Navigating this Wild Life with The Wldlfe
Interview by Jayne Pilch
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
The Wldlfe is an indie/alt-pop band based out of Indianapolis and Nashville, formed by brothers Carson and Jansen Hogan, along with Jack Crane and Geoffrey Jones. Known for their high-energy live shows and sincere lyrics, this up-and-coming group has shared the stage with COIN, The Band CAMINO, and Halsey. You may be familiar with their mid-tempo, defiant ballad, “Waterfalls,” which is their most streamed song to date. Following the release of their punk-esque single “Blood Orange” in February, The Wldlfe quickly gained momentum in the weeks leading up to the release of their highly anticipated EP, “Repaint My Mind.” Be sure to check out the EP, which is out now on all streaming platforms.
If you simply love good music, let me introduce you to The Wldlfe: your new favorite band. I spoke with lead singer Jansen about what the boys have been up to lately, as well as what you can expect from their latest project.
How did The Wldlfe come to life, and where did the name come from?
Me, Jack and Geoff and [former member] Jason [Boucouras] all met in college in Indiana, and I was doing a solo project. They were all playing in other bands and playing in my solo project band. We decided that we wanted to form a band and call it something. There’s really no real reason for the name; we just thought it sounded cool at the moment and just went with it.
Who did you grow up listening to and who are your musical influences?
I would say we all have very different influences; there’s a lot of differences in what we each listened to growing up. I listen to a lot of John Mayer and Journey, and those are probably the two that I mention the most often. Switchfoot and Relient K were the kinds of bands that I was really into growing up. Carson and I were pretty similar because we are brothers. I know that Jack listened to a lot more hardcore music. Geoff was into 80s rock music—he is partly British so he has a lot of connections with British rock bands and stuff like that. We are a pretty eclectic group.
How would you describe The Wldlfe’s music to someone who has never heard any of your songs before?
I think that I would describe it as just good music. I'd say good music and that there’s something for everybody. Our philosophy has been that it's not really about putting out a song that fits a certain mold. We enjoy all types of music, and our goal is just to write a good song. If on the day we want to write a song, we write a good country song and get a good country song out of it, then we will put that out. Fitting what people expect or want from us isn’t necessarily important to us—it's just about writing the best songs that we can and putting out the best songs that we can. So yeah, that’s what I would describe our music as just good music.
I would agree, it's just good music. If you could pick one song to introduce the band, what would it be?
Right now, I would probably say “Anxious.” It's a good bridge between what we started out as and what we are now. I think “Blood Orange” is more rock-y than what we consistently put out. That’s my favorite one right now, but I think that “Anxious” is a good introductory track to the band.
How have you grown as a band since your first project was released in 2016, and what have you learned from each other over the years? How has your sound changed?
I think that in the beginning, we were trying to be something. We wanted to be a cool band, so we were writing music that we felt was cool at the time. I’m not going to speak for the other guys, but for me, I was very interested in the way that we looked and everything else that comes with being in a band. Over the years, we have become more comfortable with the people we are, what we like, and what we want to be. I feel like we have really settled into that aspect of our band by really being who we are and not trying to be a certain thing. This is the first project that we’ve done that Carson and I have produced from the bottom-up. We still worked with the same guy that we worked with for all of our other stuff, but this feels a lot more like us because we actually did a lot more work on it. It's more rewarding this way, and we love it that much more because we put so much time and effort into it.
Something that’s always interested me about songwriting and music-making is whether the melody or the lyrics come first. Describe your songwriting process.
I would say it's different depending on the day, but consistently I am more of a ‘word vomit’ kind of person and then I just make it work later. Usually, I have a one-liner in my head or just a bunch of ideas, and I’ll kind of start there and try to write a song around what I have written down or am thinking about. It's either that or I will pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano, and as I'm playing, I'm writing in my head simultaneously. I'm not very good at writing the song or producing the track and then writing over it because I end up not saying the things that I want to say. Being able to say those things first and then going back and making it into a song is a lot easier for me. I think Carson is the opposite; he will sit down at a computer and produce something and then write over it.
Dream collaboration?
I think we would love to work with Jon Bellion. His ear and mind for everything are just so unique. Every song he writes is great in its own way, and I think he views music in the same way that we do. That’s a really inspiring thing about him, so I would love to sit in a room with him and see how his mind works because I think he would make us better. He would be a cool person to meet and talk and write with.
What’s an average day like for the four of you during the pandemic?
Day jobs...me and Carson are at Starbucks in Nashville, Jack and Geoff are up in Indy. Jack is flipping houses and enjoying that. Geoff is a loan officer, which I think is both cool and so funny. It’s, like, so Geoff that he would have that kind of job while being in a band. We are just living, writing music, working on new stuff every day, and doing all we can.
Do you guys have any other interests or hobbies outside of music?
Yeah, I would say, for me, I really love sports, I always have. I grew up playing sports, so that's something that I enjoy watching and am keeping up with. Carson is very into Fortnite and plays Fortnite a lot. He enjoys that because he gets to hang out with his friends, and I think he really values that time. Geoff loves to run and work out; I'm sure you know about that.
Yeah, I’ve seen his Instagram stories!
It's no secret. I feel like there’s not one specific thing that I would peg on Jack. Jack is into cooking and cooks a lot. Gosh, he spends so much time flipping houses, and he pretty much does it all himself. I think that’s probably his other hobby; he really enjoys doing that, even though it's kind of a job.
How much time do the four of you spend in person together?
I think it really depends. We are good at delegating; we each understand our roles in the band and do our own things within working together. I think we just have a healthy balance. We are pretty comfortable being in the band when we are in the band, and when we are not in the band, not being in the band. I think it's easy to get burnout if you are with the same people all the time. When we are on tour or together writing in the studio, we are best buds. When the work is through, we go home and live our own lives. We are still best buds, but we still do our own things. I would say that Carson and I have seen them a lot more since things have started to loosen up, which has been great. I like the way our band runs. Some people may think it's weird that we don’t all live in the same spot and don’t spend all of our time together, but we all work really hard on our own within our personal lives and our individual roles within the band. When it's time to go, we are all ready to go.
Can you explain the title of “Repaint My Mind?”
This whole EP is somewhat of a commentary on mental health. I don’t think it was really intended to be that way when we were writing it because we wrote it over time, and the songs that we chose just kind of fit that mold in the capacity of everything. ‘Repaint my mind’ is a lyric in “Blood Orange” which is like a framework for the whole EP. Often, as people, we tend to dwell on the things that are not good, and we tend to sit on the things that are really hard or really sad. It's a good thing to feel and be aware of what doesn’t feel good and what does feel good. “Repaint My Mind” is kind of a reminder that you don’t have to dwell on the things that are bad, and you can dwell on the things that are good. When you do that, you make better decisions and are more self-aware. One thing that is really important to me is knowing that emotions don’t determine decisions. I think that when I was younger, I had to work through being very impulsive based on how I felt, and I think that’s just a reminder that you feel this way, but what’s actually true? Like, this is just a hypothetical...I feel like I'm not good enough, but am I actually not good enough? That’s just kind of the overarching idea behind “Repaint My Mind”: don’t dwell on the things that aren’t true, remember the things that are true, and push forward.
How has it been not being able to experiment with these songs in front of a live audience?
It's weird. We are really excited about the prospect of going out again. We don’t have anything that is 100% yet, but it certainly is strange to not know when or if or how many times we will get to play these songs live, but we are looking forward to it. It will come at some point so we are excited about it.
Do you think not being able to play these songs live has affected the songs chosen for this EP?
No…I think that when we pick songs we think quite a bit about how they would sound live. We have written a lot of songs over the last year and a half because that’s really all we have had to do. I think there are a lot of good ones, but how it would play out live is heavily factored in a lot of the decision-making when it comes to what we are going to use. We are just hopeful that we will get to play these live.
I'm hoping so, too. What are your favorite songs on the EP?
“Blood Orange,” because it is the overarching idea behind everything. But “Forgive and Forget” is my favorite, too. All of the songs...when I was writing them, there was an epiphany moment, like “Yep, this is a good one…we need to put this out.” This one felt very much that way, too. I think, through the depth and the way it’s produced, the track really feels like what it's saying.
Lastly, what do you hope fans will take away from this collection of songs?
Lyrics are obviously very important to me, but sometimes with music, we tend to tune it out. I don’t know that everybody does, but I know that there are some people that don’t really care for what it is that’s being said, it's just about how it sounds. For our music, I would hope that people are willing to listen to what’s being said. We take the time and we care about what we say. Also, I’d say that everybody would feel and be proud of the work that we put into it. Sometimes we as humans don’t give ourselves enough credit for the hard work that we do. I think that, as a band, we have done this EP very independently and put a lot of work into it, and we hope that people are proud of it and just enjoy it for what it is.
Interested in seeing what else the band is up to? Keep up with The Wldlfe on Instagram (@the_wldlfe), and don’t forget to check out their discography—there’s a song for everyone!