Wolf Tracks

Who’s who? Ran: I’m Ran, lead singer and I sometimes play acoustic guitar on some of the songs. Louie: I’m the drummer. Luke: I’m Luke, I play guitar. Henry: Henry and I play the bass.

So I heard you guys all met in halls? Luke: Yeah. We were all in Wilson last year. Me and Louis lived next door to each other and Ran lived sort of two doors down. We just sent an email around the hall and Henry said he played bass. Thankfully in Wilson there’s a practice room and it had a drum kit and stuff. It started out as just playing a bit and messing around in there.

I remember late night jams in first year... in Orient, just going into the kitchen. The guy next door was never around. Luke: Yeah, good times. Ran: Before Henry came in, after our first bassist had left, we used to just hum the breakdown to this one song. Luke: We’d all just be like “Bum. Bum. Badumbum!” Ran: Haha yeah doing the bass bit... it’s kind of sad. Then one day Henry came in and just absolutely ripped the bass apart! Louis: It was just this quiet chap, who just comes in and... Ran: Yeah, that was awesome.

How long have you guys been together then? Ran: We’re all second year now so... Henry: About a year. Luke: We’ve only started gigging this year, cause last year we were just writing stuff. Last year was more just for fun, wasn’t it? I mean it still is, but like – it was more like just go down, have a practice, write some songs. And then at the end of last year we recorded a couple of songs... and it was just this year that we started sending it out.

Was it for a demo or an EP? Luke: We recorded four songs and a cover. ‘Crossroads’ by Cream. Ran: And ‘Brimful of Asha’. Luke: Oh yeah, the Fatboy Slim version. Louis: I think we recorded some of it in your room...

To get gigs or just to pass around friends? Luke: Both really, ‘cause all the promoters we came across asked for something. All we had were rough recordings. Louis: We had miked up a practice room but it didn’t sound that great.

I used to record stuff on cassette, just ‘cause it’s the easiest way. Just press record and it’s done. You don’t have to worry about anything. Ran: It was handy though because you can listen back to it...

So who came up with the band name? Ran: We were originally called Romans which has more meaning just because our drinking room in Wilson was called Rome. And our house that we live in is called Rome 2... but it turns out there are already about 5 bands called the Romans, of varying success. Like someone in the 80s or the 70s... Luke: It’s not very smart as well cause when you Google Romans you’ll get something about the Roman Empire. Ran: So there’s a bike shop called Wolf Tracks near where I live in Scotland and I thought “that’s cool”. Louis: Bit random.

So being Scottish I guess you appreciate the cold. Ran: This winter was insane.

Have you ever heard of arctic foxes? Ran: I think I’ve heard the name...

They’re about the size of a housecat. Ran: Oh I thought you meant a band!

No, no, not the Arctic Monkeys! I read somewhere that they can withstand something like -70ºC. Some American scientists had to ‘borrow’ some and put them in a freezer cause they couldn’t figure it out. They didn’t even shiver. Luke: You can’t even imagine something like that...

I think your brain would freeze. So I heard some live songs on your SoundCloud... Louis: Yeah, my brother studied broadcasting at uni so he’s into film and all that. So we got him to come down and record it. We’ve got a few gigs now from the Uni Music League...

Yeah, I remember some lady was handing out flyers for that during Fresher’s Fair... what’s that about? Luke: It’s basically like a contest for artists and bands in London universities. I think there are about 40-odd bands. First round gigs are in the university and one band represents each one. In the second round, you play a gig at ULU, the University of London Union. We’re playing there on the 17th of February.

That’s a nice venue. Luke: Yeah, it’s really cool. There are 4 rounds, so just the semi-finals and the finals left after that.

So what do you do? Fight each other with guitars? Who has the sharpest guitar? Ran: Haha yeah - it could turn into that. Luke: The winner gets an EP recorded by Charlie Hugall, who’s done Florence & the Machine and Kaiser Chiefs. But we’ve already met a promoter there who’s got us a gig at 93 Feet East and a couple at Proud Camden. We’ve just signed a contract so if we win they’re like, “we want to manage you”.

Just don’t sign anything in blood. “...Chicken burger!” Luke: Sorry, I’m really hungry.

You can hear Wolf Tracks’s recordings on their SoundCloud page, soundcloud.com/wolftracks

Catch them at the ULU for the 2nd round of the Uni Music League on February 17th