WAKE ME Interview

1. Can you tell us about how WAKE ME came together as a band, and what inspired your unique blend of hard rock, pop, metal, and skate punk?

Thrice was a massive inspiration for us very early on as a band and gave us a really great launching off point. Eventually we got into more technical metal and hard-core but at the same time we also had our skate punk and pop punk tendencies.  Over the years, we started to realize that there is a difference between a collection of great parts and a great song.  Now we are just trying to find that delicate balance of a great song, idea and adding in really cool parts that will inspire moments within the song without distracting from the core idea.

2. Working with platinum super producer Erik Ron must have been an incredible experience. How did that collaboration come about, and what impact did it have on your sound and approach to music?

There’s a lot to unpack on this question. Working with Erik was our first time out of Denver and really giving someone else the keys. It was a very uncomfortable yet exciting feeling. The whole experience was a massive roller coaster ride starting with “well, he doesn’t really like many of our ideas that we brought to the table “ to seeing him get super pumped on what we had just laid down.  Fortunately, we prepared ourselves for the right mindset of a “we are here because we want this guys fingerprints on what we’re doing” so we were able to put our personal egos aside and just kind of let things happen.  The highs were very high and the lows were pretty low.  At the end of the day we each had a different take away from the experience but the one thing for sure is, we walked away much more wise and aware of what we wanted to do and how to do it.

3. You've had the opportunity to share the stage with some of rock's biggest names like Avenged Sevenfold, Shinedown, and Five Finger Death Punch. What have been some of the most memorable moments or lessons learned from these experiences?

A few moments come to mind as memorable - Playing with Avenged was one of the most magical nights of my musical career. Everything from the support staff treating us like kings, A7X letting us use their huge LED wall for our logo, getting asked to play for longer than we expected, and even Matt and Johnny coming to our dressing room and hanging out for a bit really made the experience one we will never forget. Not to be forgotten was the fact that we had a pretty catastrophic failure with our equipment setup and as a band we overcame that and rose to the occasion putting on one of our best live performances…I’m very proud of my guys for that. For FFDP we played at Red Rocks Amphitheater which is just a legendary venue and it felt like a huge bucket list item to check off and the staff there was so gracious. 

4. With over 15 million streams on Spotify alone and features on multiple rock and metal editorial playlists, WAKE ME has achieved significant success as an independent band. What do you attribute this success to, and how do you maintain momentum in the ever-changing music industry?

There’s probably a few answers to this question. But for the most relevant answer we’ll quote one of our very good filmmaker buddies Joe Large on this one - “Never Give Up!”.   Honestly, it feels like a lot of talented people get into music and just have the wrong intentions in mind where we have always been lucky to be able to fall back on our passion for writing and listening to our own music to pull us through those dark times.  We of course, always fall into the trap of wanting to write stuff that’s popular and get pulled down when things don’t hit and resonate with people properly but at the end of the day we would all still be picking up our guitars and drumsticks to have that cathartic feedback loop.

5. Your cover of Seal's "Kiss From A Rose" has garnered over 7 million streams and was named one of the "greatest rock covers of the last two decades" by Guitar World Magazine. What inspired the decision to cover this particular song, and how did you approach putting your own spin on it?

This is one of those “Justin ideas” that was met with pretty heavy skepticism at first from the band ha ha!  But really, this was a rock/metal song disguised as a pop song.  At the time rock and metal covers of pop songs weren’t that prevalent so it took a little bit of imagination for everyone to get excited about it.  Once we committed to doing it, The level of musicianship in the original song really forced us to do some new things that we had never done before, and honestly looking back we feel like we just got very lucky that no one else had done one that way before.  

From that experience, we developed the notion that for covers we need to honor the original song to a high degree and find very strategic moments to show who we are sonically and creatively.  Collin and Justin spent a ton of time meticulously re-creating all of the layered harmonies and nuances of the original song, so that our version of it still tugged on those original strings.  A lot of covers really try to completely be different, but we think one of the things that people were surprised about and enjoyed was that the production was really very similar with some of the foundational elements just being different sonically.  The reception to this song was and still is amazing but there are always a few people out there that cringe at the couple of small screaming parts we added ha ha.  

6. Over the past 5 years, WAKE ME has worked with a variety of producers including Erik Ron, Andrew Baylis, Joey Bradford, and Hiram Hernandez. How do you choose which producers to collaborate with, and how does each producer influence your creative process differently?

For a long time music was such a personal journey for each of us. It was very difficult to let your own band members in, let alone a producer.  I guess we just were stalled out for so long that we finally realized we needed to change something up and got lucky that Erik Ron saw something in us to work with us.  Once we had that experience, the veil was lifted from our eyes, and we realized that our band and our music could be a lot more than just what we feel internally, and we could invite more people to be a part of it.  Now that we’ve had some time to really hone in on what direction works and what kind of producers we like it’s really just a matter of finding someone who’s a good fit for us personality wise, and has somewhat established repertoire or situation in the industry.  Everyone has something unique to offer.

7. Your sound has been described as hook-filled and constantly evolving. How do you approach songwriting and ensuring that each release feels fresh while staying true to the WAKE ME sound?

I think our sound is always going to be evolving because we’re always trying to do new things and challenge ourselves by collaborating with others while trying to stay true to ourselves with what we write. These days there are really are no rules to what you can do (Beyonce Country Album?!?!?)  so in one way, it’s super liberating that we feel like we can be true to ourselves without writing the same songs over and over.  At the end of the day it’s all about how strong the song is and I think we are becoming more aware of what kind of energy and sonic approach is needed to capture that song in its best light.  It’s all about what the song needs.

8. As a band that appeals to fans across various genres, how do you navigate the balance between experimentation and staying authentic to your roots?

The right answer to this question is to serve whatever the song or idea needs sonically.  This is the mentality. We are trying to harness, but it is not always easy.  With our current lineup we all have a little bit different answer to this question but fortunately we all are focused on writing the best songs possible so that they can live on and be good despite what genre is popular at the time.  That being said, some of us would like to mix in some more heavy guitar work and metal back into the simple songwriting we have been doing while others of us want to tap into the more energetic Don Broco style approach.  I guess that’s what makes being in a band so special and so challenging is that magic mixture of what everyone needs to get from the music.

9. What's next for WAKE ME? Are there any upcoming projects, tours, or collaborations that you're particularly excited about?

We literally have a full court press on all fronts right now. We’re trying to get some tours booked for this year and have been lucky to get connected with some proper booking agency help. We are also pounding out new songs and music videos and really just trying to make up for the lost time that we experienced during Covid.  At the end of the day, excitement for the band, and what we can accomplish has never been higher and we’re super pumped to continue throwing new material out in front of people and seeing where it takes us!

10. Lastly, what message or feeling do you hope listeners take away from your music, and what do you ultimately hope to achieve as a band?

What would actually be awesome is if our fans would argue over what the best song is, and have disagreements over it, because that would show that we are resonating differently with different people which is a good thing!  At the end of the day we hope our music comes across genuine, even for songs that don’t resonate with certain people.