WRESTLERISH
PHOTO BY: Adriaan Louw  l  WEBSITE: www.myspace.com/wrestlerish

SINCE YOUR BAND NAME MAYBE HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH WRESTLING; ARE ANY OF YOU GUYS BIG WRESTLING FANS?

The majority of the band aren’t fans. Jacques and Werner do however frequently get mistaken for wrestlers by car guards, hence the name.

WRESTLERISH STARTED OUT AS A SOLO PROJECT FEATURING WERNER (VOCALS) AND THEN IT KIND OF MORPHED INTO A FULL BAND WITH A RECORD DEAL AND A DEBUT ALBUM ON THE WAY. ARE YOU KIND OF SURPRISED WITH THE PROGRESS YOU GUYS HAVE MADE IN THE LAST YEAR?

We’ve had a great work ethic from the start. We’re extremely driven. We believe in paying our dues and earning the respect of our peers and fans. Musically it’s evolved at a natural pace. It was never forced. We’ve had so much fun touring and I think it comes across in our live performance. Meeting new people and seeing new places is such a privilege. So I suppose when your “progress” is a privilege you tend to appreciate and enjoy it more.

ONE GETS THAT “NEXT BIG THING” FEELING WHEN ONE READS INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES ABOUT YOU GUYS, ESPECIALLY NOW THAT YOUR DEBUT ALBUM “THE RUDE MECHANICAL” IS ON THE WAY. DOES THE FACT THAT SO MANY PEOPLE WANT TO SEE YOU GUYS SUCCEED CREATE A BIT OF UNWANTED PRESSURE ON YOU TO PERFORM WELL?

There’s definitely pressure. It’s not unwanted though. This industry is tough enough without having support and trying to do it on your own. We are blessed with amazing people routing for us. We have no reason to complain at all. If anything it encourages and makes us want to be a better band.

WAS IT EASIER TO WRITE THE SONGS BECAUSE YOU RECORDED THE ALBUM ON YOUR OWN OR DID AN OUTSIDE OPINION SOMETIMES HELP WHEN IT CAME TO DECIDING IF CERTAIN SONG PARTS WORKED OR NOT?

The songs were all written the same way, just vocals and guitar. That was the approach from the start. We wanted to write songs that could easily be decorated by a band on a festival stage or be played around a campfire by anyone who can play a few chords. The final album versions of the songs all kinda just developed its flavour as we kept playing them live. Doing it on our own definitely helped us develop our own sound in our own way.

WOULD YOU SAY THERE ARE NEW “SOUNDS” AND SIDES OF THE BAND MUSICALLY ON THE ALBUM THAT MAY SURPRISE OLD WRESTLERISH FANS?

The jump from the EP to the album is a big one. There’s still one or two songs that has that acoustic feel, but for the most part we’ve focused on writing bigger and more upbeat songs. We’re now only fully starting to realize the potential of a full band. We’re already working on songs for a new EP for later this year. We never stop writing. Ever.

WHY DID YOU GUYS CHOOSE THE TITLE “THE RUDE MECHANICAL”?

“The rude mechanicals are characters in the play Midsummer Night’s Dream who represent the working class, people who take up common jobs by day and at the conclusion of the play show their abysmal acting skills”

Werner has always liked the term. We really feel like we’re the “every man band”, like anyone can relate or approach us.

HOW MANY OF THE SONGS ON THE ALBUM HAVE YOU STARTED TO PERFORM LIVE, AND WHAT HAS THE REACTION BEEN LIKE SO FAR FROM FANS?

We do perform the majority of our album live already and the response has been amazing so far. We have been saving a song or two for the album launches in March. One or two songs are also only played in our acoustic set that Jacques and Werner perform on their own.

I SEE THE BAND HAS GIGS LINED UP TILL THE END OF MARCH ALREADY. WILL 2010 BE A YEAR WHERE YOU GUYS WILL FOCUS ON BUILDING AN EVEN STRONGER FAN BASE BY PLAYING LIVE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?

That’s been our modus operandi since the beginning. We feel that we’re not achieving anything if we’re not on the road. We want to play everywhere. The band motto is “10 fans at a time”.

DOES THE BAND PREFER PLAYING IN CLUBS MORE THAN PLAYING BIG FESTIVALS LIKE ROCKING THE DAISIES OR IS IT JUST A CASE OF GOING WHERE THE SHOW IS AND ENJOYING IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE?

In our eyes it’s two different things and we love them both. Club shows can be a lot more personal and is definitely our strongest point. We’ve had to learn how to play big stages. The space between the band members can be daunting and it’s harder to communicate to your audience. But we worked hard and grew as a band and now we feel just as comfortable at a festival as we do on a club stage.

DO YOU KIND OF THINK AND DO THE MUSIC THING ALL THE TIME OR DO YOU HAVE TO SWITCH OF THAT PART OF YOURSELF SOMETIMES AND JUST DO SOMETHING ELSE TO KEEP IT EXITING WHEN YOU GET BACK TO DOING IT?

We are always surrounded by music as Jacques and Dave run a full time recording studio, Gavin teaches drums and Werner deals with most of the admin and also plays in Sesling. We just can’t seem to get enough it. I think for us it stays exiting because we’re working our way up. So every time we get back to a place there’s a few more faces.

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR ANYTHING ELSE FANS SHOULD LOOK OUT FOR?

We’re launching our album “The Rude Mechanical” in March at the following places:

11 March - Tings an Times with Yesterday’s Pupil - PTA
12 March - Back2Basix with Jack Parow - JHB
23 March - Aandklas with Thieve - Stellenbosch
26 March - Mercury with Ashtray Electric and Balthazar - CPT

Durban, Potch and Bloemfontein dates to be confirmed soon.

INTERVIEW BY NEIL VAN ZYL