The Wishing Well Band

Define your genre in five words or less:

“Violin driven stadium folk rock.”

So, someone is walking past as you guys are playing, they then go get a beer and tell their friend about you… what do they say?

“Friend ‘I just saw this great band busking outside Flinders Street. They’ve got two chick violin players in corsets, another girl who plays mandolin and electric and the singer has a really expressive voice and writes great lyrics. They perform a cool mixture of lush ballads and rockin tunes with fierce violin solos.’ Other friend: ‘Oh yeah, The Wishing Well, I know them. They play constantly. I’ve got their CD and can’t wait for the new one. I first heard them outside Flinders Street too!”

How long have you been gigging and writing?

“Three years, eight days and four hours.”

What has been your favourite gig you’ve played to date?

“Blue Balls Festival in Lucerne, Switzerland – the downpour broke into sunshine when we struck the first chord of the first song and then a rainbow encircled us.

Which band would you most like to have a battle! showdown with?

“We don’t battle bands, we sit back and appreciate. Mumford and Sons are a new band we’ve discovered and like appreciating.”

What inspires or has influenced your music the most?

“The people who recognise beauty in uncommon placer.
As an independent self-managed band, we often play more gigs than concerts. The people who are moved by our music even in the most un-ambient of places, like that dreadful TAB in Port Macqoarie, encourage us to continue.

Those few killjoys out there who tried to tell us that we couldn’t do what we do, or that we should just be a little bit more ’something’ have also influenced us.. to stay true to the music we believe in and to keep on doing exactly what they said we couldn’t.”

What do you think a band has to do these days to succeed?

“Quit their day jobs, live, breathe, eat, fart their music. Stop waiting for perfection, build it yourself imperfectly.

Become a holistic musician, play the song not just your instrument, embrace the business side of music and incorporate all the arts into performances (theatre,visual art, story telling etc.) don’t dress on stage in the outfit you used to clean the toilet. Don’t let the music industry define your music, how or where you play it – they exist because of us, not us because of them.

Never underestimate where opportunities can come from, no matter how dodgy they first seem. We once played for a few beetroots. They were organic, but still. Someone saw us play at that daggy beetroot concert and booked us to play a festival a few months later. A true musician never turns down an opportunity to play.”

Do you have any record releases to date? What? Where can I get it?

“Life On The Border (2008 LP) is available straight from our little paws and off our website lifeontheborder, net which we also built with our own little paws. Over 5,000 people in the past year have purchased it this way – so can you. Fire In The Valley (2010 LP) is due out in January.”

Why should everyone come and see your band?

“We don’t want everyone to come and see our band. We want only the people who get it to come and see us play. The rest can go to the footy.”

When are you playing live/releasing your album/EP/ single/etc?

“The Beat Back Stage at Queen Victoria Market tonight, Wednesday December 16. Our next Melbourne show is at The Thornbury Theatres on Saturday, May 8, 2010 to launch Fire In The. Valley. Until then we are touring Oz heavily and then go back to Europe in July.’

The Wishing Welt play the Beat Back Stage at Suzuki Queen Victoria Night Market tonight, Wednesday December 16. Get along and also nail some freakin’ ace food and booze – it’s a rip snorter of a night out.

11 Responses to “QNA The Wishing Well – Beat Magazine Dec 2009”