The Wishing Well Band

“…Music is everything to us: our work, our party, our meditation, our holiday, our inspiration, our frustration…”

It takes a bit to scroll through the numerous gigs lined up for The Wishing Well on their MySpace. If you’re wondering why they’re so popular, with consistent dates for (at least) the next six months, it might have something to do with the extremely passionate nature they play their S orchestral folk rock. If they had one wish, it would simply be that they continue playing music together, and it seems the Melbourne band have had this one granted – and then some. We caught up with violin player Rivkah, who really wishes you would come along to one of their shows this January!

If you could drop a coin in a wishing well and make one wish right now, what would it be?

We love coming to Tasmania, and it would be nice if it could float north to Port Phillip Bay like a lost child to its mother, so we could stroll across anytime we want for some fun gigs and cheap Cascade.

What’s one thing in your life you wish you hadn’t done?

That we hadn’t chopped up and buried that over-playing bass player who could never remember the chords.

What’s one thing you wish you had?

Found the current members of our band sooner. It’s a difficult combination to find – a group of six people that get each other personally and musically, are willing to live on the road andwith one another, and that accept that part of playing in a band that is establishing itself means not a lot of money and a whole lot of work. It’s taken enough people to fill a small orchestra to find these people.

Who’s one person you really wish you could meet and why?

Bruce Springsteen for his inspiring music, humble manner and amazing on stage presence.

You guys have a LOT of gigs lined up for the next six months, is it like your wishes have been granted?

It’s more like the fruits of our hard work have been granted. It’s a pretty intense lifestyle booking and publicising all our own gigs, organising the logistics for all our tours, writing new songs, rehearsing and playing live constantly.

We are used to living out of the van, driving 8 hours to a gig and then doing the same thing the next day. But we are getting better at it after doing it over 600 times in the past 3 years. With every gig we play, we learn more from each other musically and personally and from the audiences who either love us or play pool over the top of us.

Do you ever wish you could take a little break?

Music is everything to us: our work, our party, our meditation, our holiday, our inspiration, our frustration. It would be like taking a break from eating. We could do it but not for very long and we would just be thinking about it all the time anyway.

What’s one thing you wish to see when you make it to Tasmania in January?

The Army Reserve restraining thousands of fans at the airport. See you there!

MEEGAN MAY

2 Responses to “Sauce Magazine Interview Dec 2009”