Wild Nothing's Jack Tatum Not Ashamed to Be a 'Control Freak'

In the tradition of Wavves, Beach Fossils and countless other indie-pop acts that started out as one-man recording projects, Wild Nothing is now a proper band. While the expansion has allowed Jack Tatum to bring his music to the stage, it's been a "strange process," the multi-instrumentalist tells Spinner.

"In a lot of ways you lose a lot of stuff, but you gain a certain amount of energy that wasn't there on the recording," Tatum says. "Live, we've kind of run into more of a rock band, if that makes any sense. There's that general energy about it, where it's the live drums and everything is just a little louder and faster. And it has a different feel, which I think is good. At least for me, when I see a live band, it's nice if everything is happening and all the instruments are being played right there."

Tatum wrote and recorded Wild Nothing's acclaimed debut, 'Gemini,' completely by himself, and even though he's opened himself up to onstage collaboration, he'll likely maintain his iron grip on songwriting.

"I've always enjoyed working by myself," he says. "I started playing guitar when I was very young, in high school, in the 9th or 10th grade. I started recording songs by myself for fun. I've kind of just grown into that mold, where I'm so used to doing things by myself. I'm kind of set on doing that, at least for now."

"If the opportunity arose and I was around people I was really inspired by, in terms of songwriting, I might be more open to it, but I've always been protective about trying to do everything myself," he adds. "Not to say I'm not surrounded by inspiring people, but I've worked myself into that mold of songwriting where I'm kind of a control freak, really."

So far, his go-it-alone instincts have served him well. With its glistening synths and Johnny Marr-like guitars, 'Gemini' is reminiscent of the '80s British pop Tatum grew up loving. He understands why some musicians like feedback from band mates, but he also enjoys the freedom of working without a filter.

"There are definite pros and cons to both," he says. "If you're working by yourself, you don't have anyone to check you, so you just do whatever you want, and any idea you have you can do it and not feel weird about it and not feel intimidated. Which, in a lot of ways, is good, because you come up with these ideas where you ordinarily would have been like, 'Oh, I don't know about that.'"

"At the same time, when you work by yourself, you do get a lot of bad ideas you get excited about because you're inside your own brain so much," he adds. "I really like sharing songs I've written after they're done and getting people's criticism. For the most part I worry about what they think first."