In this conversation I caught up with indie-hard rock four-piece Wolforna, a band who have dominated the Leeds music scene and established themselves as one of the most exciting upcoming rock bands. Drawing their sound from influential bands including Pearl Jam and Biffy Clyro, Wolforna have an impressive discography and show no signs of slowing down.
Hi Wolforna, how are you?
We’re doing pretty well thank you!
Please could you introduce yourselves to our readers!
Sure! So, we’re Wolforna, a four-piece rock band from Leeds. We’ve got Jack on vocals and rhythm guitar, Adam on lead guitar, Theo on drums (occasionally a tambourine, NEVER a cajon) and Alex on bass.
How did you guys meet and form the band?
Three of us met a fair while ago, back in school (Jack, Alex and Adam). We played in a couple of cover bands over the high school years (unfortunately, the band names are much too embarrassing to mention on the internet – you can find them, if you look really hard), and then we started playing together again in various capacities after we all came back from university. That eventually became the original iteration of Wolforna – mark one, as it were.
Then, after our original drummer spontaneously combusted at band practice, we were forced to look for another one. We were fortunate enough to find Theo, who’s pretty much the best drummer you can get when you’re desperate… Kidding, Theo! Man’s a machine.
What artists would you say inspired you to pursue a career in music?
We have a pretty wide range of influences collectively, so it’s hard to narrow it down to just a few. Jack’s a big fan of Maroon 5 and X-Factor's finest Union-J, and he basically started singing after watching S Club 7 perform “Reach” on Jools Holland. Adam and Alex were both big Blink-182 fans back in the day and took a lot of inspiration from them. Theo has been drumming since he was about three (a whole five years ago), so unfortunately (or fortunately) for him, his career was decided long before he could be influenced by anyone!
How would you describe your sound to those who may not be familiar with your music?
Ever heard of Orange Rock? No? Well you have now… But that’s probably not very helpful to most people! We’re a mix of classic rock, hard rock, and an extremely light sprinkling of indie. We’ve gone through a lot of musical changes since starting out, and we’re still changing and evolving now, so it’s quite hard to pin down or describe our sound – that’s why we’ve coined the term Orange Rock. I guess people can make their own mind up.
So far you have released some amazing tracks, including my personal favourites ‘Penrose’ and ‘In His Dreams’, how would you say your music has evolved from your earlier singles like ‘The Fleet’ compared to your most recent work?
It’s got a lot heavier, and a lot more fun! Originally, we actually started off as a three-piece acoustic band – that was just Jack, Adam and Alex. The sound of our early singles was mostly just a product of the fact we only had acoustic guitar, electric guitar and vocals at our disposal, so that basically dictated the sound of the songs. We didn’t put as much thought into our sound back then as we do now! It was all about the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll lifestyle back then… Obviously. Once we got our original drummer in the band, our sound changed naturally because of the fact we now had drums in the mix (and had ditched the acoustic guitar). Over time, it's developed further, from more indie-rock through to classic/bluesy rock on our Harlequin EP. Then Theo joined the band and changed things up again as we realised (thanks to his exceptional talent for hitting things with sticks) that we were capable of much more as a band. That brings us to where we’re at now, which we’d say is steering in a more of a hard rock direction. But we’re really still finding our feet when it comes to our sound, and we’re experimenting with new ideas and directions all the time.
You released your debut EP ‘Harlequin’ in 2021, are there any plans to record an album anytime soon?
No album plans yet, but we’re currently mixing our next single which is due in October – so keep an eye out for that one dropping! Following on from that, we’ll probably be looking to release more singles and see where things go from there.
You have released a lot of music during the lockdown period, what challenges did you face in terms of writing and recording as a band?
Lockdown was a bit of a double-edged sword for us. We decided to change direction from our acoustic line-up and look for a drummer shortly before lockdown, and we managed to find someone (shout-out to Olli Barraclough) who joined the band – which was fantastic – then lockdown hit about two weeks later... so that was pretty terrible timing, as we weren’t able to meet up together at all. But as you have to do in those kinds of situations, we made the most of it; and so we wrote a lot of new songs over the course of lockdown, inspired by our new direction and potential as a four-piece. Pretty much all of the songs on Harlequin were written during that first lockdown period. On the recording front, we couldn’t do anything until restrictions allowed us to get back into the studio. But once we did, we were all ready to go for it and had a load of fresh songs and ideas to go at. So in the end it worked out pretty well; we got a whole EP out of it!
"That brings us to where we’re at now, which we’d say is steering in a more of a hard rock direction. But we’re really still finding our feet when it comes to our sound, and we’re experimenting with new ideas and directions all the time."
You have played and supported bands like THE HARA, what are your plans for the rest of 2022?
Gigs, gigs, and then a few more gigs! We recently started working with Thistle PR & Promotion, initially as a booking agent, but since then, it has developed into full management, which we’re all really happy about. Imogen, who has been working with us, has been amazing! She’s managed to get us loads of quality gigs for the end of this year (and keep us in check), so all of our calendars are pretty much packed until 2023 now… Madison Sq Gardens, pending.
Could you recommend some of your current favourite songs to our readers?
We actually each have a playlist on our Spotify page that contains an assortment of each of our favourite songs, so if anybody’s interested, they can check them out there!
Finally, do you have a message for your fans?
To all our mums and dads, and grandparents too – we love you!
Check out Wolforna's music in the links above or on my Spotify Featured Artists Playlist (link in bio).
Upcoming Gigs:
7th October- Supporting Camens & Cascade at The Fox & Newt (Leeds)
14th October- Supporting False Heads at Sidney & Matilda (Sheffield)
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