Surreal, art rock band Wombo are thriving as their 2023 has so far been filled with international tour dates, and now the release of their fresh EP Slab. We checked in with the Kentucky-based trio’s own Sydney Chadwick about their work and how this release came together.
Lydia Webb: What’s the story of how you guys became Wombo?
Sydney Chadwick: Cameron and I played in another band when we were kids and when we grew out of that, took a little hiatus from playing until we started to jam with Joel just for fun a couple years later, which quickly turned into Wombo because we realized we had something interesting going on.
LW: Your new EP, Slab, is coming out on the 9th June. How are you guys feeling in the run up to this release?
SC: I’m feeling excited for people to hear the songs. I love EP’s. They feel like a good quick way to get out things you were feeling in a particular time.
LW: What were the initial inspirations for putting the EP together?
SC: We had some songs that just felt like they belonged together and we wanted to also get back in the studio and see where we are since we recorded fairy rust which actually feels like some time ago now to us because of how long it takes for things to come out after recording something.
LW: The title track’s music video is so trippy and interesting to watch. Can you tell us about the process of creating it?
SC: The video for ‘Slab’ was a slow process but I like how it turned out. Cameron [Lowe] made a miniature replica of the basement where we wrote the song, then a pharmacy hallway, my house, and a few other places then strung them together with a green screen. It was fun to have such a wild idea and then make it come to life.
LW: Is there any music or art that really inspires you to have a jam session or start writing?
SC: A lot, I feel like. It’s nice when you get to see a show that reminds you of why you started a band in the first place and it inspires you to get back to writing your own stuff and explore more. Especially when you are on tour and you are feeling tired and kind of out of it, going from place to place constantly, and then you see a band that just kind of shakes you awake and reminds you.
LW: Is there a lot of discussion as a group before/during writing or do you let things happen naturally?
SC: It’s a mixture. We have to talk things through as we write songs but also sometimes it just helps to see what our natural inclination is during a jam and we record most everything we do so we get to go back and discuss what we feel like works.
LW: You’ve just finished a UK/European tour, how was it? Were there any stand out shows?
SC: The tour was one of our favourites so far. Besides a couple of stressful mishaps that were just some rookie mistakes (thank god for you, Maria, if you are reading this!), we had a really memorable time. We want to go back ASAP and do it again. Bucharest was amazing. Brighton, Bristol, Edinburgh as well. So many places. Seeing Drahla at Dot to Dot festival was also really cool. The festivals were some of the funnest parts. We hope it was the first of many tours across the pond.
LW: What else are you hoping to come out of 2023?
SC: Out of the rest of 2023 I think we are looking to focus on writing. We also have a tour coming up in September supporting Bully. We have a lot of ideas in the works and are feeling motivated to focus on that and keep making things.
Wombo’s new EP is out today, and you can stream it on your digital music platform of choice, or even better, grab yourself a copy on the band’s Bandcamp page.
