Albany’s own Wild Adriatic will be playing two shows on Saturday October 11, one in Lake George and one in Albany. The two shows cap a week-long tour that saw the band go down to Texas for a few shows before making their way back home. To start off their day they will be on the bill alongside Rusted Root, Black Mountain Symphony, and AM Bodega at Lake George’s Oktoberfest taking place at Charles R. Wood Park, where The American Music Festival just took place. Following that show the band will pack up the van and head down the northway to Albany and make their way to The Hollow Bar for their show with locals’ Titanics and Party Boat. I got the chance to speak to Mateo Vosganian, drummer and beard extraordinaire of Wild Adriatic. It included interviewing Wild Adriatic about this past summer, playing multiple shows in a day, their upcoming European tour and more.
Bryan Lasky :How was the past week or so of tour in Texas?
Mateo Vosganian: The past week in TX was a crazy one! Every time we go back the shows get a little better and we keep making new friends along the way. This time we were fortunate enough to join our friends The Continuums from Austin on a little run of shows. It was our first time in Bryan and Houston but both cities were cool with smaller shows at sweet venues. The San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Austin shows were all awesome and then yesterday we had the pleasure of playing New Orleans for our first time! It was a small Monday night show with some great local acts, but the venue was awesome and we’ll be back in town for Mardi Gras 2015.
BL: What is it about Texas that keep you going back? I think this was the second or third time for you there if I’m correct.
MV: Texas is awesome. Plain and simple. The weather is always nice (if a little overwhelming with the heat/humidity, but hey…), the people are typically laid back and fun in the bigger cities we visit, and the music fans there love rock and roll. Playing to a room of new faces in TX is one of our favorite things to do because we’re always confident in more than half the room being very into what we’re doing. Texas has stayed engaged with us as a band, even though we’re in NY and only tour down every 3 months or so. There are a few great promoters and venues down there who have put their faith in the band and are working to help us grow down there. We’re grateful for the little set up we’ve been ushered into down in TX. So much so that we’ve decided to move to Austin from 2/10-3/23 this year. We’ve rented a house and rehearsal space and will be writing and demoing for a new album down there. We’re going to be meeting with producers and basically figuring out the vibe for the next record while we’re there, as well as a 4 week residency at Empire Garage & Control Room before a crazy week at SXSW 2015. We have some great friends down there we’d like to collaborate with and we all feel like living there for a bit will help us bolster even more of a buzz down that way. And even if not, it’ll be a totally sweet vacation from NY to escape the middle/end of winter.
BL: Is there any new music on the horizon? I know Big Suspicious only came out in January, but fans are already clamoring some new tunes.
MV: Hell yeah. We’ve got 2-3 tunes we’re going to start playing in Europe hopefully. We’ll probably play a few over this next month as we prepare for the Euro tour. Then when we get home we’re back in writing and US touring mode til we move to Austin for a more focused writing push. I’d really like to do a new single EP with a new single, a new b-side, a few b-sides from Big Suspicious, and a live or cover track early in 2015. I’m hoping to have something together for that before SXSW. Then LP #2 will be aiming for January 2016.
BL: Is it difficult playing 2 or more shows in a day? It seems like you guys have been doing it a lot lately
MV: I wouldn’t say it’s difficult. Oftentimes it’s stressful since it involves a cramped timeframe and everyone is rushing to get everything done and get it done perfectly so we can be on time for the next gig. Typically if we have 2+ gigs in a day, we’re excited about all of them so we’re able to keep the energy high and adrenaline flowing for the whole day. We had a conversation in June 2013 and then again when the album came out about how it was time to say yes to everything. I think we’re winding down on the say yes to EVERYTHING thing but having a solid work ethic and be willing and available to play early and often has helped us immensely.
BL: So a European tour is happening next month. How did that come about and how are you guys feeling going into the shows?
MV: We are all anxious as hell to get over there and get started. We’ve had a great publicist, Carmen, working hard for us in Europe and have had some great reviews of the album and have heard from a lot of excited European fans. We’ve been touring relentlessly since the album came out and I think we all feel really good on stage right now as a trio. We’re learning and growing together, and it’s made for some nice transitions in how we play live. We’re as high energy as ever but the amount of attention we’re each paying to each other on stage is at a heightened level. We’re all much more aware and that’s allowed us to take a few more risks and read the room (and each other) a lot better. As far as how it came about, our European booking agency Teenage Head Music heard about us randomly through a friend and reached out. THM is an awesome agency because pretty much their entire roster is American bands or bands from other countries like Australia and New Zealand, all going to Europe for tours on a very cool routing of venues in a handful of great countries.
BL: How important do you feel having a local radio station is to building a following for a band around a city with how the music business has changed and everything is accessible online?
MV: I think it’s pretty important, but building a following for a band is a very complex undertaking. The way to do it varies by band, by city, by genre, etc and there are so many contributing factors to what builds a band these days. A local radio station that is active and involved in the community is absolutely a key factor to spreading the word. We’re fortunate to have snagged the ears of WEQX listeners and the local area has been crazy supportive as far as showing up at our shows, dancing their faces off, buying merch, and spreading the word. We meet so many awesome people who tell us they’re going to bring more people next time they come see a show, and that is priceless. I think one of the things that has become clear is that the music business relies a lot more on having a supportive community of people invested in each other than ever before. We’ve had a very successful year and we owe it all to the help of other bands and their management (at every level of the game, from moe. to our homeboys the Continuums in Austin, TX and beyond), the promoters who take continual risks on bands, the radio stations who play bands when no one else is, and the music lovers who come out to shows, buy the album, and tell a friend. There’s a whole lot of people who rely on each other to bring new music to the world, and we try to re-invest in our friends and business acquaintances who do good things for the community around them.
BL: Any other plans you have coming up that you’d like to let the public in on yet, or do you want to leave some surprises for everyone?
MV: Announcing our New Years Eve plans soon! It’ll be our first and only Upstate NY show after returning home from Europe and before 2015! More exciting things will be announced over the next few months, I promise!
Tickets for both shows this Saturday are available now. Catch them at these small shows while you can before they move on up to hopefully some larger venues in the near future.
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