Sweet Folk Symphony

Over the last few years, alt-folk Americana group Wild Child have been building quite the reputation for itself for delivering rousing, fun sets of its unique brand of acoustic, indie music which has its roots in the traditions of American folk. Ever since releasing its first record, 2011’s Pillow Talk, the band has kept itself occupied with seemingly endless tours in the United States, taking every opportunity to bring its rowdy, whiskey-soaked sets to unsuspecting audiences. This tireless work ethic and perseverance has been paying off for the band lately as it successfully crowd-funded and then released its second album, The Runaround on veteran indie rocker Ben Kweller’s record label, The Noise Company. In addition to the critical acclaim for its album, the band has seen its fan base expand, allowing Wild Child to play some of its biggest shows so far. Through it all Wild Child still remains good humored, humble, passionate about its music, and excited for what the future holds. CULTURE was able to catch up with the band recently to hear all about its current endeavors, constant touring and love of all things cannabis-related.

You guys spend so much time on the road, I’m sure you see a great deal of the growing medical cannabis culture in the U.S.?

Kelsey Wilson (violin, vocals): Oh yeah! This has been a big edibles tour for us!

So how do you guys feel about it all?

Sadie Wolf (cello): Love it!

Evan Magers (keyboard): More power to it!

Alexander James Beggins (ukulele, vocals): Well, we hardly feel the effects anymore.

Wolfe: We’ve had such a good time, we’ve had “puppy chow” and gummi bears . . .

Chris D’Annunzio (bass): Gummies and cookies. And lemonade! I got some cannabis lemonade!

Magers: We’ve kept in pretty high supply this tour. I think it’s great! It’s cool that we’re getting to see the tides turning in regards to the attitudes about that stuff in this country.

Are you guys hoping for more progressive drug laws in your home state of Texas in the near future?

Wilson: Oh hell yes! However, I don’t think that will happen.

D’Annunzio: I’ve heard Perry might be down with it.

Wilson: I don’t know, right now, any amount of hash is still a felony.

Wolfe: There are so many artists that can’t tour through Texas right now.

Magers: One of the guys who is running for city council, by us, is running on a very pro-pot platform. Yeah, he could help push something through I guess.

You all released an album, The Runaround, late last year; can you tell me a little bit about it?

Beggins: Yeah, it was our sophomore effort, and we wanted to do it in a professional studio. We got a call from Ben Kweller saying that he wanted to produce it, we met up with him and we clicked right away. I think that we kind of grew as a band in our sound and we wanted to see how far we could take our sound and expand it in the studio.

How did you guys assemble?

Beggins: It happened really organically, we were touring with another band, as the backing band, and we were passing through San Francisco and were staying with my cousin, Evan. We wrote a song one night while we were just getting drunk and fucking around and stuff, and then on the rest of that tour, Kelsey and I wrote most of the first album. By the time we got back, we decided to record the album. We were recording it with friends and family and ended up moving down to Austin, there we decided we needed a cello for a song and found Sadie. The music scene in Austin was . . .

Wilson: Incestuous!

Beggins: Yeah, incestuous, so, you know, everyone knows everyone and everyone plays on each other’s records. So when we looked at the record we had recorded, we realized that this is the core group that we wanted to have. Then from there, everyone, kind of, dropped out of their other projects and made Wild Child the top priority.

Are you planning on doing any other recording in the near future? Is there anything else you would like to mention? Favorite strains?

Beggins: Yeah. Right now, we’re working really hard on our new album.

Wolfe: We love weed!

D’Annunzio: We just tried this stuff called “The 12th Man” up in Seattle . . .

Wilson: The 12th Man!

D’Annunzio: It was some Super Bowl weed and man, “wooooo.”

Beggins: It was some of the best shit I’ve ever tried. We had to go to the Firefly offices to play a couple of songs and we got so incredibly baked before we went.

Wilson: And it was one of those things where you walk into an office, everyone is sitting at their desks, and you have to play acoustically for them on their lunch break. It was so awkward.