Wine and Revolution Interview: SXSW 2010

Posted on Mar 10th 2010 2:15PM by Troy Thompson
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There's a lot that seems accidental about Wine and Revolution. From forming the band, to choosing a name, to crafting their songs, things just seem to happen. But they appear to be happening right. While the band may have started out accidentally, it's no accident that Wine and Revolution is garnering plenty of attention outside of their musical hotbed home base of Austin, Texas. Their gritty garage sound laced with modern elements is mature beyond their experience. Their 2009 7" debut release, Edward the Magnificent, has been called "a fine appetizer from a band already comfortable with their sound." Wine and Revolution has been working on cooking up a main course in preparation of the 2010 SXSW. Lead singer Ian Graham recently talked with Spinner about the band's beginnings and how everything has been working out.

Describe your sound.

The Clash playing Kinks covers is probably the best way to put it. There are a lot of influences, though. It can be described as having retro, old soul and reggae influences.

How did the band form?

I knew the drummer and guitar player for a long time socially. We met the bass player at a skateboard shop; he didn't even know how to play bass at the time. We just started jamming and we thought, 'hey, we've got a band.'

You guys have obviously exceeded any initial expectations you had for the band. Considering your early success, do you now have new expectations or are you just going with the flow?

We pretty much go with the flow. We don't try to force anything. We do expect to get out of the box some more musically. It's definitely time to step it up a bit. We're adding some keyboard and horn elements. And we want to tour a lot.

What are your musical influences?

Clash, Kinks. There's so much. Northern soul, even ethnic music like the Popes...Irish music....reggae...all these things we listen to. It's basically a bunch of stuff pushed together.

Your songs have a lot of poetic imagery in them. Where do you draw from when you write?

I don't know, really. It's a lot of work. I don't know where it comes from. I don't sit down and try to make a specific thing. It's a lot of stream of consciousness.

Any musical guilty pleasures?

I don't really have any guilty pleasures with most of the stuff I listen to. There is some early '90s gangster rap I listen to that I don't talk much about. But I don't feel guilty listening to it.

Where did the band name come from?

We were playing our first show the next day, and Rob and I were sitting at a bar the night before. The name of the bar we were going to be playing at was Revolutions. Robert thought I said 'Wine and Revolution' at some point and I said, 'no I didn't say that'. And we realized right there that would be a perfect name for the band. It was a complete accident.

What's in your festival survival kit?

A lot of water...a lot of alcohol...and definitely a watch.

Being from Austin, any advantage to having the SXSW home court?

I think we can get into parties easier. It definitely helps that we're not just stepping off the plane and having to figure everything out. We know a lot of people and that helps in getting information about what's going on and when. Plus we can go home at the end of the night.

Beatles or Stones?

As much as I love both bands....I'd have to say as a group we listen to more Stones. Personally I'd have to go with the Beatles, only because of the Sgt. Pepper album.

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