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Guitarist Jeff Oddie and bassist Theo Ellis of the U.K. alternative rock group Wolf Alice talked to us ahead of the release of their album "Blue Weekend."
01 June 2021
Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie discuss how their evolving playing, the pandemic and a gigantic skull pedal made Wolf Alice s upcoming record, Blue Weekend
(Image credit: Burak Cingi/Redferns / Chiaki Nozu/WireImage via Getty)
It’s crazy to think that just 10 years ago, the pair of players at the heart of one of the UK’s biggest rock bands had barely touched an electric guitar. Formed in 2010 by Ellie Rowsell and Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice was initially an acoustic duo, combining Ellie’s songwriting chops and Joff’s fingerstyle acoustic prowess.
At that point, London was in full sway to Mumford & Sons’ fairy-lit folk revivalism and, in retrospect, crying out for a band willing to drop the pastoral pastiches for something harder, heavier and, frankly, more fun. The group’s grunge-y conversion, with the addition of Joel Amey and Theo Ellis’s powerhouse rhythm section, was just the ticket, and their debut album
Last modified on Sat 22 May 2021 03.27 EDT
It is Sunday afternoon in Somerset, and Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis is darting around her farmhouse looking for coats for Haim to wear. The Los Angeles sisters have just arrived to record their performance for Live at Worthy Farm, a global livestream – premiering tonight online and in cinemas – that will stand in for the real festival after Covid forced Glastonbury to cancel for two years running. Later this week, the likes of Coldplay, Damon Albarn and Kano will visit the farm to record their sets in the festival’s best-known locations.
Having played here three times previously, Haim know wellies are non-negotiable. But somehow, says Eavis as she appears from upstairs – passing a photo of David Bowie outside the family home in 1971 – they’ve never played one of the festival’s infamously wet years, and so didn’t bring anoraks. She delivers them to the festival office next door, now a makeshift changing room.
We’re just a month away from the release of Wolf Alice’s third studio album,
Blue Weekend. The British alternative rock band recently teased fans with “Smile,” the album’s second single. While their previous offering, “The Last Man on Earth,” was a contemplative piano ballad, “Smile” turns the dial all the way to the right. After a brief, watery intro, the track bursts to life with a distorted guitar riff and energetic drums. The verses keep the party going, with a crunchy bassline from Theo Ellis and a breathy speak-song performance from Ellie Roswell. It’s a perfectly tense moment that erupts into the chorus, taking you on a rollercoaster of emotion.