Having Their Cake... - The Wave Pictures

Although ‘Instant Coffee Baby’ is their first big album release this is far from their debut, as The Wave Pictures have been around the block a few times in the past 10 years. Gigwise talks to lead singer David Tattersall about touring, friendship and sugar addiction.

Formed in a town of little consequence, The Wave Pictures two founding members David Tattersall and Franic Rosyki grew up in the village of Wymeswold near Loughborough. Despite relocating to London their songs rail against the scenester lifestyle and gently mock the twee new folksters, happy to sit apart. Getting down to basics we quizz David about the band name. He replies, “It comes from an art book I had with pages of photos by Zoë Leonard called ‘The Wave Pictures’. It also had a picture of a piece of art in it called ‘Strange Fruit For David’ (current single) so that’s where that name came from”.

Original members David, Franic and Hugh J Noble parted ways from their first band Blind Summit to go to University. David moved to Glasgow, Franic to Cardiff and Hugh to Exeter. Hugh was later replaced by Jonny ‘Huddersfield’ Helm on the drums. Describing Loughborough as "a dead town", did their small town upbringing affect the way they make music? He replies, “I think it maybe could have. Not having so much to do made me spend more time playing guitar and listening to music. Most of the songs we play live now were written in Glasgow and London. The band comes from Wymeswold, that’s where our hearts are from. It’s not like we’ve gone to being slick hipsters or anything”.

Lyrically playful and wittily acerbic songs like ‘Now You Are Pregnant’ often draw comparisons with the likes of Morrissey, does this ring true? He responds, “I am a fan of The Smiths, though I don’t really know Morrissey’s solo work as well. They’re not a very big influence. I really understand why people make the comparison. I’m more influenced by Tom Verlaine of Television, Bob Dylan and Jonathan Richman (Modern Lovers)”. Talking more about song writing he continues, “I write lyrics and put guitar to them. Sometimes I’m playing the guitar or the piano and I get an idea for a melody. I’ve never been able to write music and fit lyrics to it. It’s a skill I don’t have. Mostly I just have loads of sheets of paper with ideas on and out of that I’ll get three songs”.

Known for touring and collaborating with Herman Dune, The Wowz, Jeffrey Lewis and Hefner’s Darren Hayman, The Wave Pictures have formed close friendships with this American collective. Herman Dune covered the Wave Pictures song ‘Dust of Your Heart ‘ in a John Peel session and they have both released covers albums of each-others songs. David says, “I play the guitar on the next Herman Dune album, recorded in the South of France. There’s Stanley Briggs, we’re recording an album with him. And we’re doing some shows with The Wowz in Norway. We sometimes play live with Darren Haymen on violin, or he’ll play parts on piano or guitar. We enjoy playing with our friends on tour”.

Despite these side projects, currently there are no plans to expand the band to include other members. He states, “I prefer the band being me, Johnny and Franic at the minute. Three seems to be the best number for learning things quickly”.