The Wild Feathers Interview

Your typical band: lead singer, guitar player, bassist and drummer. The Wild Feathers: a bunch of lead singers, a wide variety of musical inspiration and a damn good record.

The Nashville-based band has grasped the attention of big names such as Rolling Stone, VH1, Seth Meyers and the television series Nashville. They’ve played multiple festivals including Bonnaroo, Life on the Green, Petty Fest and will be performing at the upcoming Voodoo Experience. Need I go on?

We recently had the opportunity to speak with Joel King, bassist and vocalist of The Wild Feathers, and discuss their journey as a band so far.

Their self-titled album was originally released in 2013 and had a unique recording process. Instead of the lengthy process of recording different parts of songs at different times, the band took the old school approach of recording a song a day. King explains, “Much like the way that before when they made albums, when they would go into Sun Studios – Jerry Lee or Elvis or any of those guys – they would just record the song and at the end of the day they would have the finished product. It’s good because you’re not splitting up everything you have to do for the day and you also have proof of accomplishment… or it sounds like crap and you have to go back and redo it [laughs]. It’s nice because it’s not a surprise of what it’s going to sound like a month later.”

The Wild Feathers also have a different approach to the songwriting aspect. Being in a band with multiple singer/songwriters gives them a range of ideas on how to create a song. “Sometimes we sit down and just jam and a song comes out and other times one of us will say ‘Hey, I’ve got an idea about a song like this’ and then we all kind of work on it. Other times one of us will write something like ‘I wrote this last night when I couldn’t sleep’ and it’s perfect; we don’t need to touch it at all,” King says.

So how exactly do you describe the sound that is The Wild Feathers?  “We tried really not to say we’re going to sound a certain way, you know? We did just what came natural to us. I think that’s what sets us apart from a lot of other bands… We like to think of ourselves as a rock and roll band that also happens to sing [laughs]. We lean towards something like Led Zeppelin or Neil Young, but we could also take it down and just sing with an acoustic guitar.”

With all of these traits, it’s no wonder why they recently participated in Record Store Day. “I think we’re tailor-made for vinyl [laughs]. We’re the type of band that collects vinyl and it’s just part of our culture. We always wanted to put out a 45 with an extra song on it. It was just a major accomplishment as far as personal accomplishments just to get a vinyl out. There will be a lot more of that to come, we really love it!” (In case you haven’t heard their record on vinyl, you need to. ‘Tailor-made’ is the perfect word.)

Their headlining tour starts up November 4^th in Indianapolis, where you can not only catch your favorite The Wild Feathers songs but new ones as well. King explained that this set list will include songs that have been written but have not yet been recorded – and will only be recorded if they receive positive feedback from the audience. “If they totally bomb then they won’t go on the record…Or they’ll be first on the record!” Joking aside, this concept only adds to the uniqueness of the band. Not only will this be a treat for the fans, but a keeper of sanity for the band who has been playing the same songs for over a year.

So what’s next for The Wild Feathers? After their headlining tour with The Apache Relay (dates can be found here), it’s studio time followed a tour. Perhaps springtime? Keep posted on all things The Wild Feathers at their official website.