WIM

Mon 18th Jul, 2011 in Features

Simon Jankelson from new Modular signings WIM gets a little ‘wafty’ as he tells Fl all about the band’s debut album, signing to Modular Records and how the band’s name is almost like a sixth member of the group (or something like that). He also revealed that lead singer Martin Soloman is apparently a great cook and that guitarist Saul Wodak is a fine pickler, but we’ll just stick to the band’s musical talent’s for now…

First and foremost tell me about the name WIM? And more importantly should it be pronounced ‘wim’ or like the German ‘vim’?
It’s a name with many different interpretations. Martin came up with it. He had spent a lot of time in and around Europe, and I think we came up with it he said it could be ‘wim’ or ‘vim’. One idea was that WIM could be a new boy that the band has brought into existence. Boy or girl for that matter. And that person is a personification of the band collectively. It’s a person that represents the band.

I read in several interview that it could be regarded as a sixth band member, and sounded quite ambiguous… Does this ring true at all?
Originally it was just a name, it could be a sixth member and that sort of interpretation rang quite loudly. But in time, when we started to write it down we found all these graphical representations of it, for instance, if you draw XX next to each other, it becomes a W with an M underneath it and the shape itself has taken on all these different meanings. Dare I say ‘modular shapes’… we found even WIM symbols in architectural buildings, it just continues to emerge. Or maybe we’re just up-ourselves in seeing our band name everywhere. But for me the shapes and symbolism are really significant, I like it in that abstract form. It doesn’t mean any one thing.

Will you try and translate this to album art and live performances?
You can see the ambiguity in the songs, and the record as a whole. There are so many styles and instruments from all parts of the world, and it’s so eclectic I don’t think there was a single idea or genre we were going for, so leaving it open is one of its strong points. With the album cover you can see ‘WIM’ each way you turn it, and the colours are quite moody. Forgive me for being wafty… but I think it conveys a mood and a feeling.

There’s a lot of talk about you fusing traditional and modern in your music, and finding a balance between old and new… how did you achieve this?
I think it comes pretty naturally to us. While we listen to new music the older albums like Simon and Garfunkel, Beach Boys and The Beatles are part of our musical vocabulary. As well as Ali Farka Toure and similar African music, and Martin listens to a lot of French music, which I think that influences our bass, so they come out quite naturally. But Saul brings in quite trippy guitar, and uses a lot of effects, so I think that brings in a bit more of a modern element.

We recorded with Tony Buchen, who’s an Australian producer, and he’s obsessed with The Beatles and classic recording techniques. He uses vintage microphones and amps, and he loves mellotrons and octagons, all these bygone instruments. He brought the classic production to our album, but then it was mixed by Bob Clearmountain (Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones), who came to shine in the 80s, and brought a modern polish to the album. Through the song writing and into the production, then being polished by someone more modern, the record achieves that balance.

I think there’s an organic-ness we’ll never loose. And we definitely appreciate where we come from. And electronic music is something so new, historically speaking, so I don’t think we should take that up electronic music production just because it sounds cute and you can make it whatever you want. That being said, in records to come, I think we’re going to see more experimentation with electronic stuff. More synthesizers and electronic beats… but always with that organic spirit and classic sensibility.

What was it like recording in LA? Did the city bring a particular feel or influence to the album?
LA has that feel about it, you know, the place where dreams are made and broken, and you can feel that there. In the mountains behind the Hollywood sign and in the coyotes that cry out at night and the palm trees… it’s a strange place. It’s a place of wonder and pollution.

Within the band though, it was a huge affirmation that maybe we’re on an amazing path here. Maybe this is meant to be… and I think Martin would definitely shun such statements because he’s not a very spiritual person but we felt a huge excitement and a certain mysticism in being there. The recording we had to drive out to every day because we were staying in Laurel Canyon, unbeknown to us that Joni Mitchell stayed up the road, and Jim Morrisson was a few doors down…

The first day we got there people were recreating this huge photo they’ve been doing every year since 1968 in the Laurel Canyon convenience store. So we went down and were in this photo so now we’re a part of this history, and all of a sudden we were in the territory of The Beach Boys and all of our heroes. That was cool… But we didn’t do any writing over there, though we’re heading back in October so maybe I’ll bring my laptop this time and see how inspirational it can be!

Martin is the lead singer, but does he write all the lyrics? Or is it a collaborative effort?
I wrote some songs, and Martin wrote others. It was between me and him on this record. But he’s a wonderful lyric writer, and I think it comes very naturally to him, he’s a real poet. He and I have quite different writing styles. For example Something For You is a song that I wrote and is very much a personal story about a relationship, and In The Morning describes another relationship I had. I tend to write in a narrative structure, describing events and a little more literal I guess. But Martin I think is a bit more poetic. He brings in a lot more imagery, and really creates worlds. Maybe a bit harder for someone to get the direct meaning out of, as it’s more about colours and images. People will relate to the lyrics in different ways.

The album is on the shorter end of things with only tracks, was there material that was hard to cut or that you wanted to keep?
It was such a battle! I think this is the first time I’ve ever told anyone this but we were tossing up whether to do it as an EP or as an album, and it was such a philosophical decision. There are songs that go back to our first demo and it was quite a body of work we had…We didn’t release out first demo, so not many people knew of us, and I suppose a more business-savvy band might have just put out an EP… we had to have eight songs or less if it wasn’t an album. But the feeling was, this is a body of work that we’ve focussed on for the last two years and we want to just put it out there so we can move on, and now we can move on.

Modular were more on the EP side… but there were songs that we really felt had to be heard, and that really meant something to us and we had to make the choice to sacrifice them. I think we had about fifteen songs to choose from, and some we ended up saying ‘we want to put them out,’ and, ‘we want an album.’ We need to let them go and be acknowledged. So we ended up with nine tracks, and there’s a secret track too, called Enter the Forest.

How does it feel being welcomed in to the Modular Records family, who look so many significant Australian artists?
It was another big affirmation for the band, and we started seeing ourselves as professionals. You know, our stuff is distributed, it’s out there, and we can earn a living from it now. It was a great tick of approval, and from such an established musical family.

It’s funny, because several years ago I was in a band with Daniel Stricker from the Midnight Juggernauts and Saul and Dustin played in that band as well. And I think Daniel had more of a tendency towards that electronic side of music and at that time The Presets and Bang Gang DJs were huge. At that time for me, Modular represented such a different scene, a party scene. So to be picked up by Modular a few years later was like, ‘what the fuck is going on here?!’ I was totally stoked! And I released the whole time I was looking at them with one eyebrow raised, thinking how much I wanted to be recognised… it’s a great turning point. It was a dream come true. And the more I look at Modular I think it’s a record label that’s not defined by one idea. They are amazing at opening up doors. If we’ve got an idea or an inspiration they can make that happen.

It appears you’ve had a pretty quick rise to attention, should we expect another album in just as shorter period? What’s next?
I wouldn’t say it has been a quick rise to fame at all. We’ve been playing around Sydney for a while, and there is more notice now but it took us quite a while to put this record out. It has felt like bit of a waiting game. But I think the new stuff will come quicker and faster. None of us understood the industry at all even 6-8 months ago. Now we’ve become a bit more savvy… and there’s a lot of new material on the boil, and there’s even talk of a new EP in October when we go to the States again. And I think we’ll be recording a new album mid-next year. We’re working hard and will continue to put stuff out… no more dilly-dallying.