Joining The Pack: Wolves Don’t Sleep Interview

By RingMaster Review on May 4, 2024 • ( 0 )

As we sat down to chat with British metalcore outfit Wolves Don’t Sleep, they were poised to release their new EP. It was the perfect moment to explore the heart and journey of the band to date as well as look at their new offering. So with big thanks to the band’s frontman and founding member Steev, we enter their lair….

Hi and thank you for sparing time to chat with us.

No worries at all, I’m always happy to do stuff like this

Could you first introduce yourself/the band and tell us about its beginnings?

Hi, I’m Steev Bond, the frontman, lyricist and captain of this little metalcore ship. The band started as an idea in 2015, my stint in a hair metal band I founded had come to an end when I realised although it is music I love, it is not music I can create that’s true to me. Luckily at that point, Connor (drums) had come back from Uni so was able to be my full-time drummer again as he’s my best mate and being in a band together is the only thing we’ve wanted to do and have been doing since we were kids. I wanted this band to be the last band I ever start/join and to be our ultimate statement of intent we don’t have any intention of stopping.

How would you define not only your sound but the creative character of the band?

Over the years we have been a tad sporadic in trying to find what “our sound” is and we have always been happy to pull ideas from other genres and bands we listen to or even stuff we come across. Due to this we’ve even up playing with all different genre of bands within the metal world and even an indie festival (somehow). We’re versatile, open and crushing all at the same time.

Are there any previous musical experiences for band members and how have they been embraced in what you do now?

I’ve always been a vocalist and a very poor multi-instrumentalist but it helps me look at things from multiple angles to pitch ideas to the guys along with a few stints doing tribute act stuff where my focus is to try and get as close to the artist I was trying to sound like as it’s another avenue in which I can push myself.

Connor has always been a drummer since I pitched the idea of us starting a band at 14 and his family used to do marching snares in a local pipe band which one day we want to incorporate the big snares.

Before Dan “Bing” Bingley (bassist) joined the band he was also a frontman in a few bands which honestly helps immensely with writing lyrics and doing more than just backing vocals at parts adding so many layers.

Dan Bradley (guitar) has always been in bands and he has such a different take on writing as he doesn’t really listen to anything past 2010 and really really likes older bands like Dire Straits and big 80s bands and it shows in his solos. James Stack (guitar) used to play in wedding bands and Ska bands and the dude is a total riff wizard.

Last but not least, Alex Carr (synths) used to be a drummer and drum and bass producer so the guy can cook up some wild stuff the rest of us can’t think up and it shows in the new EP Fears & Fractures.

Sorry that answer was so long we’ve all been about in the scene for quite a while…

Is there a particular process to your/the band’s songwriting?

Personally, I am constantly jotting lyrics and themes down, sometimes at really inopportune times but then filter through everything once the guys have songs or riffs down and I join the dots with what ideas vibe the best with a song. At the moment James is our current riff champion and comes up with loads of small ideas or half a song which we will sit down and chip away at it to turn into something we are happy with. Sometimes we can just sit down and go “Hey what if we went for this sort of vibe” and then in a few hours we’ve got a song.

Would you tell us about your latest release?

Fears & Fractures is a rebirth for the band for we have had so many member changes over the years and internal struggles which made it hard for us to be as effective as we could have been in terms of writing, recording and playing shows and it feels like we’ve been playing catch up from always being two steps forward then one step back. So we did it “properly”. This time we sat and demoed songs and then picked our favourites, our manager then told us to write another song to make 5 so we took it as a challenge and got it done. We wanted it to be the most authentic and creative version of ourselves as a new unit where everything feels right. I can honestly say this is the best stuff we’ve written and shows exactly what we are capable of now we are confident in who we are and are not afraid of taking risks.

What are the major inspirations to its heart and themes?

The main inspiration is our own perseverance ‘cause honestly I’ve thought about putting the project to rest a few times over the years but then we’d play a really good gig or people would say kind words about our music and it reminds us of why we create and play music as it is the time we are truly happy. The EP covers a few themes and concepts from what we have seen and experienced in our time being in bands over the years and how we refuse to die. Some songs also take a glimpse into how I’ve been feeling over the past year or so with feelings of loss, heartbreak and regret while also reflecting on where I’ve been and where I want to be.

I am always intrigued as to how artists choose track order on albums and EP’s and whether in hindsight they would change that. What has been the deciding factor for you or do songs for the main do that organically?

The songs weren’t recorded in the exact order they appear on the EP and we had a rough idea of how we thought it would flow from track to track. Once the whole EP was finished and we listened to it back it was clear what the order would be. House Of Glass was the lead single and track 1 was our statement of intent and had to be the first thing people experience out the gate and once you follow the “story” through to the final track it is a sonic experience in itself and you’ll have to let me know what you think when the EP is released cause I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

What do you find the most enjoyable part of being in a band and similarly the most cathartic?

It is a tie for the most enjoyable parts of being in a band: 1 just being with my best friends, no matter what we are doing we are always bouncing off each other and having fun it’s such a feeling of pure love between the 6 of us even if we do have massive debates over the normal stuff bands argue about like set lists, art idea and so forth. 2. Playing shows, there is nothing like it in the world and the most cathartic thing for me as I am on stage seeing people react and enjoy what we are doing while I’m screaming my heart out about parts of my life and my feelings and if it resonates with anyone then it feels worth it to me cause that’s what music has always been to me.

For anyone contemplating checking you out live, give some teasers as to what they can expect.

Pure chaotic energy that comes directly from the heart… It doesn’t matter if we’re playing to an empty room we will give it our all and as cliché as it sounds, none of this is faked and I would happily hug each and every person who gives us a chance. I can promise you, you would enjoy our show, I can back this up as we were booked to play an indie festival in Notts years ago as the only metal band on the line-up and more people kept coming in and they had to put up “no moshing” signs after our set. So give us a go.

What has been your most thrilling moment on stage to date?

We were playing Mangata Festival in Nottingham in 2022, middle of the day slot on the second stage and we’re just like “damn this venue is big let’s hope at least 20 people give us 5 minutes of their time” annnnd the room was rammed. I run on stage as our intro finishes and launch tiny red confetti poppers into the crowd. We had the most fun we’d had all year and tons of people gave us such positive feedback. It was the most manic and life-affirming 30 minutes.

Do you have live dates coming up?

17th August in Mansfield with Ghosts Of Atlantis, 31st August in Nottingham with Seething Akira, Eschalon + more. 19th October Life Is Music Fest 3 – Derby. But keep an eye on our socials as we should be coming to a city near you

What else can we expect in the near future?

Another video and we promise it won’t take us 3 to 4 years in between releasing new music now and, more gigs!

What are the major inspirations to you sound wise and as a musician?

In terms of lyrics I’ve always been drawn to the more vulnerable vocalists where you can feel the emotion in their voice and the words are so true to a lived experience, so for this EP I took a lot from Sworn In and The Wonder Years as that covers both ends of an emotional spectrum for me. In terms of how I sound, I like to try and sound as real as I can to help me stand out, if you take vocalists like Dez Fafara from Devildriver, no one else sounds like him. But I also cherry-pick from other vocalists I like the sound of to try and push my overall technique. I also like super theatrical stuff like Creeper and Meatloaf.

I will now pass this question to James as he actually writes songs: Early influences for me when it comes to riff and songwriting points back to the early days of Ian D’Sa (Billy Talent), Dave Brownsound (Sum41) and Jerry Hoton (Papa Roach)… Love it or hate it, these guys really drew me away from just playing straight rock ‘n’ roll songs from badly written tab books, pushing me to think outside of the box and mix elements of the genres I’m into together to try and make something that really appealed to me. There’s just something really fun about the tracks that were coming from those bands early on which really captured my attention.

Whilst I can appreciate a shred-lord playing at the speed of light, that’s never really been something that I’ve aimed for or want to achieve through my writing or Wolves. I’m much more about writing bouncy and high-energy tracks with just a handful of notes/chords… The Kings of this for me in recent years have been Sean Long (While She Sleeps) and Josh Baines (Malevolence).

And finally what song or release would you say was the spark to your passion for music?

There are 2 instances: the first was when I saw a live video for Iron Maiden’s The Trooper when I was 12/13 and seeing Bruce running around in the Light Brigade gear waving a flag while singing in front of a massive backdrop just gave me a thought of “I want to do that”. The second was when I was 15/16 and Halo by Soil was doing the rounds on the music channels either Kerrang or Scuzz (RIP) and our school had a talent show, so I figured the song seemed easy enough to learn (I could barely play the guitar) and I pitched to Connor that we should form a band and play it. We convinced one of our mates to learn bass and somehow got to a point where we chose Prison Song by System Of A Down instead, it went as well as you can imagine but we’ve not stopped since.

Many thanks once again Steev; anything else you would like to add?

No, thank you for letting me ramble about our art! All I can say is. Please give us a chance as your support is super important to bands and helps us keep going! We appreciate you.