These Wicked Rivers Talk New Album, Voices And More

UK Rock band These Wicked Rivers have been making waves (pardon the pun) across the music scene in the UK and Europe with their latest album’ Force Of Nature’. Despite a packed schedule, the band sat down with us to talk about the new album, their voices and more: 

Who is in These Wicked Rivers and what do they play?

These Wicked Rivers are made up of lead vocals and rhythm guitarist John Hartwell, Drums and percussion Dan Southall, lead guitarist Arran Day and multi instrumentalist and backing vocals Rich Wilson

When and how did you all meet?

John and Dan went to uni together where they met and became good friends, the rest of the band met through the Derby music scene. Arran was an apprentice sound man looking for a band to cut his teeth in and Rich had been the front man of the band that gave Rivers their first ever support slot. Only years later through shifting circumstances did he come to join the band.

Your new album ‘Force of Nature’ is out now. How did you want to approach the making of the album and who produced it?

How we wanted to approach the album and what ended up happening are two different things. Eden, our first album, had been recorded at a studio in Wales. A farm house that you could move into for a week or two to fully immerse yourself in the recording process. This is a good way to record, unfortunately because the band had been so busy with gigs during the year, and because we all work full time jobs and are beholden to annual leave we were unable to repeat the process with Force Of Nature. This time it was a matter of having to work a full day then drive to another city to record a few hours then drive home again for work the next day. This went on for months so it did feel quite disjointed at times however we couldn’t be happier with the results. It was recorded in Sheffield at MU studios with Martin Smith and mixed by Australian producer Ricki Rae.

Do you have any favoured stage instruments, effects, pedals, microphones etc?

Arrans pedal board is the largest I have ever seen, it’s so big it’s carpeted in places. We are endorsed by Gretsch guitars so the boys proudly play Gretsch which have such a lovely tone and work so well with our style of music. Rich is a Nord man and also uses a bullet mic for his harmonica.

Where is your hometown and could you please describe it in five words?

We are Derby based although Dan is from Wolves. Central, countryside, artistic, community, Rams.

Do you have any interesting, funny or memorable stories from the album recording sessions?

The most memorable day was the crowdfunder day. We ran a crowdfunder to raise the funds to record the album and we offered fans the chance to spend some time with us in the studio, see behind the curtain as an album of work is being recorded and what that entails, but also to get involved and be on the album itself. Vocals were captured from everyone that took part which you can hear on the final chorus of The Family. Also guitar playing was tracked and is included on Testify and Lord knows.

You have also released the track ‘The Riverboat Man’. What was the story/inspiration behind the song?

This song was written by Arran with the exception of the chorus which was written by Rich. Arran likes to tell a story narrative when writing songs. It often centres around some venerable or quirky individual that finds themselves on the outskirts of society. The song tells the story of the riverboat man – a lonely outsider that prefers a solitary existence by the river fixing boats rather than interacting with the village folk that may try and take advantage of him. One day an accident happens which results in the death of a young woman, this tragedy brings the devil into the riverboat man’s life who offers to take away the pain in exchange for servitude.

The single is accompanied by an official music video. What was the thought process behind the video and who directed it?

The video was put together by the talented Drew Hamley of Unit 15 Productions. We had not really considered this song as a single but the label loved it so much and so we were tasked with creating a video. Drew absolutely nailed the brief, and really brought a new dimension to the song – quite an achievement given it’s “only” a lyric video.

Do you have any plans for live shows in Europe/UK in 2024?

2024 is shaped up to be our busiest year to date. The album dropped 1st of March so we had a week of in-store signings and acoustic shows around the UK to promote the release. Then in April we embarked on our first ever European tour.  Straight off the back of that we started a full UK tour in May that leads us into some brilliant summer festivals including Call Of The Wild and Maid In Stone.

How do you look after your voices?

Stay away from the rock and roll lifestyle while on the road because if you are on the booze every night the voice will suffer. We also use vocalzone T-bags and lozenges. The T-bags really seem to do the trick when it comes to warming and soothing the old vocal cords.

Which tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?

I would say The Family is probably the happiest song on the album as it’s an ode to our fans. The angriest is possibly Black Gold as it looks at the greed and corruption within the halls of power. The most reflective would be either Just To Be A Man or Lonely Road as both are written from the perspective of band members looking at their lives and reflecting on their choices.

Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?

We have quite a mixed diverse pool of influences as a band as each member tends to draw from different places in the musical spectrum. The two current bands that we all agree on however are Rival Sons and Blackberry Smoke.

Was it a difficult album to write?

Not really to be honest. A few of the songs are legacy songs, so that’s songs we have been playing for years but that have never been on an album. We wanted to record a definitive version of these songs and get them out there for the fans. Also when Rich joined the band just after lockdown he brought with him a back catalog of songs that we were able to pick through and then develop into rivers songs. We are also quite lucky though in the respect of whenever we get in a room together and are afforded the opportunity to work on new material, we do normally come up with something useable.

What makes These Wicked Rivers happy and what makes you unhappy?

We are happiest when we are writing and performing for the fans. We are simple men who play honest rock and roll so really cherish that relationship we have with the people who enjoy our art.

Things that make us unhappy are dishonesty, too many on the road meal deals and backing tracks.