[INTERVIEW] Tim Cook of Wire Bird, 'We just want to enjoy the experience'

Melbourne indie band Wire Bird have graced the Aussie music scene for 5 years now, delighting fans with their iconic harmonies and intuitive lyrics. On the verge of releasing their first EP New World, JesusWired’s Jessica Morris had the chance to catch up with lead singer Tim Cook and talk about music, faith and fame.

If someone had never heard Wire Bird before, how would you describe yourselves?
I’d say that we create pop music in a similar vein to bands like The Temper Trap, but we always try and stray from the pop track, bringing in elements of other, more eclectic sources. I personally love bands like Foals and Everything Everything, who push the boundaries of what a pop band can put in their songs with left-field guitar riffs and extended bridges. We want to make music that people can listen to, understand and enjoy, but that still challenges people. We try and throw in a few curve balls to the traditional pop formula. I love thinking that someone might listen and then suddenly think, “Wow, I didn’t see this track going there.”

Congratulations on the release of your New World EP! What can fans to expect to hear on it?
It’s our first studio product and we worked very closely with our producer Kalem Bradborn. We all agreed that we wanted a sound that sounded really crisp and polished. Expect to hear really clear renditions of every layer of the music, and a lot of vocal layers and harmonies. We really aimed for a lush feel when it came to the vocals, which I think sound great over the very precise drum/percussive tracks.

The EP is full of catchy, feel good tracks. What does it personally mean to you as a band?
The EP is a collection of songs that we have been playing over the last 4 or so years. Because it was written over that time, there wasn’t an explicit theme, each song is really an entity of it’s own. But I think what John and I have come back to multiple times when writing the lyrics is a sense of taking ownership of your life. There is a sense in which we can become passengers in our own lives, having a set of circumstances and ideas that we stop exploring and challenging because things can be easier if we don’t. I guess for myself personally, these challenges have a lot to do with my faith in God and how it is easy to get complacent about why I believe what I believe, and how it should be shaping my life. It is a positive challenge I think, because we can always change our perspective and do things differently next time we have choices to make.

You have been achieving quite a lot of success in the Melbourne gig scene. How do you manage this and still stay true to your authentic sound?
I’d like to think that we do pretty well at separating the business of the band, like booking shows and radio gigs, from the creation of music. When you can do that, you approach opportunities to play your music knowing that you have a set that consists of these songs that we wrote and make it happen from there.

Tell us a bit about what your faith means to you and how this comes out in your music.
As I touched on a bit earlier, faith is a big part of the band because it is a part of each of our lives individually. We don’t really see ourselves as a Christian band, rather I like to think of us as Christians in a band. I hope that people can come to a Wire Bird gig and enjoy themselves regardless of their beliefs, but I hope that there are a few people who take particular interest in the lyrics that we write and what we are about. The most exciting thing about being in a band is the people that you get to meet, and if I can share my beliefs on life and truth with them (and them with me), then I feel like we are succeeding not only as a band, but as Christians.

What do you want people to take away from New World?
I’d love for someone to listen to New World and have it stay with them. On the surface there are some pretty catchy chorus hooks, it’s great when people get to know the words and sing along. On a deeper level, I’d like people to really get a feel for the time and effort that we have put in over the last 5 years, writing these songs (and many others), lots of practice sessions and playing shows. It has been a great road and in a lot of ways this EP is the result of that work. We are really proud of it and hope that our friends and fans will enjoy it.

What do you want Wire Bird to be known for?
I’d like people to remember our shows and have a good time at them. We have so much fun playing shows at pubs and festivals; we try and keep it pretty light hearted. We take the music seriously but in between songs and before and after sets we just want to enjoy the experience, meet people and have a generally good time.