Written By Wolves – Give ‘Em Hell

By starrymag | June 14, 2023

By: Paige Zinaman

 

 

Q) How would you describe your sound? 

 

A) We’ve always described our sound as Cinematic Rock. The idea behind the band’s sound has always been to try and integrate as many different elements as possible from all of the genres that we love so it has always been slightly difficult to categorize exactly where we fall on a genre spectrum. A big part of our influence is the work of Hans Zimmer and composers like him and the way they create a soundscape within a film. We have tried to integrate that idea into our music as well and aim to really take the listener on an emotional journey within each song, hence the term “Cinematic Rock.”

 

Q) Your newest single “Give ‘Em Hell” is out now! Congratulations! It touches on how the division in our society could possibly lead to our downfall. How did the idea for this song come about? 

 

A) Thank you! We are very excited to have this one out in the world! It was a long time coming. This was the first song we wrote and recorded for the new era of Written By Wolves and we knew it was going to be the way we announced we were back from the moment it was written. When I first heard the opening of the track, I immediately thought of a public service announcement forewarning imminent doom and from there I just let me imagination get lost within that situation, what may have caused it and how rebellion might go about trying to save humanity from what was coming…

 

Q) How would you say “Give ‘Em Hell” is different than any of the other songs you’ve done before? 

 

A) We have made a very conscious effort to ensure that everything that we have written for the new era of Written By Wolves is as different to anything we’ve done before as possible. We’ve attempted to take every genre bending idea we’ve ever had and dialed it up to a point that if it didn’t quite make us uncomfortable then it wasn’t quite there yet… But at the same time, we really tried to lean into the cinematic side of our sound and ensure each track is an emotional roller coaster for the listener.

 

Q) How much of a hand did you have in the production of Give ‘Em Hell? 

 

A) Our writing process is slightly different to any other band I’ve ever been in. We will get a track to near completion, full production and then take it to our producer, Gladius James (Justin Bieber, Demi Lovato, etc.), for the final touches and mix. With this one, Davie [Wong] and I went to LA to finalize the tracks with Gladius and it was amazing. We are very excited with how this track is sounding and with what is coming next…

 

Q) With songs like “Give ‘Em Hell,” what is your song writing process? 

 

A) As I touched on before, it is slightly different process than other bands I’ve been in, in the past. Usually, Davie (or in the case of “Give ‘Em Hell,” Bahador [Borhani]) will come up with an instrumental idea in their home studio and send it through. Once I’m vibing I’ll start working on lyrics and melody and we start to finalize the structure of the song. Once that’s done, I record the vocals and then we start finalizing the production. We all have recording studios at home now, so it has really opened up our options when it comes to song writing.

 

Q) With the success of the song, how did you decide to create an alt version of it? 

 

A) 2022 was the first time in the band’s history that we didn’t release any new material. Instead, we spent that time writing, recording and planning the new era of releases but we felt a bit guilty that we had kept everyone waiting so long. So, we decided to release an alt version of this one as a thank you to all of the incredible fans that had stuck by us even while we weren’t releasing anything new…

 

Q) What I truly love about your band is that you don’t shy away from talking about serious issues like mental health with your “Collab Project.” Was mental health and advocacy something you always wanted to tackle in your music? 

 

A) Music has always been my therapy, and I feel incredibly fortunate to have that ability to write songs to help to process whatever I am going through at the time. I know not everyone has that luxury, but I learnt very early on the band’s life that the more honest I was about my experiences in our songs the more that helped other people going through similar things. From there it really just became a natural progression and eventually we started asking ourselves “how can we do more?” and from there The Collab Project was born.

 

Q) What is the message you hope fans take away from your music? 

 

A) That no matter what you are going through you don’t have to do it alone. Music has this amazing power to heal, help and bring people together and I think it has a massive role to play in breaking down mental health barriers and eliminating that stigma and shame that has been attached to mental health issues for so long…I always try and weave a message of hope into our songs, no matter how dark the subject matter. So, ultimately, I hope the listener takes hope from our songs – hope that no matter what they are going through it will get better.

 

Q) Will there be a full album or EP coming in the near future?

 

A) I can’t say exactly what is coming right now, but I can say if you are a fan of Written By Wolves or you have just found the band recently then now is a very good time to get on board as there is a lot coming in the very near future!

 

Q) Who would you love to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

A) Oh man, this list could go on for days! [laughs] Right now though, just off the top of my head Oli Sykes, Rou Reynolds, Hans Zimmer, Miley Cyrus, Billie Eilish, Demi Lovato, Yelawolf, Paul McCartney… I’m gonna stop now. Damn, imagine writing a song with one of The Beatles…

 

Q) In the age of social media, with the responses so instantaneous. Why is that such an important way for you to interact with your fans? 

 

A) I think one of the main reasons for us is that we are from New Zealand, we are literally down in the bottom of the world and for various reasons we haven’t been able to tour the world just yet, so social media has allowed us to have a connection with our fans worldwide that we haven’t been able to have so far, but watch this space… hopefully we can rectify that soon…

 

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and supporters of your music? 

 

A) Thank you so much, thank you for sticking with us for so long, even when we haven’t been able to tour internationally and even when we didn’t drop any new tracks last year. We promise this year is going to be a wild ride so thank you!

 

 

 

Answered by Written By Wolves lead vocalist Michael Murphy