Music > Interviews
Meat Wave
12/10/15
If you like your rock music kick ass and 90's style, you need to get on board with Chicago's Meat Wave who are playing at The Owl Sanctuary this month. I grabbed five minutes with Ryan Wizniak to ask about their influences and why they do what they do.
How did you guys get together?
Chris and I play in a band called Truman and His Trophy, and wanted to do another project that was a little more aggressive/ negative. Both of us knew Joe, loved his bass playing and thought he would be a great fit. He was the only person we thought to ask so thankfully he agreed!
How would you describe the music you make?
That’s hard to answer because we never talk about it and it’s been slowly evolving more and more as we write new songs. Our influences are all over the place and our age range is a testament to that. I would hope that we could fit comfortably between classic bands we love like Shellac and Wipers and newer groups such as Protomartyr while bringing something new to the table. As much as we love a lot of garage and lo-fi bands, that is a categorization we have received and don’t agree with.
Why do you make music? What’s the driving force behind it all for you?
The three of us have been making music since we were in middle school. As far as I know, none of our young selves picked up an instrument because we had some rockstar fantasy about it, we were just kids that fucking loved music. Everyone needs to nerd out about something and listening to and playing in bands was what we chose.
Have you been to the UK before?
Somehow this will be our third time to the UK. The first time we went I had no fucking idea what to expect. I mean, we were pretty much unknown in our own country, so it was hard to imagine anyone coming out to our shows across the world. Luckily everyone that brought us out there are fucking crazy good at what they do and it was the time of our lives. Shout out to Tom, Ivano, Brace Yourself and Primary!
What’s the scene like in Chicago at present?
Crazy and eclectic. Most of my favorite releases in the past five or so years have been from Chicago bands, and it hasn’t slowed down,
Your second album’s just come out, Delusion Moon. Why did you decide to call it that? Also, what does Meat Wave refer to?
Delusion Moon, the song, was one of the last songs Chris wrote for the album and it ended up tying everything together in a lot of ways. Lyrically, many of the songs on the album are from various points of view concerning how crazy and at times delusional everyone in the wold, ourselves included, can seem. We got our name from an article in The Onion.
There’s definitely a 90’s sound to your music. Which acts in particular are you fans of?
Some of that might have to do with the way we approach recording, but besides the bands I mentioned earlier, Karp, Babes in Toyland, Drive Like Jehu, Gravity Records bands, Pixies and Breeders
Your first album came out on tape. How come you decided to release on that format?
We wanted to do a series of split 7”s with bands we are friends with, but didn’t want to wait around, so we put the collection of songs we recorded up on bandcamp for free and eventually Pete Shaw at Let’s Pretend offered to do a tape.
Who would you recommend we check out at the moment?
Melkbelly, Oozing Wound, Rad Payoff, High Priests, MAMA, Lil Tits, Ne-Hi, The Funs, Running, Lil Tits, Foul Tip, Luggage, Closed Mouths, The Brokedowns, Loud Nerves, Mannequin Pussy, Sheer Mag, Negative Scanner, Sophagus, Hollow Mountain.
What’s next after this mammoth tour?
We have a new batch of songs we need to work on and finish up, we are planning on doing a longer US tour and hopefully recording another record at some point. Immediately after we get home I'm going to wolf down a griddle burger; if I can predict anything it's that.
Meat Wave play The Owl Sanctuary on 30th November. Tickets available from http://www.theowlsanctuary.net.