Interview with WYNT: ‘Lyrically, it’s a bit dark, it’s about coming to terms with people you don’t speak to anymore and that’s ok’

South Wales alt-rock five piece WYNT are gearing up to release their next single ‘Wonderful Life’.

The band comprises Ashley Evans (vocals and drums), James Davies (lead vocals and guitar), Jack Langmead (vocals and guitar), Jake Appleton (bass) and Dewi Williams (vocals and  guitar). They have been together since 2018: ‘I’ve been playing music with Jack and James since we were 14, we’re 26 now,’ Evans said. ‘We were always hanging around the music department at school, tinkering (laughs). Dewi is only 20, we met him at an open mic night six or seven years ago. Jack stepped out of the band for health reasons a few years ago, that’s when Dewi came in. When Jack was ready to come back, we didn’t want to lose Dewi, so we became a five piece.’ Their name is inspired by the 300 year old Billy Wynt tower that overlooks the villages in which they all currently live.

‘Wonderful Life’ is not as upbeat as the title might suggest: ‘Lyrically, it’s a bit dark, it’s about coming to terms with people you don’t speak to anymore and that’s ok,’ Evans said. ‘It is what it is. It took me a really long time to realise you don’t have to reach out. You grow up, get older. It’s about those people you’ve left behind. Sonically, it’s more upbeat, there’s some piano in it, the break down has some heavier guitars. There are bits where it drops down but it has a big chorus – we love writing huge choruses (laughs). We did our first headline show on 18th March. We’ve got three guitarists, so we use a lot of reverb and delay. When we turned up for the gig, the sound guy was like “You have three electric guitars, four amps and four vocalists?! He wasn’t expecting that (laughs)!’

Earlier this month, they released their single ‘What About Us’, which erupts with a fuzzy, glam rock guitar line: ‘I wrote the lyrics in lockdown,’ Evans said. ‘I just sat down feeling a bit frustrated at what was happening to the creative sector and with hospitality getting pushed to one side. I started writing with that in mind. I sent the lyrics to the boys last November and we ended up writing five new songs in one day over 10 hours. We’ve been itching to put them together!’

As the track kicks off: ‘Life is full of gold/ At least that’s what they tell you, but I’ve never been told/ Am I that cynical?/ To think there’s a dream that I haven’t been sold/ There’s nothing to see here, baby/ There’s nowhere to breathe here/ There’s nothing that you can say.’

‘It’s very much about having a toxic person in your life’ 

Another track, ‘Bad Vibes’, deals with Evans’ former relationships: ‘I wrote it when I was 23. I tend to write about past relationships and feelings,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, it’s dog shit (laughs) and sometimes it works. It’s very much about having a toxic person in your life. I try to write for other people and myself. It’s worked out that I’ve written the last couple of songs, although our old bassist wrote ‘Snake Eyes’. One of the boys will play a riff and I’ll think “I have some lyrics that would go with that”. Everyone gets involved and does their part.’

Other tracks, notably ‘Bloom’, have a real retro, 70’s feel:  ”Bloom’ is more of a celebration song, a big shouty sing-along chorus but different to what I write usually which is normally about concepts and feelings,’ he said. ‘It’s more of a story dedicated to someone I love. It’s got a big intro, hasn’t it? We all love 70’s and 80’s guitars, people like Fleetwood Mac and Tom Petty with their inspiring opening riffs. You know exactly who it is as soon as they start to play and I think that’s fed into music. It’s fun to do a big intro, to play songs like ‘Snake Eyes’ live. We’ve developed an intro to it live that just builds and builds. ‘Snake Eyes’ is this big gradual build up with constant toms and snare all the way through, almost a little bit tribal, I think. It gets the blood pumping, it’s full of energy and then reaches this big guitar, harmony-laden crescendo. The song is about betrayal and not about a set of dice that have landed on one.’

As ‘Snake Eyes’ goes: ‘I’m back from my foray into the foreign ground/ And all I see is snakes in the grass/ I must’ve been defeated by the hissing sound/ I could’ve been blinded by the red in your eyes/ But I never saw the fork in your tongue looking back at all your eyes/ I couldn’t have been the only one.’

Growing up, Evans was heavily influenced by the 60’s and 70’s: ‘I listened to a lot of Fleetwood Mac, The Carpenters and The Beatles because that’s what my parents listened to. Then I found Busted, The Darkness, Bowling For Soup and all the noughties pop punk (laughs). I grew up on McFly when I was 12 but then my parents played Queen in the car. Now I listen to a lot of Kid Kapichi (a rock band from Hastings, he’s wearing their tee on our Zoom), they’re on the way up.’ These days, he’s also a fan of Fatherson, Wolf Alice and Everything Everything as well as older stuff such as Supertramp, The Beach Boys and Pixies.

‘They cause as much chaos as they can in a 35 minute set!’

Locally, he is a fan of Cardiff rock band Himalayas, with whom they’re friends and have shared the stage: ‘Our first live gig in October 2021 was with them in front of 300 odd people, it was brilliant. I love Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard (another Cardiff rock band), they’re just something else! And Alice Low, her live stuff is some of the craziest stuff I’ve seen. She’s completely not afraid to be her true self on stage, if she wants to rip off her clothes she will, she’ll talk about anything and is as open as they come. She’ll dance how she wants to dance, she’ll write songs about what she wants to write songs about and no one is going to stop her. I admire her for that. It’s pop, unhinged, she’s just released a new song, ‘Rim Job’ (laughs)!’ Hana Lilli is poppy and very cool. And I like rock/punk band SHLUG from Cardiff. They scream, they take their tops off, they shout, they get in amongst the crowd and throw their instruments around. They cause as much chaos as they can in a 35 minute set!’

He has grand plans for his dream line up: ‘It would have to be Prince,’ he said happily. ‘And Royal Blood (a Brighton rock duo). I saw them last night, they were so fucking good! They were supported by The Amazons (a rock band from Reading). Can I have the Foos, Queen and Stevie Nicks singing her solo stuff? ‘Edge of Seventeen’ is one of my favourite songs of all time. And Tom Jones, you have to, he’s such a Welsh legend and there isn’t anyone in the world who doesn’t know his songs, which is crazy because he comes from a little Welsh village about 10 minutes from where I live.’ 

Our chat takes place a couple of days after the tragic death of Foo Fighters’ drummer Taylor Hawkins and our talk turns to that: ‘I’m struggling to come to terms with it in our band group chat,’ he said. ‘We all went to see them in London a couple of years ago and then again in Reading festival . It’s hit us all weirdly hard. He was like his own machine on stage. I said to my parents that I feel so sorry for Dave (Grohl), first Kurt and then Taylor. They were such great friends. It’s way too early to talk about a replacement but I’d like to see different drummers replace him, a rotating list of drummers like Mick Fleetwood, that’s what I’d love to see. You can’t replace Taylor but they could carry on his legacy. I’d like to see Nandi (Nandi Bushnell, the 12 year old exceptional girl drummer in London who took part in drum battles with Dave Grohl during lockdown and has since performed with them in LA) do 4-5 shows with them. I drum but then I saw her and said “But do I, though?” (laughs) To play like that at her age, the only way is to stardom, which is amazing.’

(Photo from left to right: Jake Appleton (flowery shirt), Dewi Williams (black jacket), James Davies (red jacket), Jack Langmead (grey jumper) and far right, Ashley Evans.)