Wild Americans

Sometimes, it feels like the world of alt-rock has lost its unique luster. Gone are the days when each offering in the genre had its own distinctive sound, replaced now by dozens of bands that can easily be confused with the next.

If Lighten Up, the latest EP from Wild Americans, is any indication, the band has set their sights on the field’s blasé state.

From the pounding piano chords of “Afternoon” to the laid-back ethereal sounds of “Loser Freaks,” the four-song EP is packed full of surprises that will keep the listener engaged and entertained throughout. Set for release Friday, drummer and vocalist Mike Neglia took some time to walk TNWU through the EP’s tracks.

Track 1 ­ “Afternoon”

Imagine looking for love and finding it. That’s how the story begins, but in verse two, happiness seems to be slipping through the protagonist’s fingers. The bridge section is all about the introspection that takes place in the main character’s mind. Eventually, he sees his relationship fading away. He decides to drop the facade and let his true emotions rise to the surface, and there is an unsettling sense of mania that follows.

The song jumps around stylistically, and that’s intentional. It is meant to emulate the constantly changing nature of an undeveloped relationship. We slightly change the riff in the final verse while it is being played in unison. The new representation is meant to sound darker, as it reflects the subject state of mind.

Track 2 ­ “Ocean”

“Ocean” is all about looking for happiness and approval in the wrong places. It’s like breaking your leg, and trying to “walk it off”. Things like religion or substance abuse can help in the moment, but they can only take you so far when you’re unwilling to face your own demons. The hardest work is the work we have to do inside of our minds and hearts.

The reversed cymbal crashes during the fade out mimic the sound of waves, endlessly crashing down on the shore line, and the tide pulling the water back out to sea. The whole album was recorded live, but this song has the least amount of overdubs and layering. It is a pretty true representation of what things sounded like in the live room while we laid it down.

Track 3 ­ “I Wanna Take You Home”

Though nobody’s life is perfect, so many of us fall into the trap of trying to make it seem that way. The modern era of social media gives us the perfect platform to manipulate reality, and make our lives seem like one big, awesome, never­ending vacation. This song explores the differences between how we present ourselves, and how we perceive ourselves. It’s the dichotomy between who we are in the surface, and how we feel inside.

When you hear the echo of “know it” and “show it” in the choruses, that’s actually our friend Matt singing. It’s the only voice, other than mine or Andrew’s, on the record. He happened to stop by the studio while we were finishing up, and he had the idea to dub those in. I think they really complete the hook.

Track 4 ­ “Loser Freaks”

This is the only song actually based on something other than our own personal experiences. The verse lyrics that Andrew wrote were inspired by “Streetwise”, a film about destitute teenagers on the streets of Seattle in the 80s. We tackled the idea of metaphorically “letting go” of something.

While that general concept usually has a positive connotation, that isn’t always the case in life. One might let go of the willingness to live, the ability to love, or the desire to be the truest version of themselves.

This was the first song Andrew and I ever collaborated on. I remember turning to him as soon as the original demo was finished and saying “Well, if that’s the worst thing we ever write, it isn’t so bad”. It turned out to be one of our favorite songs. - Talk Nerdy With Us

I always love getting new music to get me through that mid-week slump of the workweek, you feel me? I am sure most of you agree; a song can really change the pace and mood of the day, and my artist of the week has done just that.

I recently discovered this band following Jersey Rock on the Rat, and fell in love deeply, and quickly. You may or may not have heard them, but they go by the name of Wild Americans. Their band name alone had me at hello. Having recently become a major fan, I will do my best to catch you up to speed in regards to what they are up to these days.

So, how would they describe their sound? Well, in the best way possible, “Mid-Tempo Space Music.” If you weren’t intrigued enough, this is just the icing on the cake. Let’s proceed to give you what you need.

Wild Americans are from Montclair, New Jersey, which is gradually becoming one of my favorite music cities. I have gotten more and more submissions from bands in this town, getting better each time. In their own words, “Their music conveys the acceptance of defeat, without the satisfaction of acceptance.” I love everything about that quote, because they march to the beat of their own drum, which is clearly present in their sound.

They recently released a new music video for their single “I Want To Take You Home,” and it’s a must see. This track will really give you the perfect introduction as to what this band is all about—being cool. I love the whole vibe of this video, as it takes place in a peaceful neighborhood, setting the tone for this single. The lyrics are uplifting (in an off-base way), and I love the tone of Andrew and Mike’s voices together. This track and video were both extremely well-produced, and I could definitely hear this song on alternative radio. This may sound weird, but it has a rock vibe, while remaining insanely chill. It has major hit quality. I believe Charlie Chalkin Productions produced this video, so give them a “like” while you are at it. I wouldn’t be surprised if you soon encountered this on something like mtvU.

I highly recommend you also check out their song “Loser Freaks,” as that one has become one of the top songs on my playlist. I love the lyrics of this song, and I think a lot of people could relate to it. If their live set is as good as their recordings, I think they have a serious thing going on here.

If you want to learn more about Wild Americans, you can visit their official website at BeAWildAmerican.com. They are also all over social media, sharing their new music video, tour dates, photos, and much more. I couldn’t compare them to another band if I tried, and I mean that in the best way possible. They’ve got the style, the look, the sound, and the originality, all wrapped up in a perfect package of talent. The three members all bring the perfect amount of flavor to this dish, and I cannot wait to hear more from them.

Until next week, my friends, I am going to continue my quest of becoming a Wild American, as everyone should. Cheers! - The Aquarian Weekly

Wild Americans release their new EP, Lighten Up Today. The band’s laid back surf rock is the perfect end of Summer sound and you can give a listen to the band’s first single from the EP, Wanna Take You Home through YouTube here.

The band have some nice grooves created by the guitars and some cool drum beats, Afternoon opens the EP with a fast pace and a great sound from the band and that laidback sound continues on this record, making for a fun listen. Ocean in particular really is a great blend of melodies and those chilled out vocals – particularly paired up with the guitar riffs.

The writing is strong and there are some choruses on this EP but the band have a very honest way to their writing on this record, Wanna Take You Home is the best example of this on Lighten Up, with a brutal way with words and delivered with those vocals it does sound good – this is a great debut EP from the band who really accentuate what they do best perfectly on their first record.

Wild Americans don’t seem all that wild, and that is certainly no band thing, creating a very chilled vibe on this EP which sounds incredible easy to them. Highlights for me on this record are Ocean and Afternoon, however every track on this short EP is very good and worth a listen.

8/10. - THINKING LYRICALLY

Home / Music / Artist Interviews / INTERVIEW: Wild Americans
INTERVIEW: Wild Americans
RJ Frometa 2 weeks ago Artist Interviews Leave a comment 39 Views

Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?

Hey! Thanks for having us, we’ve been pretty good, real busy but enjoying our summer.

Can you talk to us more about your latest single “I Wanna Take You Home”?

Sure thing. The song is really our reaction to a lot of the music out there in our scene where everything is so overstated and in your face all the time. We just wanted to make something that’s a lot more reflective of how we feel as people in that we kind of feel that we’re just hanging around a lot of the time, not trying to prove anything to anyone in the way that it seems a lot of our peers are trying to do. It feels good to us, and we hope it feels good to everyone else who hears it. -Andrew

Did any event in particular inspired you to write this song?

‘I Wanna Take You Home’ is the second song Andrew and I wrote together when we first started out before we even realized we would become the band ‘Wild Americans’. It was more the kind of thing that we were just doing while we were hanging out, kind of like a ‘Hey man, wanna go play a little and record something?’ kind of thing. Andrew had written the pre-chorus and chorus and then I came up with the progression that is now the intro and verse of the song and we just recorded ourselves playing live in the room together and then wrote the verses. There wasn’t a specific event that inspired us to write the song exactly, but I would say that it was more of a common mindset that was present between the two of us during that time in our lives. -Mike

How was the film experience?

The filming experience took place over a two-day period if I recall correctly. It was incredibly fun being able to work creatively with Charlie (of Charlie Chalkin Productions) and we did a lot of ‘figuring it out as we go’ kind of filming. Watching it all come together in the end was really rewarding but I will still say that the hours and hours of planning and conceptualizing the video was the most enjoyable portion of the film experience for me, it was there that we were really able to let our imaginations run wild and come up with and narrow down all of our ideas. -Andrew

The single comes off your new album Lighten Up – what’s the story behind the title?

Well, the story behind the title is that one day while I was driving over to John’s (Ferrara) place to work on the track sequencing for the EP, I passed some billboard sign on the highway with some ridiculous piece of advertising on it that was sort of encouraging people to be a part of another absurd social media activity that was absolutely necessary according to this advertisement, and I got frustrated and thought “Wouldn’t everybody just lighten up around here?”. Which I realize now is probably something that I said more for myself than what I wanted from the advertisement in that moment. Then I laughed at the thought of making that sort of statement juxtaposed against our name ‘Wild Americans’ and the idea that we might be suggesting with our name that one behave wildly, and then immediately are suggesting with the title that they take it easy and lighten up. To me it really couldn’t be more fitting with the attitude of all the songs that make up the album and our approach to the way we live our lives in general in that life is not just one way or the other, everything has a positive and a negative and it’s important to be able to discern which is which, also, we all need to be able to take a step back and remember not to take everything too seriously. -Andrew

How was the recording and writing process?

The entirety of the EP was recorded in one day at Portrait Recording studios where Fred, Mike, myself and our good friend Sean Ronan (who played additional guitars) recorded everything live and then overdubbed vocals, various percussion, acoustic guitars, and any other instrument we felt was necessary for any of the four songs. The writing of the record basically took place over the course of the last year where Mike and myself would demo material relentlessly as it came to us. There’s probably about ten different versions of each of the four songs you’ll hear on ‘Lighten Up’ that we made before arriving at our final arrangements of the tunes. -Andrew

What was it like to work with John Ferrara and Scott Hull? How did those relationships develop?

Working with John is always great, we’ve known each other for a number of years now between playing shows with Trophy Scars and recording our music at Portrait, a real friendship has started to develop. He’s one hundred percent with us on our ideas and directions and that only helps during the production of the record. As for Scott, he’s a good friend of Portrait Recording Studios and we were able to get in touch with him through that to get our record mastered by him. -Mike

How much did they get to influence the album?

They influenced the album in it’s all around quality, every sound on the record is great and we really have John to thank for that, and the masters Scott did are just the icing on the cake for us. -Andrew

Where did you find the inspiration for the songs and lyrics?

In short, life. It’s all an interpretation of the people we know and the experiences we’ve had or are currently having at the moment that inspire our songwriting and lyrics. It’s our way of expressing how others make us feel or our way of trying to work through whatever may be going on in our lives or in the world around us that we cannot control. -Mike

Any plans to hit the road?

As of right now, we’ll be staying local and are just trying to play around our area and the city. -Mike

What else is happening next in Wild Americans’ world?

Our next step is going to be another music video for one of the tracks off of the EP, so we’ve got that in the works right now. We’ll be having our EP release show at The Citizen in Jersey City on September 9th which we’re really excited for. -Mike

Share this: - Vents Magazine