We Talked Love, Touring, Grunge and Shoes with Wolf Alice

It's been a busy 2015 for Wolf Alice. Only last week we premiered the video for their grungy and growly latest single “Giant Peach”, leading up to their upcoming debut album, My Love is Cool, a record currently generating enough hype to power Kent for a year. Now, lead singer Ellie Roswell (above) is managing to find time to contribute to Converse's Made By You project, a campaign which looks to celebrate the self-expression and experiences that's worn into all our Chuck Taylor All Stars, and working with local London artists like Agi & Sam, Daniel Hirschmann and many more to create installations, street art and unique stories.

So, between playing and replaying the new track, we found enough time to shoot some questions over to Wolf Alice's Ellie, who are currently touring Stateside. Chatting about America, love, grunge, their touring plans with One Direction and her work on Made By You. Oh, and we also checked up on their dental hygiene.

Noisey: Yo Ellie! How is America?
Ellie: It's amazing! This is our first tour out here and it's very different to our first tour in England, mainly that there are more than five people in the room. The crowds have been very receptive and we've been meeting everyone after shows which has been fun.

Do you always look forward to coming back to the UK?
Yes! There's something cute about the UK when you're in such a humongous place like America, and I look forward to being in it again. We've also started to recognise the guys who come to our shows, so it feels like revisiting old friends on tour there.

You’re touring loads at the moment - are you eating properly and remembering to brush your teeth aren’t you?
Yes of course! I have big long teeth so they've got to be looked after, and I love eating so always do it. It can get pretty hard living out of a suitcase but we've been doing it for a while now, and it's in much better conditions now, so we are learning the tricks of the trade.

Good. So your album is called My Love is Cool. Is your love cool?  
It's not really, but How do I Make My Love Cooler? didn't have as much of a ring for me.

What can we expect to hear?
It's just a bigger, braver and hopefully better record than what we've done before. I think it's partly inspired by production techniques from the likes of Outkast, Lana del Rey, and Patrick Wolf, but also Queens of the Stoneage, Pixies, and PJ Harvey. It was also inspired by books and films we've read and watched, and some really old songs about growing up and being young and confused.

People refer to you as a grunge band a lot - do you think of yourselves as grunge or do you think labels like that get in the way?
I think we have grunge influences, and I hear it in some of our work for sure, but we are not just a grunge band as it's not our sole influence. Labels like that might get in the way, because grunge fans might be annoyed when they take the time to check us out, and some people hate grunge might not bother with us - but it's hard not to label things so I understand.

Tell us a bit about your project with Converse…
Converse are doing this thing called Rubber Tracks at the moment, where they provide free recording time for small artists around the country. It's using their clout in a useful and creative way, which I respect. Trying to be in a band in somewhere like London without the support of a label is almost impossible, so you rely on this kinda thing to keep you going. They're also really affiliated with band kinda music, all their shows at 100 club for a start, so it's a cool thing to be a part of.

So you’ve always worn Converses?
Totally, they were the height of cool at school, when we called them Allstars, and you drew on them in biro and stuff, so it's quite nostalgic for me. Although they’re the height of cool now again and I still wear them - but in a different way I guess.

You’ve toured with Alt-J recently and before that Peace - do you think we’re going through a pretty exciting time for British guitar music right now?
Yes! So exciting! Especially this year there are so many good albums coming out. The Swim Deep album is incredible. And I’ve never been so excited about an album as I am about the Drenge album. I've been to loads of buzzy exciting gigs around London of just guitar based bands recently, and Tame Impala have dropped a new song, so yeah I'm excited.

Are there other bands or artists about at the moment that you think would make good touring partners?
I think Hinds look pretty fun to tour with - I haven't met them but I love that kinda 60s garage sound, it's really fun, and they always seem excited about stuff and that's always infectious for me. I'd like to tour with someone doing something completely different to us as well though, like One Direction or Sia or Muse or something.

Thanks Ellie!

Find out more about the Converse Made By You project here.