APRIL 2023
REVIEW AND INTERVIEW: WONDERHEAD
A MONTHLY ARTICLE WRITTEN BY JUDE LEWIS, EDITED BY HAYLEY FAJERSKI
The first time I saw Wonderhead live was here at The Rialto back in January when they opened for Candace Campana. I was *extremely* impressed with their live performance. Peter plays some mean guitar and has a great voice that compliments his works. I haven’t been able to catch them live again due to scheduling conflicts, but I most definitely look forward to seeing them in the future.
In the meantime, I’ve been listening to their debut album Sadie on Spotify. The overall vibe of the LP is something in between mellow and happy. It feels like a nice spring day in a park or like a camping trip with friends. The guitar work is soft yet layered. Nice melodic motifs with lead guitar that are present but not overpowering. The lead guitar work feels a lot like the backing vocals in the tracks, complimentary to the main vocal melodies and adding to the individual track’s emotion rather than take away from it. The keys are also very well implemented, once again adding, not taking away from the emotion. The drums are simple with sparse yet appropriate fills, relying on the groove to really carry the song forward. Just like the drums, the bass doesn’t do anything crazy, just helps carry the grove.
I am unsure of who produced Sadie, but it is very well made. Everything sounds clean, well balanced, spatial, and professional. The influences are very apparent, Not Writing sounds like a classic Beatles song.
Questions
Q Who's all in the band? What do they play?
a. I, Pete Graves am on guitar and vocals, we got Tim Snyder on keyboards and Fae Harris on the bass and vocals
Q Who’s your biggest musical influence?
a. Some influences include Steely Dan, The Beatles, Eagles, MF DOOM
Q Tell me about your writing process!
a. Well there’s two ways, I either have a song or some of a song together and I’ll bring that to the band and we’ll finish it, or our bassist Fae will just come to us with a complete demo of something for us to learn.
Q Who’s your favorite local artist?
a. The Last Witch
Q What's your favorite local venue?
a. The Rialto of course!
Q What was the hardest part about writing and recording your album?
a. Just set backs with drummers, trying to find the right fit and vibe.
Q Tell me a fun fact about Wonderhead!
a. We must take this time to honor our namesake, Stevie Wonder
We can’t wait to have Wonderhead back!
Give Wonderhead a follow on Instagram and their album a listen on Spotify.
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