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| Image compliments of GC Photographics |
Q. “The Q was together for maybe, six years. And that’s how they learned to do the music thing.
Paul, Tom and them in the band just grew up and were always playing together; they knew each
other for years. Got to a point with that where people wanted to take it in different directions and
they got a bit hacked off with it and then just sacked it.” says bass player, Dan Acheson.
Drummer Aaron McClelland had played with The Q for only a few months before they decided to
go in a different direction and was involved in the song writing which was to be the beginning of
new material for The Wood Burning Savages. “We were writing away then, but between the three
of us (Paul, Tom & Aaron). We were trying to get a bass player for ages and we didn’t know who to
get because we wanted someone who would fit in with our sense of humour and just as a person.
Just one night randomly in the bar, this man strolled in with a book in his hand. We got chatting and
came up about bands and said we were looking for a bass player and did he want to try.”
Dan explains that he wasn’t sure what to expect from this group he was “getting himself into” but
that it was obvious very quickly that everything fitted nicely into place.
“At that stage I didn’t know any of these three guys at all from before I met them in the practise room. I was surprised because I didn’t know what I was getting into either with these random guys, whether we were going to get on and it just clicked, more than musically but as people. It worked, our type of humour and all that.”
As each member has a slightly different approach to music making the band have found themselves
in a position where they are able to be creative and come up with new original material without
limiting each other’s contribution. “I’m the only real music theory head, but if we were all like that it
would be really boring. Things like that, people would surprise you, I’ve been in bands before were
everyone’s like a muso head, it’s not healthy because there’s no room for rough round the edges or
something off the wall to happen because everyone is so up-tight about it. So I loved that, after a
couple of practises.
So the band now had a full line up and the name, The Wood Burning Savages, was to follow. Paul,
the lead singer, describes how it was a joint effort of sorts. “As regards the name of the band, it
came from a talk with my Da about what humanity would be without iphones, internet and all
reality TV. We were in the car and he thought quietly for a second as he drove, he said after a little
thought: "Well, we'd just be wood burning savages, eh?"
The Wood Burning Savages weren’t together too long before they were offered their first
opportunity to perform for a local audience. “To be honest we were only together a month before
our first gig. We had five songs and two songs that were half songs that we were just working at. It
was Danny McGeady who does Beatnik Soul, he would have known The Q and we would know him
to see in the record shop. So he just asked if we wanted to open his gig for him. We were a bit, “ahh
maybe”, because we’d only formed two and a half weeks before and this was two weeks away. Then
we were like, we’ll just do it and put ourselves under a bit of pressure because you have to do that,
it was great. You have to do that, put yourself in a situation where you’re driven by something, it
makes you better and there’s only so much practising you can do.
Contrary to the way in which many bands operate where one or two members are responsible for
song-writing, this band like to take a group approach. Usually this comes spontaneously off the back
of an everyday practise and it was how they had written Coming of the Snow. “Tom was just playing
a couple of chords and I was like “keep doing that” so I came in and sort of started adding to it. I sat
and kept playing and Paul just came in with like a first verse and the melody, I don’t he’d written
those words down before. Within the next hour we had, basically the whole song, like everything
more or less, that’s how a few of our songs have gone. It just kind of depends what kind of mood
you’re in, there are so many factors, those more aggressive one are like an energy release.”
It’s obvious from talking to this talented group that they are not only great musicians but have
become great friends in year they’ve been together. They have all expressed that if they ever lost
a member the band simply couldn’t exist anymore. “No-one is replaceable. We would have to do
something new as a different band, it would involve some of the same people but it wouldn’t be the
same thing. We’re kind of very set on that, it’s not something we’ve really talked about but know
instinctively from the get go. It’s like, you know if someone’s had a bad day at work or a fight with
the girlfriend or whatever and it impacts, we have an awareness about each other; it’s healthy and
becomes part of it. You get a lot back from it.
This up and coming group cannot say enough to praise the local music scene which has welcomed
them with open arms, from the most long standing muso’s to the other relatively new up-and-
comers they have become very much so part of the City’s unique music culture. The group are
hoping to have an Ep out in the New Year which will be available locally. You’ll be able to catch them
supporting the likes of The Bonnevilles in the coming weeks. This is a group sure to be entertaining
us from bigger festival stages in the coming year or two so keep willies and festival tents at the
ready.
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