by Andy Sykes
wrest are back with their new single, Nowhere Forever, on May 31st.
Frontman STEWART DOUGLAS sat down with ANDY SYKES as the band gear up for a truly monumental six months ahead…
You’re back with your first new music since the Bedtime Rhymes EP which was released in November. You said then you had a ‘blank canvas’ for the album. Tell us about the first single Nowhere Forever.
Yes, it was a blank canvas for a while – it can take time to get the overarching theme of what you want to produce. Nowhere Forever was the first song written as part of the process. That was the song that sparked the concept for the whole album to follow.
I guess the song is about how everyone has their own problems but actually, in the grand scheme of things, they don’t matter. The universe is so much bigger than you or me. Nowhere Forever was the song that encapsulates what the whole album is about.
The song is unmistakably wrest but feels a little different somehow, the ending builds into this wall of sound.
Angry is not the right word but maybe it’s edgier and grittier. It's a slight an evolution of the sound rather than like a wild departure. It's always going to sound like wrest!
You play your career-defining show to date at Glasgow Barrowlands on 31st August with an album due before that. That will be the quickest turnaround of an album in your time as wrest. What was the writing and recording process like? Did you thrive on that pressure?
It's basically the quickest period in which we've done an album.
The first one took us six years. The second one took us two to three years and this one took us five months, including the recording process.
The album is something that we're really, really buzzing about. We’re still getting to know it and I feel it’s our best album of the three so far.
There were a lot of times where I would be staring at the walls into the wee small hours and there was nothing coming, you know? And you think there's real pressure.
We had these dates booked for the studio to record the album and we were hemmed in by them. But you can’t force it and if it’s not happening, it’s not happening.
So it’s really satisfying to produce something that we have and look back and think ‘oh, aye, we’ve got something really good here guys’
Will there be a second single then before the Barrowlands show?
There’ll be singles sequentially to the album launch in August. The next single will be in June at some time and we’re looking at maybe August 16th or 23rd for the album.
Did the live shows have an influence in how you wanted the singles and album to sound?
Obviously, you try not to let that influence you too directly but it's definitely there in the back of your mind. You know with the Barrowlands coming up you want songs that you know could be played in that environment from a practical side and I think we’ve done that.
This is album number three and you remain an unsigned band with a growing, cult following. Does it feel like now is the time to make that breakthrough into the mainstream and get filthy rich?!
Haha, that'd be amazing, right?! To not share hotel rooms and have some home comforts on tour would be a start!
But in all seriousness, we are happy where we are and it's nice to play the venues we are. The venues are trending upwards and a massive song would be incredibly helpful (Spotify put Human on playlists which widened wrest’s reach when Coward of Us All launched in 2019).
But it's not a make or break for us.
Landing in some kind of mainstream space, maybe that'll happen for us, maybe it won't. We’re connecting with people wherever we go and people seem to respond well to it.
Having the excuse to get up in the morning and legitimately spend my time thinking about wrest and thinking about making music is honestly such a privilege. It’s the coolest thing.
To legitimately devote time to that is just amazing.
Will the new album be available on vinyl too?
The Bedtime Rhymes EP was due to be out on vinyl in March and we want to get the album out in time for Barrowlands too. We’ve had some issues with the EP on vinyl, it was meant to take 10 weeks but I think we’re into 20-odd weeks.
We had the test press and we had to approve that but one of the sides was off centre which was affecting the audio so it was unacceptable and we've had to go back to get re-done. And we’ve been chasing it since.
The new album will definitely be available on vinyl at some stage soon...watch this space.
Nowhere Forever is released on May 31.
wrest play shows across UK and Ireland from September to December – get tickets here.