WAGE WAR // The Most Anticipated Anticipation

US outfit Wage War has been patiently whittling away at their second album, Deadweight. Now the album is mere hours away, releasing on Friday, the 4th of August via Fearless Records.

The band picked up many an ear with their debut record, Blueprints, including those in the industry, with Wage War finding their way onto various ‘most anticipated’ lists.

However, if this resulted in pressure for the young outfit, it hardly showed. With what sneak peeks we got of the album, including lead single, “Witness,” indicating yet another strong release. Australia scored some great real estate with seeing the album live, given the battle beyond our shores this September, by supporting Perth’s Make Them Suffer. Before all this goes down, we spoke with the band’s vocalist, Briton.

Hysteria: So, with all the madness that’s about to begin, I’m sure you are knee deep in album and tour stuff right now.

Briton: Yeah, actually, we’re working on some new stuff for the single Witness. And then, about a week, we’re back on the road for our first headliner.

So, how did you find the recording process? There’s so much talk about the second album slump, and the difficult follow-up. How did you guys go about it?

I think our biggest thing with this album is, we wanted to just write what we’re really feeling. I think our first album, Blueprints, is everything we’ve wanted to say, since we’ve been together as a band, or, since we’ve been a local band. So we’ve had all our old songs, they got saved up, and made it to that album.

But this was kind of a clean slate of just, “Hey, we don’t have to really play, or mess around with these old songs.” We just wrote new things, and what really, what meant a lot to us, so I think that this album is a little more aggressive, and a little more meaningful. For me, at least.

What sort of topics did you guys throw into this one? Where did you find yourselves on album number two?

Just a lot of personal issues. I mean, touring is fun, playing in a rock band is totally … We get to see really cool things in the world, but there is downtime when you’re travelling in a band, and you’re away from your loved ones a lot. So we wrote those songs about that. There’s been a little bit of heartbreak in the band, with some guys. It’s just really cool that we can express ourselves through this album, with a lot of the things we were going through. There’s a tribute song to the things that happened to The Ghost Inside. I don’t know if you heard about that.

Oh, yeah, man, that. Crazy stuff.

It was about a year ago, but it was kind of a tribute to them.

Do they know it’s coming?

Yeah. I’m not exactly sure yet. I think some of the guys know, maybe, what’s it about. It was really Andrew, the drummer, and a couple of other guys in the band, so I don’t know if it’s been talked about or not. But if not, it’ll be a nice cool surprise.

How did you find the process for Deadweight? So, obviously, you’d had some time in the studio working on a full-length. But this time round, how many lessons did you bring with you from Blueprints? Any at all, or was it a completely new experience altogether?

It was pretty much a completely new experience altogether. When we went in the studio for Blueprints, we had so many songs we’d saved up through the years. And this was kind of like, in Jeremy McKinnon and Andy Wade’s new studio, they had a live room and stuff, to jam the songs out that we were writing at the time. And it was just more of a, I don’t know, pure experience in the studio. It’s hard to explain.

You know, when you’re at home, you’re writing your music, like in your room, or whatever. But it’s kind of cool to have everyone together, writing at the same time. It’s kind of a new experience. For us, at least.

There’s been a little bit of heartbreak in the band, with some guys. It’s just really cool that we can express ourselves through this album, with a lot of the things we were going through.

Well, how did you find it? Did you dig it? Dig it enough to do it for album three? Or do you think you’ll shake it up again?

Oh, for sure. I think this go-round in the studio has been the best it’s ever been. With, at least, having Andrew and Jeremy McKinnon around again. Because, I don’t know, I feel like everyone just clicked, like a well-oiled machine this time.

So, don’t fix what’s not broken. I would love to do it again, that’s for sure.

Jeremy McKinnon worked on Blueprints, as well. Did Andrew Wade work on that?

Yeah, they’re both producers on the album. So, I mean, there’s some stuff that … which was really cool about them is, they don’t really try to write your songs, or try to change a lot of things. They kinda just like, “Hey, that sounds really cool, man, if we could just complement that.” That’s kinda, still your stuff. A lot of people, here, out there, they’ll go to studios. And you never hear from them. And you’re like, “Oh, well, the label didn’t like this. They wrote, rewrote everything.” It wasn’t really like that. It was just like, “Wow, we like these songs. And we’re gonna iron ’em out here.” So those guys are really fun to work with.

Well, so, I imagine, I will never write an album in my life. But if I did, I would hope that Andrew Wade and Jeremy McKinnon produced it. Was it a no-brainer, to go back to those guys for round two?

Oh, oh, for sure. We were dying to go back after our first album, saw how the reaction … well, the fans had to it … so it was just like, “All right, well, we got a nice recipe going here. Let’s keep it going.”

And so, what was it like? Obviously, when you wrote Blueprints, and you hadn’t released a full-length album yet. But this time round, there’s way more fans.

There’s fans all over the world now that are just kind of itching for this new record. You’ve now dropped a couple of singles, so everyone knows it’s coming, everyone’s watching. Was that a head trip at all, this time around, having to write an album, with all the eyes watching you?

Yes. I don’t think we really thought, like, all eyes on us. I think we really wanna just deliver another quality album, like we did before. And I feel, with a lot of bands, they’ll write their good album. And they’re like, “Yeah, that was so good.” And all of a sudden, they go to a new producer, and blah, blah, blah. And then, kids kind of like, “Well, what the heck happened here?” We tried to keep the same Wage War sound, but evolve it a little bit, too. It’s not the same album again. But, then again, if you’re a Wage War fan, you’re gonna love the new music.

Well, yeah, ’cause of things like, I know that you guys were named Most Anticipated Music from Alternative Press. I know that if I were to write an album, that would wig me out, reading that.

I mean, it’s pretty big. It’s just, we’ve been sitting on this album for awhile. So it’s just, at this point, I’m like, “I just want it out,” you know? All the jitters from being nervous is already gone, or something like that. I want the fucker out. But it’s coming up soon, so … I think that that’s the most part that gets me all nervous is having it out, you know?

Well, how prepared are we, as fans, for this album? So there’s been three tracks released off it. We have Blueprints to look back on. How well does it all set us up for the whole release that is Deadweight?

I think it’s all gonna come together really well. And especially on our headlining tour. It’s gonna mix a lot of the new in with the old, so … I don’t know. I’m excited, though, to get this going. I think that our fans will love the blend of the new and the old together, with seeing this live, and stuff like that.

Listen to the entire Wage War interview on Hysteria Radio!

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Catch them on tour supporting Make Them Suffer

Fri 15th Sep – Enigma Bar – Adelaide, SA
Sat 16th Sep – Max Watt’s – Melbourne, VIC
Wed 20th Sep – The Basement – Canberra, ACT
Thu 21st Sep – Cambridge Hotel – Newcastle, NSW
Fri 22nd Sep – The Brightside – Brisbane, QLD
Sat 23rd Sep – Oxford Art Factory – Sydney, NSW
Sun 24th Sep – Rosemount Hotel – Perth, WA

Tickets are available here.