Melbourne based rockers SheWolf are in a good place right now. With the release of their debut album “The Other Side” getting rave reviews, it seems the sky’s the limit for the 21-year old sisters. After 3 long years of writing and recording, whilst maintaining their busy live schedule, the girls have delivered a diverse song list which, by their own words means “…we’re confident that there is something for everyone to enjoy.”
The Rockpit’s Sean Bennett managed to catch some phone time with guitarist Cassandra Vlahos for a chat about everything SheWolf, but found himself in for a pleasant surprise…
Sean: Hey Cassandra, how are you?
Cassandra: Hey, good thanks, how are you doing?
Sean: Great thank you…
Cassandra: Hang on, I’m just going to put you on loudspeaker as I’ve got the rest of the band here too.
Sean: Wow, I wasn’t expecting that… Hi girls, hope you’re all good. Firstly, on behalf of The Rockpit we would like to send you all huge congratulations on the release of your debut album. You must all be very proud of your hard work.
Serena (Vocals): Aw, thank you so much. We are.
Nikki (Drums): We are all very excited about it.
Cassandra: It’s been a long time coming, so we are very happy to finally have it out there.
Sean: You had the launch night at Melbourne’s Cherry Bar earlier this month, how did that all go for you?
Serena: Spectacularly well. It was a fantastic night and we couldn’t have asked for more. It was such a good night.
Sean: All the reviews I’ve read so far have been full of praise of what you have produced and I know you may all have different answers to this one, but stand out favourite tracks on the album?
Cassandra: We are all pretty much in agreement the title track The Other Side and probably Circles are two of our favourites…and On the Run is one of mine, because I love the little swing beat that it has…
Nikki: I always love playing Chameleon…
Cassandra: …when each song was written it was at different times of the bands existence and they all hold so many nice memories for us, so it’s hard to pick a favourite. Can we just sit here and rifle off all ten song names (laughs)?
Sean: They are all great in their own right…I’m in agreement though, The Other Side stands out for me, the amazing haunting vocals and beautifully written.
Nikki: Thank you, so very much appreciated.
Sean: So how long did the album take to put together? Did it take you long to write the songs?
Serena: The songs didn’t take too long to write individually, it’s just it was over quite a lot longer intervals, over a period of two to three years, because we all had things like school & uni, so it took longer than normal. But in terms of each song, not long at all.
Sean: And studio time? Were you in there long laying the tracks down?
Cassandra: It spanned about two and a half years in total…
Serena: Yeah, session-wise we’d usually do a week or weekend, depending on how much work we had to do. We managed to get half a dozen songs down in a week…
Cassandra: And then there was a couple of things we had to go back to tweak in other sessions, but the majority was laid down in a week and then over the following two and a half years I guess (laughs) we went back in to record the rest and a bit more tweaking here and there, so in that sense it did feel a bit of a slow process.
Read review of ‘The Other Side’
Sean: Did you have many songs left over that didn’t make the final ten tracks on the album?
Cassandra: Not really, we wrote a couple here and there that we started then changed our minds…
Nikki: We just really tried to focus on the songs that we got really excited about and concentrated on those.
Sean: I suppose what I’m trying to say is…when is the next album out? (laughs)
Serena: Well hopefully not in another two and a half years that’s for sure (laughs).
Cassandra: But joking aside, we also don’t want to rush anything, so we know then we are putting out the best material we possibly can. But we will try to get the next one out in a timely fashion (laughs), but we won’t release something we aren’t 100 percent happy with.
Sean: So what is daily life like for the members of SheWolf?
Serena: I’m juggling uni, part-time work and the band and so is Nikki. Cassandra works full-time in the City. So it’s definitely a lot to handle but we make it work because it’s our passion. The lead up to the launch was hard and we couldn’t get out gigging as much as we would have liked, but now the launch has happened we can’t wait to get back out there. In fact we have been booking gigs left & right this week (laughs).
Nikki: Yeah, the flood gates have opened so we are taking as many gigs as we can.
Cassandra: And with the great feedback we’ve had from the album has been amazing. We are getting bands & people we have never met before asking us if we are available to play on this date or that…it just reaffirms us that we are happy with what we have produced.
Sean: So taking you all back a few years, where did the influences come from musically?
Cassandra: Well, we were all really influenced by our parents, who loved the 80’s & 90’s rock n’ roll like AC/DC, Def Leppard, also lots of Aussie bands…
Nikki: But not just rock…lots of diversity in their taste, so I guess that’s where our diversity comes from too as you may have noticed from our album… a bit of a mixed bag.
Cassandra: Listening to a lot of radio at High School too has helped towards my song writing. It’s nice to hear what’s out there nowadays and get some inspiration from that, so it’s helped us to evolve as a band.
Sean: So musically, who do you all look up to or admire?
Cassandra: I love Orianthi, who’s currently playing with Richie Sambora. I think she is an unbelievable guitarist. Certainly a lot better than I am (laughs). I love her song writing and her voice is amazing.
Serena: In terms of lyric writing, Ed Sheeran is a genius. But in terms of singing, I’m a big fan of jazz, so women like Ella Fitzgerald & Etta James; they are a big inspiration for me. Then you have Joan Jett, Ann Wilson from Heart…so many.
Nikki: In terms of drummers I don’t really have anyone in particular, more individual not so well known names on social media even. But I wouldn’t draw it down to one particular person – again it’s all about diversity for me. I just try to learn from watching other people.
Sean: So certainly in Perth, where I’m based, I’ve noticed how much local talent there is out there in the music scene. I’m guessing Melbourne is a great place for local talent at the moment.
Cassandra: Melbourne is full to the brim with local talent, and we’ve been so fortunate to meet so many amazingly talented and lovely people, doing what we do. It’s so great to bond with other musicians too because you can all learn from each other.
Sean: Any good advice from other bands?
Nikki: Mostly they say to take your time and make sure everything you do is finely polished. Don’t rush anything or you’ll end up disappointed with it.
Sean: So, if I hacked into your music library on your laptop or phone, what would I find you listening too right now?
Cassandra: You’d find a lot of Altered Bridge, The Darkness, Def Leppard, Heart, quite a lot of Australian bands too… maybe a bit of Ed Sheeran in there too. I love just exploring what’s out there.
Serena: Definitely Ed Sheeran! I’m a bit of a mixed bag… I love 90’s punk, jazz; I’ve got classical music in there, movie sound tracks… It’s just a mess basically (laughs).
Nikki: I’m the same…a complete mixed bag. I’m probably the more popular main stream listen out of the three of us – bit of rock, bit of jazz, and some chilled music that my sisters both think is boring (laughs)…
Cassandra: We wonder how she hasn’t fallen asleep at the wheel listening to it (laughs).
Sean: So do SheWolf manage to slip a couple of covers into their set?
Cassandra: Yes, we like to coz it’s always a bit of fun and always gets the crowd a bit happy. For our launch we actually played a Baby Animals number which we love, and it went off.
Nikki: It was so cool seeing everyone just go crazy.
Sean: Any plans in place for an Australian tour?
Serena: Definitely, although all the logistics that comes with it makes it hard.
Nikki: And sometimes just getting the three of us in the same room is hard enough. But definitely plans are in motion, but we can’t say too much just yet.
Cassandra: We have a lot of Melbourne shows coming up in the next six months, then hopefully a bit further afield after that.
Sean: Don’t forget us here in Perth too (laughs). So final question to each of you, if you could be credited with any song ever written, what would you want it to be?
Cassandra: For me one of my most favourite songs ever written is Whole Hearted by Extreme. I was lucky enough to see them a few months ago when they were in Melbourne. I just love that song to bits. The melodies, the harmonies, I just love it, so that would be mine.
Sean: One down, two to go…
Serena: I can’t believe how easy a question she found that, that’s so annoying (laughs). There are so many great songs. But I will say Feelin’ Good by Nina Simone. We cover it live sometimes and it’s just one of my favourites. So I’ll have that one. Nikki looks like she doesn’t have an answer (laughs)
Nikki: Whatever I say now will probably change tomorrow so note that down (laughs)… but I’m going to go for Ashes by Celine Dion. It’s a fairly recent song…
Cassandra: (Laughs) It’s off the Deadpool 2 Soundtrack (All laughing)
Nikki: Can’t beat a bit of Celine (laughs)
Sean: She still sells out arenas so she must be doing something right (laughs). Thanks so much for your time, and again, congratulations on the album – fantastic job, and on behalf of all of us at The Rockpit we wish you all the best for the future, enjoy the success of the album, and just keep doing what you’re doing coz it’s great.
Cassandra: Thank you so much for having us. See you next time.
