The Long But VERY Important Intro:
One of the bands that blew me away at Call Of The Wild were called Square Wild. So much so that I voted them as band of the weekend! Having watched them blow everyone away in the tent, I ran up to the side of the stage and asked if there was any chance of an interview on behalf of CGCM. Lucy the singer (and guitar/keyboardist of said band) was more than happy to walk around to the press area to chat with me.
I think we must have sat chatting for around 50 to 55 minutes. She was eloquent and charming as well as very funny. Lucy explained the origins of Square Wild (a wonderfully bizarre yet brilliant explanation) as well as talking influences where we went right off on a tangent talking about one band in particular! It took ages until I took the conversation back to Square Wild themselves. It was one of the best times I have had interviewing someone. I laughed (a lot) and even had some tears in my eyes at another point.
The Blunder
Eventually, I thought I should let the poor interviewee go and enjoy herself so ended the interview thanking her very much. I then went to switch off the device that was recording. I think some of you wise readers might already guess where I am going with this… you are right, this silly sod forgot to press “record”. Feel free to laugh and call me an idiot!
As you can imagine I was horrified, I felt guilty as hell for wasting Lucy‘s time. As I apologized she sat laughing, and laughing quite hard! She was so understanding and kind. I can’t say how cool Lucy was about it all. Now there was no way I could ask her to do it all again so Lucy being the star that she is proceeded to make sure I pressed “record” and gave me a recap of what she could remember. As she did I was pissing myself laughing. Now how much of the recording will make sense to you readers I have no idea. I just hope you understand some of it and at least laugh even a quarter as much as I did.
I am going to do a word-for-word transcription. There are very few questions or interjections by me, mostly it is just Lucy doing her best to cover 50-odd minutes of conversation. I will also be adding a few thoughts on what stuck out in the chat in my mind so stick around for that too. So strap yourselves in and enjoy the strangest but most fun interview. Oh and try and guess which band we ended up talking about for about 25 minutes, there are some clues in there😂
The Recording: Can You Guess The Band?
Lucy: To recap, Rush, Rush, Rush, Rush, a bit more Rush then 2112, then Neil Peart‘s lyrics, Alex Lifeson being a silly billy… Square Wild have an album coming out in October hopefully. We did really well and Tom really liked us (at this point Tom: ie me is falling about the place laughing). I think I am burning in the sun! (Lucy laughing and giggling away). Background of the band was Tomos and myself along with the original guitarist started the band. I met Tomos (Cooper drummer) on Tinder and then accidentally bumped into him in real life. He was with our original lead guitarist in a jazz bar. They forced me to do music again against my will and I ended up doing it again and I loved it. Now we are playing Call Of The Wild, done Metal 2 The Masses, and now booked for Bloodstock Metal Fest. That is pretty mad.
We’ve got loads of influences, God, we covered so much (laughing and desperately trying to remember how the original conversation went), but we all agree we love Rush… we are mentioning Rush again, that’s a surprise (more laughing).
Who Likes What?
CGCM: Which guy was the jazz fiend?
Lucy: Tomos is the jazz guy, Benedict (Rhodes bassist) likes post-rock but also loves Ozric Tentacles and Mike (Grubert guitarist) loves Queen, David Bowie and is a massive fan of Prince, and I love all sorts, traditional Eastern European music… God we covered a lot… (laughs).
Lucy’s Family Background:
CGCM: You said I think you were part Ukranian? Do you know the singer Sari Schorr is of that descent too?
Lucy: No I don’t actually. I was very happy to hear that the singer of Jinjer is also Ukranian (side note I think all the band are). Tetiana is ridiculously good… (at this point she stops and starts laughing and I start apologizing again… she tells me it is fine)… we chatted about so many things in our conversation, we covered so much shit (laughing). People can just hear us laughing instead
CGCM: This won’t be on air, I will be transcribing…
Lucy: (giggling away) Oh you can just fill in the blanks
CGCM: If readers have half as much fun reading this condensed version as I had then they should get plenty of enjoyment.
Having A Nice Time:
Lucy: Then it wasn’t for nothing. We’ve had our chairs, beers, we’ve had a nice time whilst I sat burning in the sun talking about Rush for half an hour. (At this point she is in absolute hysterics and I am pretty much with her on that.)
CGCM: Thank you so much for your time and your understanding. I will use this and add in some stuff I remember as I want to highlight the band. I love what you do and I want others to know about it. Can’t believe what I did, what a dick… (both of us just laughing away now.)
Extra Bits Remembered From The Unrecorded Interview:
The band started about 4 years ago. Lucy met Tomos on the Tinder platform but didn’t keep in touch. It was a while later they bumped into each other. Lucy had stopped doing music and hadn’t planned to go back to doing it but Tomos talked her into playing again.
She feels that though the EP, The Tree P, is good she feels as a band they can do better. Hoping the album will prove they can and have.
The track with the classical guitar part was written by an/the ex-guitarist who was a classical music fan, especially classical guitar.
Lucy is always getting flack for writing in weird time signatures. She swears blind it is not on purpose, she just thinks that way. As long as it still grooves it doesn’t actually matter (I agree 100%).
Having fun and being yourself is the most important thing. She took her singing so seriously at first she found herself singing more with an American accent possibly due to the lessons she received. Partly due to that, she stopped enjoying music however when talked into doing it again she decided to keep it fun and what she found was folks seemed to enjoy her performances more too.
Lucy and the guys in Square Wild are very grateful to the prog community who have accepted them despite being a bit different. They are hopeful that the metal fans at Bloodstock will take to them in the same way.
Stuff onstage is not planned. Her walkabout in the tent was not planned, she got out there and just kept going (she was definitely laughing I remember as she was telling me that). Apparently the other night 2 of them started some silly arm dancing routine, Lucy said she didn’t start it as such but just joined in. That sense of having fun and letting things happen in the moment is important and is fun for them as well as the audience.
Final Comments:
A huge thank you to Lucy for her time and for being thoroughly entertaining to spend time with. I also appreciate the way she dealt with my error. She could have been pissed about it but she wasn’t. That meant a lot to me as I was feeling pretty terrible about it. I did say at the start about at one point being close to tears as well in the interview. To explain we got chatting about the loss of Neil Peart from Rush along with how much the band meant to both of us in our own ways. I was holding back that is for sure. To see someone else with a similar passion and appreciation was wonderful and very emotional.
I had an absolute blast and if in some way I can convey Lucy‘s personality and how easy the conversation was then I am halfway there. Below will be links to check out the band Square Wild along with links to support them merch-wise. On behalf of CGCM, I say thank you and wish the band all the best for the future.
All stage photos by Ian Owen for CGCM Rock Radio.
Purchase Merchandise via Bandcamp: HERE
COTW OFFICIAL WEBSITE / FACEBOOK
The CGCM Rock Radio Call Of The Wild 2023 Coverage: LINK
Check out my other reviews and interviews here. Tom
There used to be a television program in the late 50s early sixties called I love Lucy, I think that’s how most people feel when they meet her. She is an absolute star and the band are brilliant. I’m not a prog fan, I love been entertained and seeing something different. Square Wild enjoy playing and that is a joy to watch, I really hope bloodstock loves them as much as we do. They deserve to go all the way, something vibrant, fun and a band filled with talent, loved your review Tom. cheers.