by Andy Sykes
Fifty-two gigs. Seven countries. More journeys up and down the M6 than an Eddie Stobart trucker. Five new songs, thousands more new fans, a gig beyond their wildest dreams. It’s fair to say 2023 has been a monumental year for Wrest. We sat down with Stewart Douglas to try to make sense of it all…
How would you sum up 2023?
Wow, where to start! It’s been amazing to get to all these places. We were hitting the road for the second time since End All The Days came out in 2022 and we had the tour booked, but we had no idea at that stage how the shows were going to go.
There’s a risk every time you book a venue anywhere - you can go to a place where literally no one will turn up. Sitting here now it feels like it has been a successful year for us and we've seen growth across pretty much all the places that we've played.
Getting across to Ireland and Northern Ireland for the first time was amazing and had been long overdue as well. People had been asking for a few years now so it was great to get across and finally do that. We played in a few new places in Germany, which was amazing. All in, it's been a strong year and we're buzzing for 2024.
Since we spoke earlier in the year, you’ve more than doubled your online streaming audience. I went to the Manchester show at the Deaf Institute and it felt different to past shows, it felt like you were established.
It feels like for us 2023 has seen some places emerge as strongholds for us. There are people who know what we're about, who want to come and see it and there's pockets of actual fans, a fan base building up in these places.
We definitely felt that in Manchester and felt that in London as well, which was a particularly busy show, only I think our third headline show in London. We also felt that in places like Hamburg and Dusseldorf too.
There are places where we definitely know now that if we book a room we'll be in with a good chance of doing a good number.
You have played 52 gigs since February culminating in a sold-out show at the 900 capacity Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh last month. What was the highlight of that tour?
It’s hard to look past that one as a highlight. That’s in my mind as it’s so recent but we’ve had a lot of really, really good shows this year. London was amazing and also the Garage in Glasgow in April which was our only Glasgow headline of the year, which was amazing as well. Another one to single out was a Thursday night in Dusseldorf. We got 180 people on a Thursday night to come out and hear Wrest, which is insane to me still. And they're all there buying the Barrowlands tickets at the end. Crazy.
You've released EP Bedtime Rhymes as well last month. What’s the reaction been to that new release?
It’s been great. It coincided with the actual night of the Queen’s Hall show, which was probably amongst like one of the busiest days for my phone ever!
A lot of people are chasing the physical release, which is very much something that's on the agenda. It's been very well received and obviously every time you release music, there's the risk people don't connect with it.
Fortunately, it seems that seems the people have connected with it well. We can see the streaming numbers and how that's sort of looking relative to the last EP and also the album.
We've got benchmarks there that are being surpassed quite easily which is good, so it feels like it's another step forward. We're keen to have this as a kind of epilogue to End All The Days.
You played three of those EP songs on tour – Keep Going, Little Star and Florida, the latter you played unplugged in the middle of the crowd at your London show. How did that come about?
We’ve done that a few times, including in Darmstadt in Germany, with other songs like Universe and Attack and Defend. It’s a far more intense thing – this imaginary barrier between the crowd and the stage is really broken, right?
It’s something that always kind of works well and it feels like it's a bit of a moment.
I don't want to do it like every time and it becomes a hackneyed thing but it was a good moment.
You play Glasgow Barrowlands in August 2024. Before that career-defining show so far, what's the plan for the next album?
Basically, we need to be recording that January, February, March time.
I know it's very quick but I think it's doable. We want it to be out on vinyl into in time for Barrowlands and it's really a cliché but there’s no rest for the wicked. There’s no pause for breath. We want the first single to be emerging March time and it just needs to fall nicely. There is some time this month to actually get that get that pulled together.
Where are you at with songs for the next album? Have you got an idea of what you want it to sound like?
I think it will still be characteristically Wrest, however it comes out, but it's a world of possibilities at the moment. We’ll see what see what comes out from that.
Tickets are going well for the Barrowlands gig which shows how strong your fanbase is, which has been evident throughout the shows in 2023.
We are so, so grateful to anyone who comes out. At the Queen’s Hall there were people who had travelled from the Netherlands and Germany to be there, multiple people that come across from Germany. People who had bought tickets from the US a year ago had planned holidays around the shows. I can remember vividly playing shows like less than 10 people in Edinburgh. It’s still a risk booking any show but seeing people booking flights and arranging hotels it makes us all immensely grateful.
It sounds cliched, but it's honestly such a pleasure. It’s a privilege to be able to do music and to have anyone wanting to listen to it. I know when we go away and write new music there will be people waiting to hear it.
We feel so fortunate to be in that position. Thank you to everyone who has supported us this year!
Pre-Order Bedtime Rhymes on Vinyl: https://wrestband.myshopify.com/products/bedtime-rhymes-10-vinyl-ep-pre-order
Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/6Wp0PD8v3ICdCrbgdLvJew
Barrowlands Tickets: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Glasgow/Barrowland-Ballroom/Wrest--Support---Glasgow-Barrowland/36338850/