“Apparently they’re making a bullet train from Sydney to Melbourne or Melbourne to Sydney; whichever way you look at it,” offers vocalist Marty Solomon. “And if there was a bullet train now we would come very well prepared.” Unfortunately the train he speaks off is still a long way off but despite the limitations that come with travelling interstate, Solomon assures me that the Melbourne show will still be a visual feast. “Well, you know we always like to put on a show and that’s important to us you know to have a visual component. Unfortunately it’s going to have to be a stripped back version of Sydney, [but] fun none the less. Sydney was pretty extreme and pretty extravagant so it’s good to sort of tone it down a little bit. But no, there will definitely be some good visual stuff.”
WIM have made the journey down south a couple of time before and Solomon and co. relish each opportunity they get to come down and play shows. “We’ve come down to Melbourne a couple of times and played there and it’s been great,” he says. “We loved it. It’s always great to get away from Sydney especially to somewhere like Melbourne where there’s such a great emphasis on music and culture.”
The debut record that WIM will be bringing with them when they cross the border was entirely self-funded and recorded in LA by Tony Buchen [Andy Bull, Kid Confucius], and mixed by Bob Clearmountain [Bruce Springsteen, INXS]. “It was amazing to work with both of them,” remembers Solomon. “It was our first album and first proper time in the studio and there we were going to work with absolute music legends.” Not only did the band thoroughly enjoy the recording process but according to Solomon they also very much enjoyed the environment as well. “Well, LA’s rad, you know. I think a lot of people really dismiss it as being this really sort of plastic place, which in a lot of ways it is, but at the same time I think that you can’t deny that it is one of the cultural capitals of the world. It’s a town where all these like-minded people – writers and actors and musicians and artists – they all come there with these great intentions. I don’t know, I actually think there’s a lot of depth to a place like LA.”
Once their Australian tour is complete, WIM will again be heading back over to the US, this time for a tour and its definitely a place that Solomon see’s his band spending much more time in. “For me it’s like, you know you’re only young once, you only get to experience and taste the world once. I’d love to be able to continue to write and live and travel and meet people and play.”
