you’re in the front row. Where does that energy come from, or is it whatever feels right in the moment?

@wunderhorsemania i wont lie and say this did make me feel quite uncomfortable ahahah but i guess this is what july is all about. #wunderhorse #wunderhorseband #wunderhorselive #wunderhorseconcert #jacobslater #newsong #july @Wunderhorse ♬ original sound – Wunderhorse Mania

Yeah, I never plan anything I do. I feel like sometimes you can catch yourself and find you’re almost about to do something because it worked last time. You have to stop that immediately because then it becomes a performance, it becomes this like a rehearsed thing.

You’re just kidding yourself and you’re kidding the audience, it’s not a good way to be, I don’t think – well for us anyway. I think a lot of that stuff just comes from being cooped up in a tour bus all day, you know.

You’re naturally someone who’s got quite a few things going on in your head, then you’re offered this stage and loads of people you’re, so it’s a good place to sort of bring those things into like tangible reality however you want.

Honestly, it sounds like a sort of cliched kind of thing to say but, actually, the stage is that time where I can really be myself and do all the things that I want to do the rest of the day – but you usually can’t, because then, you know, you wouldn’t get invited around for Christmas anymore [he grins].

There are so many things that I think a lot of people feel and want to do and you can’t, but on the stage for that hour, what we say goes and what a rare opportunity to actually just do whatever you want, so yeah yeah, like you say, it’s not contrived if it’s your domain and it feels right in the moment.

And lastly, it would be daft not to ask you about any Northern bands you’ve admired coming up?

Stone Roses, they were a massive influence. I think you just hit a period in your mid-teens where suddenly The Stone Roses just make so much sense. I mean, those Manchester bands are so well documented, I’m sure I’d just be saying the same as everyone else, but obviously, The Smiths and Joy Division, Happy Mondays.

For the most part, I mainly listen to American artists – I always find myself going back to American or Canadian songwriters, you know, Leonard Cohen, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, but bands and people definitely seem to be quite drawn to that area of the country.

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It’s also exciting getting an interview with an up-and-coming band but to get time with an artists like Jacob Slater and an outfit growing as fast as Wunderhorse, who might genuinely have just put out album of the year is a privilege – and if you haven’t started listening to them yet, we advise you fix that now.

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Featured Images — Polocho (supplied)/Banquet Records