An album recorded with Pete Townsend, touring with KISS, The Who, and playing on the same stage as the headline band on the KISS Cruise has been quite the period for The Wild Things. There is much more to come from the band in the future. They have been working hard and it is great to see this band from London get the international recognition they deserve.
Kahmel Fahanani met The Wild Things at Gibson Garage London in Eastcastle St, as MetalTalk spent some time with the band as they prepared to hit the downstairs acoustic stage as part of Gibson’s all-day acoustic festival.
Gibson Garage London is a very impressive place. “It’s sort of like a second home,” Sydney Rae White told us. “We hang out a lot just because it’s so pretty. We’re very grateful to be here and very excited to play some songs. We do love it here.”
The Wild Things were part of the Gibson Garage First Anniversary celebration. Gibson does a lot to celebrate grassroots music and up-and-coming artists. Is this something The Wild Things have felt, and are they excited to play?
“We’ve always gravitated towards Gibson as a brand,” Sydney said. “I exclusively play Gibson guitars. Since we first started as a band and then as we’ve progressed, it’s always been amazing to have the support here physically in the building, but anywhere across the world as well.
“I sort of made a joke like it’s like coming home, but it really is. We’ve never ever felt like we couldn’t reach out to Gibson if we need something in an emergency or anything. To celebrate music in general, which is obviously very important to us as a whole, it’s really great to be doing a little thing here today.”
“We don’t actually play acoustic that much,” Rob Kendrick said, “so it felt special to get to do this.”
We suggest that it must be a nice change to stretch your muscles in a different way as a band. “It was either that or a three-hour interpretive dance,” Rob says to laughs.
Lead singer Sydney Rae White is the sister of bassist Cameron White and is married to guitarist Rob Kendrick. The drummer is Pete Wheeler, who Sydney describes as a “weird best mate.”
“You’re not actually weird,” Sydney corrects. “You’re very handsome.
“It’s difficult to tell how long we’ve been going for,” she continues. “We’ve always been a unit, and then it kind of progressed into something pretty serious and professional. We’ve had a very lucky and amazing career with some of the artists that we’ve got to work with. Again, it’s one of the reasons we’re here today doing this. So it’s a real pleasure.”
The Wild Things have several things spinning at the moment. Afterglow, released in September 2024, is the band’s second album. It was recorded at Pete Townsend’s Upper Woody Studio near his home in the country and at Grand Cru Studio in London.
“Afterglow was years of work,” Sydney says. “It blossomed into a concept album and a story, and we called it a choose your own adventure album. How you follow that is what we have started thinking. We have been writing. It’s gone pretty mental. Not in a complicated way, but we have big ideas for what’s coming next. I don’t want to try and explain it yet, but it will make sense, and it’s all entwined.”
Sydney and Rob met through Pete Townsend while performing in a stage production of Quadrophenia, and Sydney sent plenty of emails to try to get Townsend to work with them. “It worked,” she smiles. “But he really changed our perspective in terms of songwriting, breaking stuff down and then remaking different things. Cam produced the record with him. So I think we all learnt an awful lot.
“In terms of what he’s like to work with? I think for anybody being in front of a genius like that because that’s what he is, and I’m not just trying to blow smoke up his ass. He is a certified genius. You can only take away incredible lessons and not take it for granted.
“It’s scary and it’s daunting, but you know, we love him to bits. He’s incredible, and we’re very blessed and grateful. It has spurred us on to whatever the next project is.”
Of course there is the connection with KISS. We said The Wild Things are definitely an up-and-coming band to watch out for when witnessing their performance on the bill in July 2023 at The O2.
You also wonder how the KISS Cruise was, as that is a really hardcore fanbase for a young band to experience. “It was scary at first,” Sydnesy says, “especially the idea of it. But everyone had just gone through lockdown.”
“It was amazing,” Pete Wheeler said. “You say they’re a hardcore fanbase. They are, but they were so welcoming and open.”
“I think probably the most welcoming fanbase in terms of a band that big and that daunting,” Sydney says. “But we had been through lockdown. We got the offer to go on the cruise, and we just went, well, yeah. We’re not going to say no, are we? That’s obviously how we met them.”
“The timing panned out like there was just a whirlwind of two weeks,” Pete says. “We got off the ship in LA and then drove straight to Vegas to play with The Who.”
“I’ll tell you a story,” Rob says. “I don’t think we’ve told it before. We got some good stages on the cruise. Probably better than we deserved, given we were kind of new. The reason we did was we were playing a show at Brixton Academy, and Syd was walking past the stage manager’s door.
“There this [makes big ‘doof’ noise]. Syd said fuck and opened the door. There was a hatchet in the door. The stage manager used to be a roadie for Lemmy and when he’s chilling out, he likes to throw his hatchet at the door. Syd just got talking to him. He was like, what are you guys doing next? We said we were going on the KISS cruise. He went, I’ll make some calls.
“We got a call a week later saying you’re playing the same stages as KISS. Just because of a hatchet.”
You can ask what The Wild Things took from watching KISS in action, but it comes back as must-use more zip wires, more pyro, and makeup. “We should all be wearing platforms,” Sydney says. “Or at least me. I’d love to be taller.”
Rob tells a great story of being stopped by Gene Simmons being driven in a golf cart. “I hear this halt,” Rob says. “I look, and there’s The Demon with his hand up. He looks at me and asks, ‘Are you having a good time?'”
Rob answers, “Yeah, Gene, it’s pretty cool. Thank you. We’re learning….”
“Are you having a good time,” Gene interrupts, holding his hand up.
“Yes,” says Rob. With a flick of Gene’s wrist, the buggy departs.
For today, The Wild Things promise “something different from us if people are used to the louder, more thrashy Wild Things,” Sydney says. “But like you said, it’s fun to stretch those muscles and approach the songs from a different angle. In terms of the future, we can promise a lot.”
“I’ll say this, so you would be the first people to hear it,” Rob says. “There is gonna be a tour.”
Headline? “Yes” So, watch this space. A new album and a tour.
Thanks to The Wild Things and thanks to Gibson, we will have more of their acoustic set from Saturday.
As a spoiler, did we have a good time? Yes, we had a good time.
