We caught up with new US electropop trio .wavrunner who spoke to us about their new single ‘uh huh, i like it’ – one of the most unashamedly fun and catchy slices of pop music this year. Answers are from Jack Wesley of the band.
Can you briefly talk me through how your collaboration with producer Paul Meany came to be with ‘uh huh, i like it’?
First let me say, full props to Paul Meany. This guy is amazing. That Twenty One Pilots record is so frosty. And the fact that we got to work with Paul is crazy. Our management company, Elevation, knew Paul through another project. So they connected us because they knew we wanted something next-level right out of the gate. And yes, Paul is totally next level. Dude is legit.
Was ‘uh huh, i like it’ always the obvious choice for your first single?
We wanted to come out with a bang. So I think that “uh huh, i like it” was the logical first track for us to release. And we are only just getting started. I think this song has legs and I’m reminded that the Surf Mesa jam – “ily (i love you baby)” has been working and rising for more than a year. So yeah, I think “i like it” has some magic and once we get full traction, look out. Having said all of that, there is more .wavrunner music coming early in the new year.
The chorus is undoubtedly one of the catchiest of the year, were you familiar with the Belle Epoque sample beforehand?
JJ found “Miss Broadway” in a movie and he Shazamed it. It was that simple. He thought the song had bounce and wanted to do something with it all these years later. I don’t know why, but he slept on it for a couple of months and then made a beat out of it, which became “uh huh, i like it.”
The video from Gordon Cowie is insane. Talk me through the leprechaun concept in the video? How did that originate?
Griff and I were trying to think of good ideas for the “uh huh, i like it” video. Magical, mystical shit, really otherworldly. We wanted to be different, yet nutty and fun, which is not hard for us, LOL! Originally there were supposed to be several leprechauns, but we couldn’t source enough characters because of Covid. But we did find Joey. And this guy has become a great friend of ours. He’s part of our crew now. As the ideas were flowing and things were getting more and more insane, we reeled in an idea that we were confident could be executed during a pandemic. Our management team with lots of help from Paul Meany and Gordon really delivered a pretty cool concept that brought it all together into a story that we could actually pull off. Gordon delivered a killer video. His ideas, approach to the production and his drive to overdeliver went above and beyond. Gordon is the man!
If you could sum up .wavrunner as a band in a few words, how would you describe yourselves?
We are hooligans…Goofy, yet groovy. And above all, we are about fun. These are crazy times and we take global issues quite seriously. But we’re gonna have fun. And our fans are gonna have fun. And we are not going to apologize for having fun. We look at it like this: You can laugh with us or you can laugh at us, but as long as you’re laughing, then we’re good as fuck!
Who are the artists that have been getting you through lockdown?
.wavrunner, JpegMafia and Abhi The Nomad
There’s an outrageous party theme in the video as your characters spend the leprechaun gold. What’s been the most outrageous situation you guys have been in?
Griff grew up spending a lot of time on Put-In-Bay. That’s an island in the middle of Lake Erie. Lake Erie is on the north shore of Cleveland and extends all the way to Canada. Anyway, Griff has a ton of friends and family on the island, so we go there all the time in the summer. One night this past summer, we were invited to this underground…..uhh shall I dare say……dance club. Or so we were told. This club had vertical, chrome poles, private rooms and dimes (or should I say dames) that I had never seen before. I was later told they were flown in from LA. Like a pop-up Gentlemen’s Club in the midst of COVID. Shhhhhhhhhhh. I really can’t say anything more, hahahaha.
Can you tell me a little a bit about what we can expect from the band’s second single?
We definitely have another banger in the bank. It’s called “Joy Ride” and is less of a club song and more of a driving song. Wherever you are, you’ll be able to connect with people in the car.
Do you guys see yourself as an album act or do you prefer the standalone single approach to releasing music?
I’m not sure it matters any more. We live in such a singles world. Spotify and Apple Music are crushing it each week with the deliver of songs, songs and more songs. Having said that, we definitely want to have bodies of work in the form of an album. Works that are cohesive, show artistic progression and help us build a fanbase the right way, song by song.
If you could feature an artist you admire on a future release, who would it be?
I would love to feature The Gorillaz. They present such a timeless sound. They are trippy dudes and we’d get to see ourselves drawn as Gorillaz characters. Sounds like fun!
Thanks for taking the time to chat to us!
Follow .wavrunner:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wav_runner
Twitter: https://www.twiitter.com/wav_runner
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@.wavrunner
Website: https://www.wavrunnermusic.com
