Glitter, awesome guitar solos, and headbang-worthy hits were three of the most amazing highlights of Wolf Alice’s show at the Capitol Theatre on 15 January. From beloved fan favourites like ‘Don’t Delete The Kisses’ to energetic, feel-good tracks such as ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’, each track contributed to the electric buzz of exhilaration in the room.
We sat down with Ellie, Joff, Theo, and Joel ahead of their show to get a glimpse into the vibrant world of Wolf Alice. We explored a wide range of topics, from the enchanting, ’70s‑inspired magic of their whimsical album The Clearing, to the moments that sparked their music career, and even brainstormed potential fandom names for their devoted fanbase. Read on as they reveal how The Clearing captures the “rojak” spirit of a Singapore Sling and discover Wolf Alice’s most‑loved Singaporean foods.
The Clearing features some almost hypnotic and dreamlike tracks that feel like they’re straight out of the 70s or 80s film. What was the thought process and experience behind exploring this new genre style instead?
Theo: I think we were inspired by an era of music where people played the instruments that we play, and it dominated the charts. I think we were inspired by the idea of writing really succinct, kind of minimal to an extent, pop songs on the guitar. And I think that era was filled with incredible artists like Fleetwood Mac, Glen Campbell, George Harrison. These were the kind of things we were listening to, and it was really just a jumping-off point rather than a place of trying to emulate what they did. It was more just chasing that feeling of being like, oh, this is cool. And I think it was a reaction to some of the ways we have worked in the past. So it was just a point of inspiration for us, and it was really fun to try and kind of, well, just to chase that inspiration. Okay.
‘Just Two Girls’ feels like the carefree older sister to ‘Bros’. What’s the story behind that track?
Ellie: I think that track was, I don't know, I just wrote most of the words after kind of feeling quite moved by how? I think I had a lot of things on my mind that were, like, probably more kind of female-focused anxieties. And it seems so obvious that you go out with your friends and express your concerns, and you feel one thousand times better. And I kind of forgot about that. And I just felt so moved after having a few experiences of that, and I felt moved enough to kind of put it into song.
And yeah, for sure, it's like the perfect soundtrack for, like, a girls night out.
'Safe In The World' is such a heartwarming song. At the end of the track, you repeat “no language for my love”. If you had to pick one love language you say you identify with, which would it be? words of affirmation, quality time, receiving gifts, acts of service or physical touch?
Ellie: Receiving gifts. (Laughs)
Joel: Yeah. The gifts.
Theo: You just like gifts. (Laughs)
Joel: That one.
Theo: Yeah, I’ll have gifts and all.
Joff: Send us gifts.
Joel: We’ve received a lot of gifts on this trip.
Me too, I feel like I identify with that one. (Laughs)
If you had to summarise the story, vibe, and sound of The Clearing in a sentence, what would it be and why?
Theo: Oh, God. Summarise the… I’ll summarise the vibe because I can’t summarise all of them. The vibe would be a contemplative, I don’t know if that’s a word, cocktail. As the sun’s going down or up at dawn or twilight in a forest. But you’re by a pool.
Ellie: Cocktail in the forest? (Laughs)
Theo: Yeah, and there’s a pool as well.
Ellie: Woah, it’s in a hotel.
Joff: Lots of gifts everywhere. Lots of gifts.
Theo: All these gifts that have different points of reflection. They’re triggering all these different feelings.
So it’s like a mixture of all of those things.
Theo: Yeah, it’s literally all of those things. (Laughs)
Like a Singapore Sling?
Theo: Yeah, exactly. Like, it’s like a Singapore Sling. For the sake of this interview.
Like a whimsical Singapore Sling.
Theo: Yeah. It’s whimsical with a little sadness and a little positivity. And there’s lots of different things. It’s everything all at once. Listen to it. (Laughs)
What is your favourite song to perform during live shows and why?
Theo: Joel, what’s your favourite song to perform?
Joel: I’m glad you asked. (Laughs) Off The Clearing, it’s ‘Bread Butter Tea Sugar’. At the moment, it was kind of like an outlier on the record somewhat because it doesn’t really, I don’t know, each part is kind of different from the part that comes before it and I don’t think it really repeats. So when you’re playing that live, it’s kind of a bit of a journey. And I love the theatrical performance that Ellie delivers during that section.
What’s something the four of you as a band have in common in your creative process?
Theo: The band. (Laughs)
Joel: Dropbox. Dropbox is… a good one.
Ellie: I’m sure we’ve got lots of things in common. I think, like, maybe this time around we were kind of… I think we were thinking about the live show a little bit more, maybe writing songs that we wouldn’t have to change so much when we got on tour, or that we wouldn’t have to rely so heavily on a track or something like that. Like, we knew the parts that we were going to play, and alongside Ryan, who plays keys for us. So that maybe informed our writing this time around.
What or who sparked each of you to pursue music or want to be part of the band?
Joel: My mum is super musical. I was very, very lucky. And there were guitars in my house growing up, and I was always encouraged to pick one up from a young age and play it out of tune, you know what I mean? There was no barrier between me and music growing up. It’s always been there for me, and I was always very inspired by all the music. Bands were so prevalent in my teens, just everywhere, it was super mainstream at the time, and that was really inspiring to me to then go and try and be in my own band.
Theo: The Underage Festival was a thing, and like, all-ages was a thing. Those two, they were basically club nights where you couldn’t be over eighteen to get in, and there was no alcohol. And there were bands playing, and it was right around the time when there was quite a good guitar music scene in London. That was really inspiring. It felt like it was attainable to be in a band, which is cool.
Ellie: I think maybe just being in the school choir and stuff. I just remember feeling kind of high off singing. I really have this quite horrible memory, actually, of singing Heather Small’s ‘Proud’ in the school choir, and I felt like I was transported to a different place. I was just enjoying it so much. And when we finished, the girl in front of me turned around and went, “You enjoyed that, didn’t you?” And I was like, oh God, I thought, what have you done? (Laughs) So, yeah, Heather Smalls. (Laughs)
Joff: She had some big tunes. (Laughs)
Ellie: What have you done today to make you feel proud? (Laughs)
Joff: I don’t think I wanted to be a musician for quite a while. I think I wanted to be a rugby player when I was a kid, but I kind of played guitar from probably being about ten years old, and I just loved the guitar so much. And it wasn’t until I realised that I wasn’t very good at rugby that I was like, oh. And I was like, I play hours of guitar every day. My focus kind of shifted to that in my later teens and just started listening to more music. I think I’d listened to a lot of music that my brothers had given me, like the early stuff in the nineties, Blur and Oasis and Pulp and that kind of stuff. It was just an incredible period for music. I think when we were like sixteen, there were just amazing people in America. I think that will be remembered as being a golden era in indie music. You had The White Stripes, Kings of Leon, LCD Soundsystem, Arcade Fire, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes, and great people in England. It was a perfect storm.
So it’s just kind of the right era that influenced you to want to pursue music.
Joff: It would be interesting to see what we’d be doing if we came from a different era, if we’d still be a band. I think that period will be remembered. Maybe not yet, but in ten or twenty years, especially in America. It was just great.
If your fans could have a fandom name, what would it be?
Theo: A fandom name. I always try to steer clear of anything animal or wolf-related because I feel like it sounds naff, but it’s probably the easiest route; so I’m gonna go with Wolverines. (Laughs) So if you're a fan of Hugh Jackman or alternatively, the X-Men franchise, or aside from that, Logan, it will work for you.
Ellie: We watched Logan, didn’t we?
Joel: Yeah, we watched it on the tour bus.
Ellie: Why was it on the tour bus? Who put it on?
Joel: It’s an incredible feat of cinema. We watched it in America. It’s got quite a sad ending, doesn’t it?
Ellie: Who put Logan on?
Theo: That’s the most important question here. Who did it, Joel?
Joel: I don’t know. (Laughs) It was just on when we got there.
Theo: No, that is crap though, isn’t it? Wolverines?
Ellie: What about Wolverinies?
All: Oh, Wolverinies! (Laughs)
Joel: I do think it needs to be slightly cuter.
Theo: Come with your little knives in your hands. Don’t do that. Actually, don’t. (Laughs)
Joff: Disclaimer: do not come to the gigs with knives. (Laughs)
Maybe tonight at the gigs you could be like, “What’s up, Wolverinies?”
Theo: Yeah, maybe. (Laughs) Oh, that’s the kind of thing I do. Cut to… and I am doing it, and I’m really not enjoying it later down the line. (Laughs)
I think Wolverinies is peak.
Theo: Yeah, that’s gonna catch on.
Singapore’s known for food more than almost anything. Was there any local dish that you have tried so far that was your favourite?
Theo: I haven’t tried it, but I’ve watched like sixty thousand TikToks of Chicken Rice. Chicken rice seems like a big thing in Singapore, right? I need to go and have that for dinner. Yeah, there’s like a Michelin spot that I can’t remember the name of.
Joff: What kind of chicken is it?
Theo: It’s like poached, right? Poached? Yeah.
Joel: There’s a place next door I just saw that just had chicken rice.
Theo: I want to try that.
Yeah. Roasted chicken as well, yeah, roasted and poached, so good, with the chilli. Oh my God, I’m craving it now.
Joel: After this, tell us where you recommend.
Theo: We need the spots because we’ve only been here for a minute.
What’s next in this journey for you guys?
Joff: Lots more gigs. Yeah.
Theo: I think we don’t know what’s next musically, which is really exciting. I think we can all feel like the next thing is on the horizon. It hasn’t taken shape yet, but that’s exciting.
Joel: Yeah. Our heads have been in The Clearing world for a while now, and it’s great that we all feel inspired to keep moving forward and stay curious about what happens next. We don’t know what it is, but it’ll be something nice. (Laughs)
Theo: Chicken rice.
That sounds like a good plan. Well, that was my last question for you guys. Thank you so much.
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