A lot has been said about your sudden emergence from doing your A-levels to being on tour with General Fiasco around the UK! What was it like getting used to being on the road and playing to people all over the UK?
It was a brilliant feeling when we finally finished school and knew we could go anywhere. I’ve been mentally preparing to go on tour for years! So when I found out we were going, I was packed in about 10 mins. Three weeks before we left!
What was your most memorable show of the whole tour?
Glasgow was an amazing night. It was a sold out show in King Tut’s, which was a venue we had heard so much about. The best bit though, was that I wore my Bowling for Soup tee on stage and when we came off we heard that BFS were playing round the corner and we could get guestlist. We ran a few streets over in time for ‘Almost’! Was Crazy!
Being featured by people like Huw Stephens, playing at Maida Vale and recently being featured on Radio 1’s playlist must have always been your dream when you started out as a band. However did you ever think it would come this quick?
It really was! We used to sit in art class and listen to Radio 1, it’s so cool that we get played now! Yeah, I can’t believe the speed of the whole thing either, I mean, this time last year I was sitting there in school listening.
As a band you guys have been doing video podcasts for a while. What made you guys start doing them?
I’m a huge Switchfoot fan and they always made podcasts. Watching their videos made being in a band look like the most fun thing in the world and it made me love Switchfoot so much more because you got to know them. As well as that, when we started the band we could barely play so making the podcasts made us feel like a real band!
Did you ever have any fans recognise you from the Vlogs? Was it weird them knowing about what you do outside of the band?
Yeah it can be! A few times people have said to me things like “remember that time you…” but I’m thinking “wait, you weren’t there. You only know that from podcast 10!”. I love it though.
Do you think you’ll continue to do them in the future?
Definitely. It’s great looking back now because they tell the story of our band from the very start. Like at the end of the first episode you see us leaving for our first ever gig. And when Ryan joined or when we played our first festival, it’s all there. So we have to keep the story going!
Recently there has been talk that BBC Introducing NI might be cut. For a band that has been able to play on a UK tour and get exposure by people like Fearne Cotton – how important to you think this service is? Do you feel it helped you get these opportunities?
I can’t say enough about how much BBC Introducing has helped us; we’ve got to do so much through it. I think it’s especially important for NI bands.
You have become well known for your quirky lyrics that reference movies, tv shows and footballers. Were there any bands that inspired you to write these songs?
Bands like Fight like Apes showed us that songs don’t always have to be about something serious. But it’s also just who we are, the songs we wrote were always going to be about TV and football. I was never going to write about heartache. I think it’s more fun that way.
Following the band on Twitter, there have been a lot of mentions of the “Wonder Villa”. Have there been any band disagreements over cleaning rota or who used the last of the milk?
Luckily we’re all avid tea drinkers so we always have a great supply of milk. In case of emergency, there is a 24 hour shop at the top of the street!
There have been a lot of whispers about a possibility of a Wonder Villains album in the near future. Are they true?
Yeah, I can’t wait to do an album but there are no major plans yet. We’re doing as much writing and recording as we can at the minute, so hopefully soon!
What kind of songs should we expect from it? Is there any more movies or celebrities that are going to get the Wonder Villains treatment?
Some of the new songs we’re working on are a tiny bit serious. But on the other hand, I’ve been watching a lot of Planet Earth recently and I think David Attenborough really needs his own song!
And finally, if you could take any NI band out on tour with you who would it be?
We were joking yesterday that we should tour with Future Chaser. I mean we share 2 members so it would save space on the bus!
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