Interview With 'Muddy Wolfe'

Firstly, introduce yourselves and tell us a little bit about the band and how you came to be?

We’re an Indie Blues band from Canberra, Australia. We’ve evolved from a Blues Rock band covering tunes by Jimi Hendrix and other Blues artists to carving out our own unique sound blending Rock, Blues, Jazz and Folk, Country and Gospel.

We’re influenced by a huge list of bands including Tedeschi Trucks Band, Marcus King Band, Led Zeppelin, Doyle Bramhall II, Jimi hendrix, Bob Dylan, The Cox Family and Fleetwood Mac.

Our music is as diverse as our members and our debut E.P. is a true reflection of that. Our roots are firmly in the Blues, but with Rock, Jazz, Gospel and Country influences.

Muddy Wolfe was actually born in Taiwan. I was living there and put a band together including Caitlin and recorded the first single 'The Sun Also Rises'. After returning to Australia at the start of 2018 a new band was assembled and Caitlin came back shortly afterwards. Kim Yang who is also originally from Taiwan joined the band. We went through a couple of drummers and bass players until we found Aidan and Dean. Jonah on organ/keys fit right in from the beginning.

Muddy Wolfe is:

Steve Smith - guitar & vocals

Kim Yang - guitar & vocals

Caitlin Magee - vocals

Jonah Myers - keys/organ

Dean James - bass

Aidan Bairstow - drums

What were you all up too prior to the band, was this always the chosen path or did you have other dreams and aspirations?

Even though some of us have day jobs music is and has always been a big deal for all of us. Dean is originally from Sydney. He’s a guitarist and plays bass for us. He also cultivates beards and likes chickens. Jonah has been producing his own music since high school and already has a few albums of his own, he can play anything. Caitlin is a Jazz school graduate and is back in Taiwan for most of the year doing session work and singing at Jazz clubs. Kim Yang is a well known singer/songwriter in the Canberra scene and is about to release her own mini E.P. Aidan is still in high school and has a great future in music.

Writing and producing my own E.P. has been a dream of mine for 20 years since I started really focusing on music. It took quite a while to work out what to focus on until I found my niche with Muddy Wolfe.

Playing music has always been my dream just took me a while to realise it.

Tell us about your latest EP and why our readers should check it out.

It is proudly self recorded and produced in my home studio. It’s a diverse collection of songs ranging from traditional Blues to Country and Indie Folk to Jazz. The vocal harmonies blend to produce a big warm sound. Guitar and organ solos abound and Kim is featured on vocals on her own song 'Life Of A Working Man'.

Who would you say is the bands main song writer or is it a group effort and where do you draw your inspiration lyrically and musically from?

I am the main songwriter but one song on the E.P. was written by Kim and we collaborated on the arrangement of the tune. Going forward we’ll be trying to get a full album finished by the end of the year which will be more of a collaborative effort and will be tracked live to have a more authentic in the moment vibe. Tedeschi Trucks Band is a band we draw musical inspiration from among many Blues artists. Lyrically Kim and I talk about personal experiences including separation from loved ones, working too much and loneliness.

As a band what do you believe is your greatest achievement to date and why?

Kim’s song 'Life Of A Working Man' has had national airplay twice on Triple J. Getting played on Triple J has been a dream of mine for 20 years. It’s the first song of Kim’s to ever be released so she is very excited. Triple J is an institution and it was it’s unearthed competition that discovered Silverchair and many others since.

Have you ever come face to face with someone within the music scene who has left you awestruck and why?

Jonah got to meet Jacob Collier about a year ago. The amount of joy and excitement he had for music was super inspiring.

What do you enjoy most about touring?

We’ve never been on tour! Would love to do some mini tours to Sydney and Melbourne.

If we were to head out to one of your live shows what can ourselves and others expect?

We love improvisation so expect a bit of that. Three of us take turns leading songs on vocals and our songs are all a big mixture of genres. So if you come open minded you won’t be disappointed. There’s a lot of raw young talent in this band.

If you had one artist/band that you could go on tour with tomorrow who would it be and why?

Tedeschi Trucks Band- Collectively they’re our favourites. We cover at least one of their songs when we play a gig. Susan and Derek are such great role models, they’re amazingly humble and great human beings and also outstanding musicians.

You can spend an hour with a musical icon living or dead, who would you pick, why and what would you speak about?

Either Jimi Hendrix or Elvis Presley. If it was Jimi we’d talk about guitars and how he changed the world with his guitar playing and I’d ask him what it was like to play Woodstock at 6 o’clock in the morning or whatever it was.

And finally and most importantly is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

That’s the one with Brad Pitt right? Nope, I don’t think it is.

Website - www.muddywolfe.com

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MuddyWolfeBand/