Heavy Wild
Words by Glenn Sargeant
Feature Image Photo Credit: Hannah Murrell
Who is in heavy wild, how did you meet and what do you play?
Wolfgang Harte is the main songwriter in heavy wild and only constant and surviving member – currently joined by:
Madgalene Lin – keys
Carys Whyte – drums
Duncan Callaghan – guitar
Tom Chamberlain – bass
What is your earliest musical memory?
My Dad singing Irish songs to me as a kid
When did you begin songwriting?
When I was a teenager I started turning poems I’d written into songs
You have released your new EP ‘Paradise Forever’. How did you want to approach the making of the EP?
Wanted to capture a certain energy that felt like it was present at the point that I’d write the songs so we got into the studio and got it recorded fairly quickly within a couple of weeks – then spent many months sabotaging our work and patching it back together
Where did you record the EP and who produced it?
Recorded at Third Floor Recording in Camberwell and produced by Paolo Ruiu
Did you use any particular instruments, microphones, recording equipment to help you get a particular sound/tone for the record?
I had a really expensive U-87 mic that I’d used on early heavy wild recordings but as I became more and more obsessed with achieving a lo fi sound I ended up recording on a fucked old sm7b mic that was permanently set up in my kitchen at home while writing these songs
Which of your new album tracks hear you at your a) happiest, b) angriest and c) most reflective?
Most reflective is nightmare – angriest is Carolina – happiest.. none of them are happy
Was it a difficult EP to write?
Was a difficult EP to live – writing it was easy
Who designed the EP artwork?
It’s a photography collage from amazing British photographer Cole Flynn Quirke
One of the tracks is the single ‘freeze2death’ out now. What was the inspiration/story behind the track?
It’s a reflection on friends who are no longer in your life and how much life changes as you pass through your youth and out the other side
Who are some of your musical influences? Do you have any recommendations?
Shane MacGowan for his visceral imagery and poignant story telling – dark streets of London has some of my favourite lines of his.
