It isn’t too often that songs stick with me because of their ability to take me off guard. That’s why I was extremely excited to talk to Wild Domestic. I am impressed by their sound but also the way the songs seem to resonate with their audience. Most of their songs are strictly instrumental, aside from Cowboy Suits and Casual Suits, and What Once Ran Wild off their self titled CD. Wild Domestic consists of a group of friends that take their musical capabilities seriously, and wow the hell out of the crowd by their focus on technical ability and growth; which is evident when you take a break from looking at the intensity of the guys playing live and look at the entranced stare of the audience. 

 

Wild Domestic is made up of two guitarists, Andrew and Joseph, a bassit, Zach, and two drummers Devon and Nathan. Their eclectic musical ability is what drove them to create this type of fluid sound that relies on a gradual layer of instrumentals. They found a different approach to creating music that works for them. 

 

 “It’s a bit of a story,” Nate started, “I was friends with the guys before when they were in a band called Kid Skeleton that consisted of Zach, Dev, Andrew and Joe. We got along really well and I recorded a three-song demo with them. We all grew up in Sarnia and that’s how we met initially, in school. We moved to London for school and that’s when the band formed. I wanted to be in the band, and the guys wanted me to get involved, but they already had three guitar players. I also played the drums, and we didn’t want to layer another guitar part, so we considered layering drums too. Devon was already the drummer so that would be two drum kits, kind of weird right?”

 

Now, I had to Google “bands with two drummers” to get actually get an idea of how often this happens. Wikipedia listed off a handful of bands including some of my favourites, Arcade Fire, Modest Mouse, and Do Make Say Think.  So as far as I’m concerned, if infrequency equals oddity, these guys are doing something pretty weird. What’s good for them is that this musical oddity is extremely attractive, and stands out in the sea of music that is available nowadays.  

 

Since the guys have so many influences, musical and otherwise, it really defines how the music is being shaped. Their organic approach to making music makes the band feel like creating this sound comes extremely naturally. They put a lot of time and thinking before songs are complete, and their music is modest in the sense that it’s not necessarily trying to be anything; it is what it is.

 

The writing process for their intricate instrumentals is rather casual, but the guys aren’t afraid to critique each other of material that may not be in the direction they want to go in.

 

“When you’re writing a song there are always four other different perspectives, right, we’ve gotten really good at knowing what the other thinks and feels and writes and so we can accommodate each other a little better,” said Zach. “It’s hard when you feel good about something and there might be one person that’s not feeling it too much, and it’s really democratic in that way. If a person’s not feeling it then we gotta sit down and rework it and please everybody and make sure everybody’s happy with what they’re playing, and happy how it sounds.”

 

This may take a little longer, and it’s probably why they haven’t released a new CD in a couple of years. Hearing some of their new music at their January 24^th show at Clintons in Toronto, the audience could definitely feel sense that they have been busy working on new material. Watching them play is pretty inspiring, and I’ll note here that Nate had to adjust his drum kit at least once per song because of the intense drumming. Their tenacity has allowed them to experiment instead of staying stagnant in their comfort zone.

 

“It’s definitely not the same,” said Andrew about the type of music they have now compared to when they first started out.

 

“We’ve been writing new songs for the past couple months, so we’re working towards that goal,” said Zach. “I think maybe in the spring or beginning of summer we’re actually going to try to sit down and work on a new album and go in that direction.”

 

Although I went to the Clintons show expecting to hear their older material, I was pleasantly surprised by what they had for us, the audience, as we grooved shoulder to shoulder in that spacious back room. I can understand that having to play the same material for two years can get tiring, and Andrew expressed this very progressively:

 

“We’ve moved on and now we’re going to continue to try and challenge ourselves because we get to a point in a song where we can close our eyes and don’t have to think, we just play. That’s not challenging, and not as much fun anymore. Now we have this new group of songs and we’re smiling at each again, and we’re back into it. That’s what drives us to keep wanting to create.”

 

The drive to create has also motivated them to keep some of those older songs, but add other elements to them. Nate explained how, instead of replacing older songs that have grown stale, they just try to rework them so they are fun to play again.

 

“Keeping fresh is kind of the name of the game,” said Nate. “We challenge ourselves with difficulty by making the songs more dynamic, and people can tell. They come up to me after the set and say ‘man, you guys are sounding a little darker’.”

 

Although they don’t necessarily believe their sound has gotten darker, there definitely is a maturity that comes across in their new songs. Perhaps it is the intricate layering of instruments that make it sound heavier. Devon laid the blame on their strictly instrumental techniques. Since there are no lyrics to follow people allow themselves to let the music guide their inner commentary. 

 

It’s wonderful to hear that these guys put their instrumentation at top priority. I don’t think they could be as successful with their sound if this wasn’t the case. They are genuine musicians, really trying to put together something different and taking that passion with them on stage. Even off stage they show their appreciation for the whole experience of being musicians. After their shows they hang out and talk to the crowd, which I had the pleasure of experiencing first hand last year at Canadian Music Week. This interaction is pretty intimate. People think ‘hey, you were there on stage playing the soundtrack to my thoughts, and now I’m talking to you’. It’s a weird inner dialogue that happens between music and emotion, and when you finally talk to the guys you automatically have an appreciation for them, which is definitely reciprocated.

 

“We like meeting new people that like our music,” said Andrew. “They could be doing anything else with their night but they’re coming to see us. It means something for us, and we don’t take it for granted.”

 

 

Check out Wild Domestic here:

 

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Wild-Domestic/189188852840?ref=ts&fref=ts

 

BANDCAMP: http://wilddomesticband.bandcamp.com/