Artist Spotlight: Wolf Hut- Forest Floors

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In the Summer of 2013 an idea was born.

Starting in a bedroom studio the first weeks of summer break, there was music being made. Zeke Erickson had a show booked, but he no longer had a band to play with him. ”I was ready to play the show by myself with backing tracks and my synth” said Zeke. Although, this was far from what the show would turn out to be. Soon after recording just a few songs, the music was leaked to a few local musicians and a band was quickly formed. One day before the scheduled show, they had their very first practice, accompanied by his friends (and now bandmates) Collin Johnson, Joshua Garcia, and Jake Dixon.

Zeke is currently attending the Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. On August 4th, Wolf Hut’s debut single “Forest Floors” was released. The director Nico Lonetree knows you can’t have a proper indie music video without sparklers and facepaint. I enjoy this song a lot. It’s fun, simple and it feels real.

Wolf Hut’s future includes, “Something the music industry has never seen before; a new sort of art form.” Zeke couldn’t tell me much without giving away what his ground-breaking plans are. He ended the conversation with, “I promise, it will get people talking.” I will be looking forward to what’s in store.

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What’s Happenin: Circles and Soundwaves Interview

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Published here February 2013

CIRCLES & SOUNDWAVES: For the record, can you please state your name, what you play in the band, and one random fact about yourself?

THE SILVER HEART CLUB:

The Silver Heart Club consists of Bo Weber & Steven Price. We both play guitar and sing, during our performances, and hire musicians to play the supporting instruments.
Bo’s random fact: I am ambidextrous.
Steven’s random fact: I don’t have any tattoos or piercings.

C&S: Your Facebook page mentions that you two originally had no real musical background. What was it like to, in a sense, make music from scratch, even learning to play several instruments?

Bo: It started with months of horrible notes and sloppy strumming, as we slowly made our way through the adventure of understanding the fundamentals of the electric guitar. Steven would come over to my parents’ house almost every night to practice. Our practice consisted of Steven singing to whatever the heck I could make up on the guitar.

We began writing songs right away. Whether they were good or not is definitely questionable, but we were pushing out original lyrics and melodies from day one. Every day, our main priority was to jam with each other. We didn’t take the time to learn the names of the notes we were playing or what key we were in. Creating music just made us happy.
After we felt comfortable with the guitar, it gave us the ambition to learn other instruments, such as drums and piano. Learning something new can be frustrating at times, which it was, but you’ll get to a point down the road when you look back at where you started, and realise how much you’ve accomplished in such a small period of time. It’s a very rewarding experience.

C&S: Tell me the history behind the name of your band.

Steven: We spent about two weeks brainstorming on a few ideas. We wanted something classy; a concept of real gentlemen. People who believed in standing up for what is right. These describing words brought in the word “Silver”.

We were sort of into emo music at the time (2007), and the word “Heart” just felt right I guess…. We also wanted to capture the image of young kids friendships; building a tree fort, creating a pact of honesty and trust.. A brotherhood that no one can break. We all had so much pride and innocence at that age. You didn’t know the problems of the world yet. You just lived! And everyone still has a little bit of who they were, still inside them. So one night, Bo called me with the name “The Silver Heart Club” and it was perfect. We let it sink in for about a week, to make sure it would stick, before updating our Myspace page (which at the time, made you a “real” band). So that’s how it came to be.

C&S: What artists and bands are some of your musical influences?

SHC: In our juvenile years, our favorite bands were Hawthorne Heights, Taking Back Sunday, AFI, The Used, Billy Talent, My Chemical Romance, Blink 182, Eve 6, Jimmy Eat World, Amber Pacific, Paramore, Cartel, Panic! At The Disco, Hellogoodbye.

Those bands continue to influence our writing today, although we’ve continued to broaden our tastes with groups like Mayday Parade, This Providence, Breathe Carolina, Angels and Airwaves, Cute Is What We Aim For and more.

C&S: Not only did you have to learn to play various instruments and learn how to make music, you guys also fully engineered your first full-length album. What was that process like?

SHC: It was definitely the biggest learning curve we had experienced so far. Once we installed Pro Tools on our computer, we began using YouTube for tutorials on how to begin recording. We continued to use YouTube and home studio help forums for advice as we ran into more difficult issues, while we progressed through our project. It took us about a year and a half to record and edit thirteen songs. Teaching ourselves how to use the programs, instruments, and software plug-ins we needed to record our music was time consuming, but enjoyable. Manipulating an instrument or vocal track by turning knobs and dials to make your own custom sound was one of the best parts about creating this album.

C&S: Tell me about your debut album, Rookie Card. What is your songwriting process like?

SHC: Rookie Card features 13 songs, which were written within the span of three years. We had the guitars and vocals written for each song, but the rest of the instruments were written in the studio.

C&S: What are your plans as a band for 2013?

SHC: We plan on following the entire Warped Tour 2013, (roughly 3 months across the United States) with iPods and headphones, in attempt to spread our music to as many individuals as we can. We hope to be able to develop a modest fan base in each of the cities we visit, which will allow us to book smaller regional tours either next winter or spring.

Thanks guys!

Be sure to check out The Silver Heart Club on Facebook and pick up Rookie Card on iTunes.