INTERVIEW: Wild Nothing

Wild Nothing snuck up on a lot of people with 2010's Gemini LP, a record made by then 21 year old Virgina Tech student Jack Tatum on his own in his Blacksburg bedroom. Before Tatum knew it, the album's melancholy dream pop sounds had charmed their way into the heads and hearts of an unexpectedly large audience and thrust him into the indie limelight.

Two years and countless shows later the band will make their first trip to Australia for the 2013 edition of the Golden Plains Music Festival and a smattering of east coast dates supporting new album Nocturne. Now living in Brooklyn, I spoke to Jack about how he's dealt with such a rapid rise in notoriety, his plans to produce and The Go-Betweens.

Congratulations on Nocturne being named iTunes Alternative Album of the Year. You’ll also be thrilled to hear it has made the list of Purple Sneakers top albums of the year, which is basically as prestigious as being voted number 1 by Pitchfork and NME... combined.

JT: Wait what? Oh right (laughs), thank you.

Your first album, Gemini seemed to come out of nowhere and ended up being amongst a lot of people’s favourite records of 2010. You’ve now followed that up with Nocturne which has once again received critical praise. What’s it been like dealing with such a huge lifestyle change in a short time?

JT: There hasn't really been that much of a lifestyle change for me personally. I mean there has just because I went from making the first record to basically touring non-stop. We played a lot of shows after that record came out and for me it was completely weird because I'd never been in that position before. I've written songs and worked on music since I was younger but I'd never really been in a band before or traveled in that capacity. To me that's the thing that took some time to get used to. It's just been weird for me to see something so private become bigger.

I actually saw you play at the Bowery Ballroom in New York back in August 2010. Considering you'd made Gemini without touring in mind and were faced with a really steep learning curve do you feel like you've come a long way as a live performer since then?

JT: Oh yeah absolutely. That was the summer after Gemini came out, we were all so new at it. Personally I didn't know what I was doing. I kind of found myself in this position where I was playing songs I had written in my bedroom and had to try and relate them to this larger audience that I didn't really know how to. It was very strange and it took several tours for me to figure out how things worked and what it means to perform and be in a band. With Nocturne, when I was making that record I was thinking a lot more about the live show and what it means for my songs to exist in that world because it's a totally different way to experience the songs. But I think we've all come a long way, I've come a long way I know for sure. So it's taken a few years to figure out how to do this properly but I still feel like I'm always learning and will probably always feel like that.

You recorded Nocturne with Nicolas Vernhes who has produced for some great bands such as Deerhunter and Animal Collective. What was it like allowing someone else to have such direct input into a project that had really been all you until that point?

JT: Yeah it was great. The whole reason I wanted to work with him was because as you've said, he worked with Deerhunter who I love, they're one of my favourite contemporary bands and he's worked with countless other groups that I really respect. It was really nice to have someone there in the process to be able to offer constructive criticism. But also just for me, I'm really deeply interested in production. It's something that I really love and I'm interested in on a technical level, like the really dorky boring stuff, I'm into that and I wanted to have someone I could learn from. It was immensely beneficial I think, not just for that album but for me learning more about making music.

Do you think you'll work with him again?

JT: Yeah I totally would. I think eventually I want to again record my own music because it's something that I'm interested in doing and even maybe working on producing other people's music as well. It's just something I see myself getting into as a get older. So yeah I would. At the same time I have an interest in working with as many people as possible because everyone does things differently.

Your most recent music video for 'Paradise' features Michelle Williams. How did that come about?

JT: The director of the video (Matthew Amato) just happened to be friends with her and approached her about being in the video. We were of course excited about it but it kind of put me in a strange position too because it's obviously a big statement to have such a recognisable and famous person in the video. It kind of draws a lot of the attention and I wasn't totally sure that was something I was cool with but you know it's Michelle Williams and I've got a tonne of respect for her as an actress and she seems like a really lovely person. It was still fun for me for that to happen and see the reaction that came from it.

You're booked to play Golden Plains Festival in March along with some dates in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Do you know much about the Australian music scene? Do you have any favourite Australian artists?

JT: Contemporary-wise I don't know a tonne. Of course I really love the Tame Impala record that came out this year and the Go-Betweens are like my favourite band ever. I actually got a chance to talk to Robert Forster on the phone a few weeks ago and I was just a total nervous wreck. I did an interview with them and it was really fun. So them and I've always been a big fan of The Church. To be perfectly honest I don't know a tonne about what's happening right now in Australia, and I've never even been to Australia so I'm quite excited to see what things are like over there.

Captured Tracks seems like an exciting label to be a part of at the moment.  You collaborated on a song with Beach Fossils and toured with DIIV who are also signed with them.  What's it like being on the label, do you get to meet a lot of the other bands and hang out?

JT: Yeah it's cool. It's I think one of the few labels at the moment that really feels like there's this connnection between the bands. It's not, in my mind this roster of totally random bands doing different things. There's the obvious touchstones for the label like shoegaze but it's also a label that is really exciting because it's one of the few that is truly introducing new bands constantly. It's not just a label that is pushing bands that are already established. I'd never be in the place that I am if Captured Tracks hadn't taken a chance on my music. It's such a good way to meet people too and I've made a lot of good friends whether it's other bands or people who work for the label. It's just been a really nice place for my music to exist over the past few years.

On top of touring with DIIV you've done shows with the likes of Beach House, The Walkmen and Grimes this year. Do you get much feedback from these other artists?

JT: We've been really lucky in the last year that we've toured with a lot of bands that we like and when there's that mutual respect it's really nice. We opened for Beach House earlier in the summer and that was awesome because they're a band that are doing really well right now and I have a tonne of respect for them and it was really fun for us to do that as our first tour on this album. It was definitely inspirational I think to tour with a band like that because they're not so far away from where we are but they definitely have their shit figured out and they're a good band for us to look at and see what they're doing right.

What's your schedule like over the next few months before you come to Australia?

JT: I'm just going to be here in New York. I've got some plans to record, I might try and do an EP and put it out over the next few months if I can get it together. Other than that just enjoying the time off, we've been on tour a lot. I'm just happy to be home and be with my friends. I'm kind of constantly working on music whenever I have a spare moment so I'm definitely going to try and record as much as I can.

Words by Brad Davies

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