Brooklyn-and-Austria-based power indie rock band superWAV recently released their new EP, aTYPICAL, dripping with heady, bluesy flavors.
Formed in 2020 by She’s Excited! multimedia artist Anne Wichmann and indie guitar heavy-hitter Volker Wichmann, these German-born siblings set out to create a stripped-down rock sound reminiscent of all the best eras of power rock. On aTYPICAL, they’ve stripped their sound down even further.
According to superWAV, “We wanted the songs to be straightforward, direct, and in your face. Basically: Let’s take out everything that the song does not need. Reduce it to pure guts! Yet the theme of archetypes is a complex one, and its exploration is adding a thoughtful layer to the music.”
The psychological element was also something Anne and Volker had fun exploring on the EP. With each song named after one of the five personality archetypes, the lyrics explore these in ‘atypical’ ways. The rawness of superWAV’s sound gives space to the more complex lyrical concepts, and each track’s music was meant to back up the archetypal analysis contained within.
Tattoo.com spoke with superWAV to find out more about aTYPICAL, how the siblings began working together, and the evolution of their sound.
What inspired your new EP, ‘aTYPICAL?’
Anne: I was inspired by all the guitar riffs that Volker sent over! This is always my starting point for our collaborations.
Volker: And we outlined a couple of things that we wanted to go for this time: musically back to our roots, a “direct-and-in-your-face” approach, make the songs brief. And we decided to go for a concept again: We chose the topic of archetypes.
Anne: The psyche and the journey within is a topic that has always interested us. And while mixing ‘aTYPICAL‘ we listened to albums like ‘AM‘ by Arctic Monkeys, ‘Superjudge‘ by Monster Magnet, ‘Welcome To Sky Valley‘ by Kyuss etc.
You both produced the album. Is it hard to shift from your roles as a singer and musician to that of producers?
Anne: Volker used to produce and mix all the RawJaw albums, and I started to deep-dive into electronic music production and mixing about 15 years ago. I like producing a lot. Yet the biggest difficulty when shifting roles is to be able to listen to your own work objectively.
Voker: It’s not easy to approach your own music with a distance. But this time we met in Italy to produce together. It certainly helps if you’re not alone in the process. For ‘aTYPICAL‘ we were able to bundle our respective experiences and different approaches which was exciting and a lot of fun.
How and when did you two first start making music together?
Anne: I joined Volker’s band RawJaw in the mid-90s. They invited several singers for a casting and I was the lucky one who made the cut! RawJaw was one of the first Psychedelic and Stoner Rock bands in Munich in Southern Germany, where we grew up.
Let’s talk gear for a moment. What kind of guitar, amps, and pedals are you using?
Volker: Well, things have changed a lot compared to the ‘90s when I started out with classic Marshall amps and tons of pedals. I stripped down my gear a lot. On ‘aTYPICAL‘ I play an old Hoyer guitar, I use the Steinberg UR242 audio interface and amps, and an old Morley Power Wah Fuzz.
Do you use any special recording techniques in the studio?
Volker: No special recording techniques. The fun for us somehow started with the production this time.
Anne: For ‘aTYPICAL‘ the challenge was to sound less electronic and more earthy. We rented a small place in the Italian Alps for a week and set up a small studio in there. After three days of mixing we thought: The mix is pretty okay now, but the songs sound so neat and clinical! Where is the mud, where is the character? So we came up with an interesting solution how to gel “the band” together despite there being no band.
How did you get started in music?
Volker: I simply had the urge to start a band in High School. And so I did. I bought an electric guitar and taught myself how to play. My band had the chance to rehearse in the basement of the school despite the janitor not being very happy about it. But then we moved into a rehearsal space where we could play 24/7, pure freedom.
Anne: Since I can remember I wanted to be a musician. At 4, I discovered the ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ albums of The Beatles in our dad’s record collection, and they blew my mind. I was lucky to be able to learn a couple of instruments as a kid. Schoolmates and relatives gifted me their instruments when they quit playing – that’s how I got my first electric guitar and my first e-bass. When I turned 16, I was finally old enough to play gigs at night without needing my parents’ permission! I immediately started as a bass player and singer in a Punk Rock band.
If you had to explain your sound to the uninitiated, what would you say?
Volker: Hm … Indie Alternative Rock influenced by Stoner Rock and some Prog Rock?
Anne: That is always such a difficult question (talking about creating a distance to your own work)! The ‘aTYPICAL‘ EP is guitar-heavy Alternative Rock with female vocals and a ‘90s touch. Perhaps something like The Kills meets The White Stripes with a taste of Kyuss? Haha, or straight from the PR department: Indie Rock you will love!
Did your sound evolve naturally, or did you deliberately push it in a certain direction?
Volker: Very much naturally, I would say. This is how we do it.
Anne: I think no matter how much we want to deliberately push, Volker and I will never be able to escape to sound like ourselves! There were times when we started out when this felt like a problem because we never really fit into clear sound categories and people were bewildered. But in my opinion, it’s a wonderful thing. Everyone is different and it is great to celebrate that creatively as well.
What can you share about your writing process?
Anne: Volker sends over guitar riffs, and I arrange them, and add the instrumentation and the vocals. We then send the tracks back and forth, adjusting the arrangement together and working toward a final version.
Volker: Our joint writing process is usually a pretty fast one. If it is not, it is often a sign that the quality of the song is not where we want it to be, so we might kick the song out.
Which artists in your opinion are killing it right now?
Anne: When we talk big stage, I really dig Tyler, The Creator – “Call Me When You Get Lost” is a masterpiece. And there are of course tons of smaller bands that are fantastic. Yard Act and Water From Your Eyes are doing cool stuff, and artists like Self Esteem – I love her ‘Prima Facie‘ soundtrack. When it comes to musicians who have been around for a long time: The new Gina Birch album ‘I Play My Bass Loud‘ is great, her lyrics really talked to me. I also like the new Queens Of The Stone Age album … Josh Homme channeled his inner David Bowie.
How do you define success?
Voker: That’s difficult. I think it is about creating something that you yourself are satisfied with and that meets your own high standards. And to get acknowledgment for that.
Anne: In the German culture, success seems to be very much connected to financial gain. In the US it is somehow different, it seems to be more connected to achievement and being happy about and with one’s own work. For me success is the possibility to work on projects that really interest and move me, and to realize them for and with an audience.
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