Quickfire Questions: Wicketkeeper.
Wicketkeeper have been releasing wonderful thrashy/fuzzy/punk tunes in the run up to their debut album since early 2019 and we’ve been loving every one. Now the LP is finally sitting in our record player. We caught up with Simon Morley - Lead Singer, instrument swapper and 1/3 of a band we can’t wait to see live again as soon as possible.
Who are Wicketkeeper?
Wicketkeeper are Simon Morley (that’s me), Alex Morley (my brother, obvz) and Ryan Oxley. We keep it simple: bass, drums, guitar with a couple of distortion pedals. We all write the songs and swap instruments, but I do the singing around here. You may have seen us first on at the Shacklewell sometime over the the last few years.
You’ve gradually been releasing tracks from the album since early 2019, it’s been a long journey to this album release. How are you feeling now it’s finally out in the world?
It’s awesome to finally have it coming out, and to have the record in our hands. We’ve had it recorded for what feels like ages, but didn’t want to release it out of nowhere, so decided to do a few singles before we announced it, so there were at least a few people who’d be interested in buying an album. This year has been a write off but last year we got out and played some good shows too with Cloud Nothings, Squid, Spielbergs. Would be nice to do that again sometime!
Can you tell us about the album artwork and the single artworks leading up to the release? They’re absolutely brilliant.
Haha, thanks. We wanted it to have a consistent aesthetic, and it’s ended up looking more professional than it sounds! Did you ever see the Keaton Henson album artwork for ‘Birthdays’? I’ve literally never heard his songs but I always really liked that artwork. Then we had the idea of doing a character for each song, the singles would be the individual characters and the album would be them all together (the back cover is them from behind too). We got together one afternoon with a few beers and just made loads of them, baked them in the oven, and picked our favourites! My girlfriend is a photographer so she handled all the actual hardwork, we just got to make some funny little dudes!
What did you listen to growing up compared to what you listen to now?
I was obsessed with The Beatles from an early age, like 6-7 years old. Obsessed! They got me into music, then I branched out into rock music, Nirvana, Offspring. In college I kinda defined myself by being into Hip Hop. But I’ve always been keen to listen to as much music as possible and not limit myself to genres. Indie, Black metal, emo, IDM, punk, post-rock, post-punk, pop… as a teenager I was determined to create a solid base of music knowledge whether it was metal, folk, rap, electronica, funk & soul (our dad is a big funk & soul fan). I probably tried to get into Jazz when I was too young, I bought Mingus, Coltrane, Miles Davis, but I think I was trying too hard to like everything. I think with Jazz more than anything, you have to be in the right frame of mind to enjoy.
I’m still kinda the same: All over the place.
What influences your music both sonically and lyrically?
We just plug in and play! We’ve never really thought about our sound to be honest.
Lyrically I like to try keep a balance of earnest and fun, romantic and cynical, if I feel myself writing something that feels like it’s obviously moving in one direction I like to try change it as soon as possible.
I’m not good enough at music to do that musically, so I try and make the lyrics a little weirder!
I caught you guys for the first time at the Big Scary Monsters Big Day Out Festival in September 2019, I knew your music the least but your performance was one of my favourites of the day by far. How do you approach your live shows and what are you hoping for when it comes to your live performance?
That’s so good to hear! Ideally we just want to have fun and hope that rubs off a little on the crowd. We spent loads of early gigs concentrating so much on playing the songs as well as we can, that we didn’t really enjoy them. Now we kinda prioritise trying to have a good vibe and energy, we figured that’s what we valued seeing other bands play live, so that’s what we should try do for other people.
You recorded the album with Lindsay Corstorphine at Gun Factory Studios and released with Madrid based Meritorio Records, how was it working with them both?
Lindsay is awesome, we love him. He’s so easy to be around and he knows how to record our kind of music so well. We recorded it all live so he just put the mics in the right place and waited (sometimes quite a while) for us to get the best take. We did more than 20 songs in 2 days, then recorded vocals and overdubbed lead guitars at his house over another 2 days. We love him. We miss him.
Meritorio has been great to us, I literally followed them on twitter because they had released a couple of records I liked, and within an hour Alvaro (who runs it) had sent a message asking if we had any more recordings. Sent him the album, he loved it. It was stupidly easy!
Quickfire Questions:
Do any of you have any other talents?
I do all the cooking at home, I’m not a big fan of recipes though, I like to freestyle. It's Jazz cooking.
We’re actually all really good at a game called Zambroni, which we invented so no one else has ever played.
Karaoke song of choice?
I love a bit of karaoke. For me it’s Twist and Shout by The Beatles please.
Ryan and I once did Mr Blue Sky by ELO in a pub in Victoria Park Village, I wouldn’t recommend it, it’s quite hard.
I also got kicked out of from The Dundee Arms in Bethnal Green shortly after doing Hall and Oates.
And my brother and I once brought the house down in a bar in Lanzarote doing Blue ‘All Rise’
As you can see we’re quite versatile.
4 essential items to take on tour…
Hot Sauce, Capo, Ryan, My Brother. In that order.
If you were curating a festival, who would your three headliners be?
Hundred Reasons (Wildcard, I know), LCD Soundsystem, Weezer (but they’re only allowed to play songs from the first 3 albums).
The best gig you've ever been to?
Probably White Denim. I’ve seen them so many times. They played a tiny show at Moth Club in 2018 which was nuts. Also I saw Ought at a club show in Olso (the City not the venue) a few years ago and that felt really special. Saw RATM as a teenager and lost a shoe. Efterklang also. There’s too many!
What new band would you recommend we listen to?
Good question. I’m gonna go for REALLY new and say Blanketman from Manchester. I’ve only heard one single but it reminded me of The Jam. Plus it’s great band name. If you need more than one song then go for Anna B Savage. She’s put 3 new songs out this year and they’re all incredible.
How can people listen to you & support you?
Anywhere they like, we’re big fans of Bandcamp, but if Spotify is your thing then go for it. Our record is super limited (300 for the world) so if you want a physical copy, I promise it looks amazing. Oh, Resident and Rough Trade have a special Ltd Edition ‘Double Mint’ Green Vinyl version too, so if you like your coloured vinyl, buy from them!
As you know times are rubbish for musicians at the moment so if you like what you’ve heard please consider buying a record/digital download or adding tracks to playlists and showing them love on streaming sites or social media, check out the links for SHONK here - https://lnkfi.re/shonk