If garlic is a superfood, then the wild variety is a boosted, supercharged, and souped up version. A natural healer, it lowers cholesterol, is good for the immune system, soothes high blood pressure, boosts athletic performance and is great for your bowels. Gives pasta sauce that extra depth too. London’s Wesley Gonzalez has fondly named his band and new EP in tribute to such positivity. ‘I have been blessed with a new lineup of fantastic musicians to accompany me on the road, we started referring to the band as Wild Garlic and the camaraderie and talent of the band has had a direct effect on how I chose to record this EP,‘ he explains.
The new single from the release via Sheffield-based Bingo Records – home of The Bug Club, Melin Melyn and Mr Ben & the Bens – is ‘Dress Rehearsal’, and we are delighted to premiere the video today. It features the band as farmhands toiling the land, whilst Wesley lords about with a goldfish bowl G&T and jazz cigarette. Directed by Daniel Nellis (aka Charles Howl), the countryside tale complete with rolling hills started life as a scribbled list of demands sent by Wesley to his manager and record label: access to a ride-on lawnmower, vast greenery, the shredding of legal papers. Deals were done, the resulting film capturing a psychedelic visual jarring with pop production, and focusing on the theme of criminal double lives.
Gonzalez says of the song, ‘Dress Rehearsal is kind of an anthem for my mothers’ side of the family, where there is a rich history of crime, violence, alcoholism and mental illness. I remember police raids from my childhood; I’d be eating fish fingers whilst the cops were knocking down doors looking for uncles. My mother did her best to shield me from a lot of it directly but she’d always recount mad stories about crimes they had committed, sometimes funny, sometimes scary! Fights they’d had, people being on the run.
‘Hearing these stories had a big impact on how I see the world and this is my first time analysing it in my music. Musically, I wanted to write a song that had the vibe you’d get with a lot of 1980’s sophisti-pop bands when they would try and emulate the psychedelic 1960s. Records where the production doesn’t really meet in the middle and creates a jarring quality that really appeals to me.‘
‘Wild Garlic’ – a four-track EP – is produced was handled by Jamie Neville (Puma Rosa) and Ben Romans Hopcraft (Warmduscher, Childhood, Insecure Men) at Teeth Studios in Northwood Junction.
‘Dress Rehearsal’ is released by Bingo Records on July 28.
Live dates:
24 August – Glastonferret Festival, Preston
25 August – Sumerhall, Edinburgh (supporting BC Camplight)
26 August – Future Now, Birkenhead
20/21 October – Left of the Dial, Rotterdam, NL
31 October – Bingo Records Halloween Party, Crookes Social Club, Sheffield
1 Nov – Low Four Studio, Manchester
2 Nov – Bobiks, Newcastle
3 Nov – The Grayston Unity, Halifax
