Backstage chatting to Wandering Hearts band who opened the Great Oak Stage at BST Hyde Park
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- Published on Saturday, 13 July 2019 11:02
- Last Updated on 12 July 2019
- lizziesomerset2014
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Band The Wandering Hearts are a trio of Brits smashing through the Americana genre with gusto.
“Americana is a patchwork of different music genres, so we fit very well in that.”
Kicking off the line-up at BST Hyde Park, Wandering Hearts smashed through a stream of hits including…. to warm things up ahead of headliner Celine Dion on Friday 5th July.
Here’s my backstage chat to the band.
Q. How did you come up with the band name, The Wandering Hearts?
Well we had to change our name and it was quite early on as we were signing to Decca and it the only thing holding up the signing. There was another band in America and although they weren’t active it wasn’t worth it. It’s the most conflict we’ve ever had because by the end we were just throwing names out…Tree Hearts, Paper Hearts, Table Hearts, Chair Hearts.
“See something say it, it was like catchphrase”
We knew we wanted hearts in the name because we all wear our hearts on our sleeve.
We just love people and we’re enthusiastic about what we do, so hearts totally made sense so what goes with that. Wandering Hearts is a name we’d thrown out there and moved on from and then went back to. None of us are living lives that are predictable or normal. So Wandering felt, individually and collectively, felt so suitable.
Q. You didn’t start out to be in the American genre, tell me about that?
We didn’t start off to be in anything. We just started singing together and instantly, it was the weirdest things, because it was honestly like they were telepathic and we had all tuned into this radio station that no-one else could tune into. It was so cool. As we were singing I’d decide I wanted to sing a little softer, and there’d be this dynamic shift and then AJ would may be get a bit louder and everyone’s following, and it was just the most exciting feeling. Chess remembers leaving the session and calling her Dad saying”Dad something cool just happened”.
CHESS – I rang my Dad and said, ‘I don’t know what just happened’
TARA – This whole thing just snowballed so quickly, people were asking us what our music is. We were so grateful when Americana came along and took us under their wing. Americana is this wonderful patchwork of all of these different things, so you don’t have to be a certain way. It was permission to do whatever we wanted to do. We’re not pigeon holed in the UK country thing.
AJ – Although we love playing C2C. We would go to C2C as punters to see singers we liked. And then we got to play all these different stages which was so cool.
Q. You career has risen quite fast, does it feel fast to you?
It feels fast since we got together. We’ve been together 4 years and it does feel very quick. The time before that didn’t feel quite so quick. The bar job years, the gigging years, random shows and all that. Anyone who thinks there such a thing as overnight success it doesn’t exist.
Q. Totally agree with that statement. How does it feel to be sharing a stage with Josh Groban and Celine Dion?
We only found out we were doing this on Wednesday, I was in ASDA buying broccoli I had the most normal day, dog walking and grocery shopping and I had the call saying instead of watching the main stage we’d be on it. And opening for Celine Dion. We were buzzing to play.
Q.What’s next for the band?
AJ – We’re supporting Jack Severetti, he’s doing a few gifts within the Forestry Commission. We played Sherwood Pines last weekend and we’ve got Westonbirt Arboretum coming up.
Chess – Mouth of the Tyne, two gigs up in Newcastle for the next two weekends.
AJ – LA in November.
Then we’re recording our new album.
Q. Where will you record your new album, Nashville?
Collectively – No. The producers we love don’t live there. And there are a lot of British bands that seem to sit in the same genre.
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