The Wild Ones were a fun female four piece shakin’ and shimmyin’
band from Santa Cruz, California. The band played a wonderful style of
fun, sun kissed 60’s garage Rock N’ Roll. One of the things that set this
band apart is the heart and sincerity that was fixed into their music. This
added an inimitable style to their music and made repeated listens to Wild Ones
records a must. Sadly though the world is a little less feral now, The
Wild Ones played their last show on February 21, 2014 at the Jury Room with
tour mates Bummer City. Here’s hoping these ladies return to music in some
form or another. Their talents will be missed.
Interview by Jay
Castro
Please introduce yourselves and how you
contribute to the Rock N’ Roll machine known as The Wild Ones?
Rachael–Lead
guitar and vocals
Belle-Rhythm
guitar and vocals
Hilary-Bass
and back up vocals
Marisa-Drums
Where are you all from
originally?
Santa
Cruz!
How did you all meet and
start playing music together?
Belle:
I’ve known Rachael for years and she was always trying to get me to start a
band. I was way too scared, but one night we were at a show with Hilary and the
three of us decided we could do it! Rachael was originally gonna play drums, but
I had never played guitar so it was decided that she would play lead and we
needed to find a drummer. Marisa was an old friend of Hilary who heard that we
needed a drummer and she fit in perfectly. We had our first show a month later
and the rest is history!
What or whom influenced you
as a kid to want to play music and write songs?
Ramones,
Rolling Stones, The Ronettes, Nikki Corvette, and The Pleasure Seekers.
Besides your Nikki and The
Corvettes/Runaways influences, I detect some of the more melancholy side of
1960’s girl groups in your songs too. Am I totally wrong on this?
I’ve
loved 1960’s girl groups since I was a kid. I’m glad that seems to have worked
its way into our “sound.”
The band just finished a
fairly extensive U.S. tour with Bummer City. How do you feel that went? What
has been the most memorable show for you?
Tour
was the best! We were on the road for a month, played so many great shows and
met a lot of friends along the way. We played with some great bands such as Big
Eyes, Audacity, Primitive Hearts, The Bills, The Brothers Gross, The Rich
Hands, The Bad Lovers, Mikey and the Drags, Bombon and so many more! We’re
still talking about that tour!
What was your reaction when
you first saw that fan made video for “Mad About You?” I thought it pretty terrific myself.
We
love it! We don’t even play that song anymore so its nice that someone out
there made such a sweet video that totally fits the song.
I don’t like using the term “guilty
pleasure” because I don’t think anyone should be made to feel ashamed of
anything they like. However with that being said, what to you listen to that
you think a lot of fans may be surprised by?
Robyn!
So you have the Nasty Habits EP and the Dream On LP available for one’s
listening pleasure out now. The soon to be released Day Drunk 7” is coming out on the La-Ti-Da recording label. How did
that relationship begin?
About
two years ago we played with The Tranzmitors in Vancouver, BC. We made some
friends up there and returned to play the Fall Down/Get Down festival, which
was amazing! Tim Horner of La-Ti-Da asked us if we’d like to put out a 7”
through them, which of course we did! Not sure when that’s gonna be available
but hopefully soon!
You guys are on the recently released
Fuzz City Records cassette compilation with some other great bands, Warm Soda,
Ramma Lamma, how did your involvement with that project come about?
We’ve
played with Warm Soda a couple times and became friends with Matthew Melton. He
asked if we wanted to have a song on the mix and of course we did! We love
pretty much all the bands on this mix so it’s great to be among them.
What else do the Wild Ones plan for us in
the near, or not so near, future?
Things are changing up for
us in the near future! Marisa is moving to New York! We’ll miss her but we’re
all so excited for her. Rachael’s going to Europe for a few months and then
moving up to San Francisco. We won't be able to practice and play shows
regularly, but we don't want to call it quits! So the hope is to play together
when we can. And start new projects as well!
This sounds just like Peach Kelli Pop.
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