Wilderun – Expanding the Palette of Folk Metal

Monday, 6th April 2015

Dead Rhetoric: Looking through an old interview, Wayne was a film scoring major. Does that help in terms of making Wilderun’s sound a bit more theatric/epic?

Wayne Ingram: The songs Evan writes, on both Olden Tales and Sleep At The Edge of The Earth, already have an inherit theatrical nature to them, with the melodies and the harmonic motion that accompany them. The orchestral part of the band’s sound is a vehicle to enhance and hype up that musical content. I LOVE writing for orchestra, and is why I became a film scoring major in the first place. But writing orchestral stuff for Wilderun is so awesome. I was able to join my two favorite things: orchestral music and metal! Metal and orchestra really do go hand in hand, what with how bombastic and huge it can be, and the many range of emotions and moods that can be utilized. On this new album, Dan, our bassist, joined the party and did a bang up job writing orchestral stuff for the album. Both of us have the same love of film scores and orchestral music, but we each have our different influences too. For example, I tend to go for writing big dramatic sweeping melodic stuff, but Dan was able to offer the cool intricate interweaving woodwinds lines and Phillip Glass-esque motifs that are such a cool new flavor to the sound of this album. It was super awesome to work together with Dan on the orchestral stuff for this album, and I think having his brain and ideas helped the sound evolve and grow to somewhere great.

Dead Rhetoric: You used More Sound Recording Studio a second time for Sleep at the Edge of the Earth. How’d the process go; any fun stories?

Jon Teachey: It was a very smooth process, even more so than last time. Jocko is the friggin’ man and can do no wrong in our book, so we were confident that we would get a fantastic recording again this time. You can really tell he cares about the things he records in his studio, going above and beyond his duty as a recording engineer. Speaking of which, we gave him some more producing abilities on this album and I think he did some really cool things with that. As far as a story goes, we did take a day off and go to the local renaissance faire, so that was fun.

Dead Rhetoric: You recorded a killer cover of Philip Philips’ “Home” last year. What made you chose that particular track? Any other tracks you’d like give the Wilderun treatment to?

Evan Anderson Berry: After hearing the song on the radio a bunch of times (probably a few too many, hah), for some reason I can’t really explain, I just started hearing that main chorus melody re-harmonized to a more minor key, modal sound. I thought “Hey, that could kinda sound like a Wilderun melody!”, so I just went with it. I randomly try to do this to other songs every once in a while, and it doesn’t always work out as well as it does in my head, but luckily, I think “Home” worked nicely.

In general, I think its a lot more fun to take material outside of the genre and try to make it fit. Its also important to me to make a cover sound like it could be an original Wilderun song, if you hadn’t heard the actual original. I never really understood when bands cover songs note-for-note. It can be impressive, but not really interesting. I also liked the fact that “Home” was a fairly well known song for a while, so people would actually recognize the cover and be interested in hearing its rearrangement.

As far as future covers, one of our Kickstarter rewards was being able to choose a song for us to cover – And all 3 rewards were taken! So keep a look out for some more in the near future. I can’t say which songs just yet, but it’ll definitely be interesting!

Dead Rhetoric: Are you looking for a label release or would you like to continue the independent route?

Dan Müller: The hope is that we can find a label that will help us out financially to be able to make albums and tour more successfully but if it never happens we’ll still be making music. That’s the nice thing about this era of music-making. We still can record and release music through more modest financial means.

Evan Anderson Berry: Its hard to say, considering some of the horror stories I’ve heard from other small bands signing onto big labels. I think it’d depend entirely on the deal (if we were ever even offered one) before really knowing if it was something worth pursuing. We’ve sent out press kits and stuff like that, but have never heard back from anyone, so we’re just gonna do the best we can on our own for now. Which certainly has a lot of financial limitations, as well as limited exposure. But we’re slowly building, one fan at a time, and those small victories keep us going.

There’s also a great satisfaction in knowing, that pretty much any fan we get at this point in our career is most likely genuinely invested in the music. That’s a great feeling. I don’t feel like we get many “bandwagon” fans at our size, because we hold no real status appeal. Not to say that there’s anything wrong with that, really, I don’t mean to judge. I just don’t think that’s really the case with bands our size. I guess that’s kind of a silver lining to being a small band.

Dead Rhetoric: You guys post a lot of beer on your Instagram account. What are a few of your current favorites and what beer pairs best with Sleep at the Edge of the Earth?

Jon Teachey: Oh, interesting question!. To name a few: Deschutes Chainbreaker, Bear Republic Racer 5, Deep River Back Country Black IPA, Troegs Nugget Nectar. I get a dark woodsy vibe from our new album so any black IPA would go pretty well with it.

Dan Müller: Good question. It being an overall darker album, I’d have to go with some sort of stout or porter. Founders Breakfast Stout maybe? I’ve been getting ready for spring lately with a lot of IPAs. Jack’s Abby Mass Rising and Victory Dirt Wolf have been in my fridge a lot lately.

Evan Anderson Berry: I think I agree with Jon about the Black IPA. Dark and roasted, but with a piney hop character – seems to sum up the album pretty well haha. Maybe some Firestone Wookey Jack? (Oh god, we all look like pretentious beer snobs, don’t hate us). Anyways, my latest favorite is Surly Abrasive Ale – Incredible double IPA from Minnesota. Seek it out at all costs!

Dead Rhetoric: Any touring plans in the near future? What’s next for Wilderun in 2015?

Evan Anderson Berry: Definitely. Can’t say what exactly just yet, but things are in the works! For now, we just want everyone to enjoy the record and take the time to soak it all in.

Wilderun official website

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