“We were all fairly hard on ourselves throughout the writing and recording process,” says bass player Sean Henry.
“We put a lot of time and effort into the songs on Dreamfield,” adds vocalist Alana Porter. “Being our debut EP, we wanted to share our music in the best quality possible.”
Since forming in mid-2013, it’s been Once Were Wild’s mission to play on every Melbourne stage they could. The five-piece – completed by drummer Renee Morgan, guitarist Georgia Fell and keys player Andrew Whittle – each have relatively disparate musical backgrounds, which coalesce under the Once Were Wild banner.
“Renee has a heavier influence, which shows through her use of the double kick in some of our music,” Whittle explains. “Sean has a broad theoretical knowledge, which is displayed in his writing ability. Georgia has more of a punk and alternative background, Alana has a huge passion for dream rock as both a lyricist and a vocalist, and I come from a classical background and have quite diverse music taste.”
After a year spent gigging and writing like mad, the time looked nigh for Once Were Wild to knuckle down on an introductory release. The quintet weren’t interested in releasing a haphazard home demo, so there was the issue of finance to worry about. Thankfully, they’d gathered enough support to implement a Pozible campaign, which reached its crowd-funding target in just three days.
“With the money raised through Pozible we were able to cover most of our recording time, which therefore allowed us to spend more on the other costs associated with production,” Porter says. “Without the support of everyone who got behind our campaign, we wouldn’t have been able to record the EP to the quality that we have.”
Indeed, with cash in pocket, Once Were Wild bunkered down in Abbottsford’s Aviary Studios, with in-house engineer Fraser Montgomery at the helm. Given they’re a relatively young band, Montgomery’s mediating presence proved greatly beneficial.
“Fraser was very involved in recording the songs,” Fell says. “He guided us through parts that we were unsure of or wanted a second opinion on and he reaffirmed our prior decisions. We went into the studio feeling pretty prepared with our demos, but we left the studio feeling that the tracks had grown a lot after working with Fraser.”
Stylistically, the band weren’t trying to channel any one artist in particular, but there are a few primary touchstones: “The Jezabels would definitely serve as a model for Once Were Wild, being an Australian band that we are all influenced by,” Henry says. “Other artists include UK bands such as Daughter and The xx.”
“We didn’t really discuss other artists specifically,” Morgan adds. “However, we are all fans of The Jezabels and we’re able to connect some of the themes in our songs to their music.”
Dreamfield lands on Saturday and the best place to grab a copy is the official release party at The Bendigo Hotel. Once Were Wild have selected a trio of support acts to help make it a celebratory occasion.
“Kicking off the night will be alternative folk-roots singer/songwriter Davy Simony,” says Fell. “[He’ll be] followed by Beautiful Beasts, who are a five-piece folk/rock psychedelic band. The Princetons will then be hitting the stage with their high energy, upbeat indie rock tunes.”
From here, Once Were Wild plan to stay busy and keep growing their following. “We want to share these songs with as many people as possible,” Whittle says. “[We’ll] continue writing music for sure, but definitely put an emphasis on playing live.”
BY AUGUSTUS WELBY
