Wishy “Woo’s” AfterHours

Indiana’s self-described “twee pop” band Wishy, composed of Nina (guitar and lead vocals), Kevin (guitar and lead vocals), Dimitri (guitar and vocals), Mitch (bass), and Connor (drums), are rising stars. They sat down with WRBB’s Grace Sawin to chat about their songwriting process, “woo” eras, the great state of Indiana, upcoming projects, and karaoke before their debut AfterHours performance.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Grace Sawin: You guys started off as solo artists, specifically Kevin and Nina. How was the process of collaborating? Were there any difficulties combining two distinct sounds or do you prefer that merge? Maybe it challenges you in new ways?

Nina: Kevin had asked me to form a twee pop band when I was in college. But I was living in Bloomington, Indiana, and he was in Muncie at the time. And it just never worked out that way—I moved away and then came back. I feel like we definitely each knew about the other's solo music projects, but I think we developed a respect for each other's sounds. And a big reason why when we started collaborating more was because we thought, “hey, I fuck with your music.”

Kevin: There's not a lot of compromise that happens when we're collaborating on songs, because we both just kind of fuck with the same idea.

Do you have respective songwriting processes and then come together?

Kevin: We mostly write separately, but I've been writing more collaboratively lately. Or, I kind of wrote the songs, and then we would jam it out with the band and figure out the structure of everything. And as far as with the band, some of the songs on the album are songs that we basically wrote together. For some songs, a big part of them was playing with the whole band to get a vibe for it.

But yeah, we usually just kind of write separately.

Nina. I think we're definitely making a point to actually write together more for the next record. There's been a couple songs where Kevin will do the music, I'll do the lyrics. Or we’ll just send each other demos back and forth sometimes.

So you weren’t necessarily clashing in that collaboration, your styles complement one another?

Kevin: Yeah, I don't know if we ever really clash. Maybe one day!

Nina: Maybe one day.

Kevin: No, we're all just really good friends, we just get along so well.

Connor: We're basically just the perfect band.

I want to talk a little bit about your debut album, “777.” Is the cover a reference to the angel number?

Kevin: It is. I mean, not like super specifically, but that's a big part of it. But also, you know, three sevens—you get three sevens in a row in a slot machine, it’s a lucky number.

Nina: Yeah, I feel like 777 is like the biggest angel number in terms of how universal it seems. I feel like ever since people have gotten into angel numbers, that’s definitely a trending thing now. I feel like I usually see 777 tattoos or shirts. A hat.

Kevin has a 777 tattoo.

Connor: We would see it out in public everywhere.

Mitch: Now I take pictures of billboards, it’s weird.

Do you guys believe in angel numbers, or do you have any superstitions or any things you do that you believe brings you good luck?

Nina: I don't really have any superstitions, but sometimes it's fun to read about angel numbers or repeatedly see things in public and think, “oh, the universe is talking to me.”

Kevin: I feel like I'll have phases where I'm more superstitious or more in my “woo” era. I'll be like, “oh my God, my angels are literally talking to me right now.” And then other times I'll be like, “whatever.”

Nina: It's fun to believe.

Kevin: It's fun to think about. At the end of the day, it's good to have your mindset focused on something positive. I think that's what it's all about in the end, anyway. Where do you focus your intention and your energy? I think we're pretty optimistic people.

When you're talking about these “woo” eras, do you feel like that seeps into your songwriting?

Kevin: Sometimes, I think so. I feel like every time I try to write something that has some spiritual element to it, it presents itself in anything I write, but I mostly like to write lyrics to have fun with it and not take it super seriously. It creeps in there sometimes, but I'm not always sure where.

Nina: It's fun to be very hyperbolic in songwriting; over exaggerated, I guess I should say. I feel like Kevin really leans into it with bratty 90s pop punk type vocals on some songs. I think it’s fun to be over the top.

A lot of the themes on that album revolve around really complicated feelings of love. Are those themes you typically gravitate towards?

Kevin: Yeah, I think just with the territory of the kind of music that this band does, it feels natural to write songs that are a little melancholy, but still indulgent and romantic; it feels like what the songs usually call for. Not that it's what occupies my mind 24/7, but it's sort of a fun, cathartic vibe to get into and sing about. Because, you know, love is complicated.

Connor: Powerful stuff, dude.

The guitar is a really central element in so many of your songs. Do you tend to write lyrics kind of centered around the melody?

Kevin: I think generally, yeah. It's really hard for me to just come up with a melody if there isn't some kind of melody already in the guitar riff, or at least an impression of the melody. It's hard to say, because sometimes it’ll just jump out like, “oh, the melody is right there, it's easy.” But then other times I'll have a song written for months and I cannot think of the first fucking note to sing for what I'm playing. Because everything I try sounds stupid. But then I realize that what I thought sounded stupid actually sounds good and I'm just being really critical.

Connor: No, it sounds cool, man.

Kevin: Yeah, I'll be like, “well, here's like the melody I was kind of thinking about,” and they'll be like, “it sounds good.” And I'm like, “sounds good, thanks, guys.” Or I'll ask Nina to write a melody because I really like all the melodies that Nina writes.

Nina: That's kind of my strong suit. He’s really good at writing the actual music, like guitar parts and stuff. I feel a lot better writing lyrics and melodies.

When developing your sound, which you mentioned is very reflective of ‘90s rock, are there any artists that were really formative that you find yourselves taking inspiration from?

Kevin: To beat the dead horse, The Sundays are probably the biggest inspiration mutually between Nina and I. Maybe not the biggest, but very crucial. We listened to the whole album of theirs driving up in the van today. When we were starting this band, we made a point to make something like The Sundays or My Bloody Valentine.

Nina: I think it started as a shoegaze concept, but then it kind of evolved.

Kevin: A twee, rock concept. Oasis is a big influence on a lot of parts of it. There's some songs that sound like Jimmy Eat World or Third Eye Blind. But then some that sound like Slow Dive. That's a big one. There's this band from the 90s called Lilys that I was really obsessed with for a long time, which I got really into when I first started writing music in high school, and that really influenced how I write a lot of melodies.

A lot of your previous coverage has categorized your music as dream pop or indie rock, and the term “kaleidoscope” is a common descriptor. Do you strongly associate with those labels, or do you try not to actively categorize yourselves?

Nina: Yeah, I don't know. We make music that we think sounds good.

Kevin: It's fun to embrace the kaleidoscopic approach and not feel bound to any sort of genre. We'll have a full shoegaze moment, and then we’ll have a full twee power pop moment that has nary a trace of shoegaze.

Connor: You're not looking at any shoes. Yeah, I don't know.

Mitch: I find I honestly say it a lot—shoegaze or power pop or dream pop. But that's usually just when people ask to give them a description, I wouldn't say that we fall into the category, that’s what we try to do.

Nina: We're just trying to be ourselves, to be authentic.

Kevin: A lot of the bands we take inspiration from fall under those categories, so it makes sense.

You guys are going on tour soon. How does it feel going from recording music, working together, creating these songs, versus performing in front of a live audience and connecting with people in person?

Kevin: It’s so fun, I love it. I mean, it's two different worlds. When we first started this band, we were mostly just playing shows, so playing live is more of our meat and potatoes.

Nina: We didn't release anything for almost a year, until our first single.

Connor: There’s a couple of songs we had to work on live, because when you’re in the studio you can make it sound like whatever you want it to. Trying to recapture that sound live is a little more difficult. We have a drum pad and tracks we can play though now.

Kevin: It's so much fun, though. I used to get so hung up on making a live performance sound as close to the recording as possible. Now I realize it’s better to embrace the uniqueness of the live version of any of our songs.

Nina: I don't think that’s what it's about. They're different versions of each other.

Connor: Pretty much all of us, we started just playing shows. And we’ve grown a lot—we all come from different bands, so it’s kind of natural.

Mitch: It definitely wasn't like a studio feel, it’s mostly that live feeling.

Connor: We love playing live, it rocks!

Kevin: There's a lot of songs that we've recorded that we haven't learned with the band.

Nina: They were just songs that me and Kevin wrote in LA and played the instruments in there.

Connor: We'd like to bridge that gap a little more, but, you know, you can’t learn it.

Kevin: Once we all quit our jobs and this is our full time gig, then we can start practicing more consistently.

Is it hard to balance your other jobs?

Kevin: Up till now, it's been okay. I just quit my job for this tour that we're about to go on. And I'm going to see whether or not I'll go back when next year rolls around. But yeah, it's been all right.

Nina: Thankfully, all of our jobs have been very lenient with us going on tour. I mean, we all have different work schedules, but for the most part, it's been fine. It can be difficult sometimes. Even for a one off show during the week, it can be difficult. For this show, I had to take yesterday off and then tomorrow and then Friday off because we’re driving home.

Kevin: Living in Indiana is pretty nice and affordable, though. You don’t have to work your ass off, and we all live in houses.

It’s definitely a better cost of living.

Wishy expressed some of the highest levels of enthusiasm for Indiana ever recorded.

Kevin: We don't have to rent a practice space or anything, we can practice at my house. Demetri has a studio that we practice at a lot. We love the stu.

Are there any new projects you're working on at the moment?

Kevin: No collabs on the radar, but we are finishing up this EP that we're going to put out next year of B-sides; leftover stuff from the last album and EP. And then just writing for LP2, which we’re hoping to record next year.

Mitch: Stay tuned!

Are there any questions you wish people would ask you, or anything you feel we skipped over?

Connor: I don't know, how'd you guys get so good at hackysack?

Kevin: Yeah, some fun facts about the band. We love to play hackysack.

Mitch: Love to do karaoke.

Kevin: We LOVE to do karaoke.

What are your go to karaoke songs?

Nina: One of mine is “Brass in Pocket” by The Pretenders. That's my big one.

Kevin: I just did “Everything She Wants” by Wham recently, I think it's going to be a new staple for me, it's crazy.

Connor: “Beautiful Soul.”

Nina: He does a really good “Give Me One Reason to Stay Here” by Tracy Chapman. He goes hard. This drummer's got pipes. D’s got some pipes.

Mitch what’s your go to? I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sing. I’ve only heard you do “Tequila.”

Mitch: Four out of the five of us love singing. I like to watch. If the room's empty and you guys are gone, too, and I'm alone, I'll do it.

Kevin: Do you ever sing in the shower?

Mitch: To my cat, yeah.

Kevin: You shower with your cat?

Mitch: No, he tries to get in the shower.

Kevin: Do you sing in the car?

Mitch: I’ll mouth the words. There's a lot of shame.

Kevin: That's our next project, actually. We're helping Mitch unlearn the shame. That's the next collaboration.

We’re actually just going to do a short set today, and then the rest is karaoke. We're going to be the backing band. “Oh, sorry, we don't know that one. Do you happen to know “Shiny Happy People” by R.E.M.? We just learned that one, it’s awesome.”

Mitch: I will say, I don't think we've had a bad interview. It'd be kind of fun one day to get a really shitty interviewer asking really rude and invasive questions. Like, “why does your music suck? I heard you have allegations.”

Listen to Wishy’s music here, or on all streaming platforms.