WESSON spent some time to tell us about themselves and their songwriting process. Let’s see what they have to say!
First off, What’s up with your name? Is there a story behind it?
- It started out as Chris Wesson’s project. As the other members joined, it felt more like a
band and so we changed it to WESSON
Tell us about your musical past, would you tell us about your early years? - The following statement is from Chris Wesson.
- “My parents divorced and separated when I was 4 years old. This had a profound effect
on my younger self. The sadness I experienced as a child was like a stain on my soul.
But I found comfort in music, the connection made with other souls sharing their pain
really helped. I remember losing track of time getting lost in melodies, lyrics and
mesmerising musical moments.
I started playing guitar and writing songs when I was a teenager. I decided that I wanted
my songs to reach out and touch people in a similar way to how I had been comforted in
the past.
A bunch of life experiences later including breakups, children, divorce, recovery, therapy
as well as successes in my professional life have given me a rich tapestry of song writing
content to draw from.
The power music has to soothe the soul and distract me from uncomfortable feelings is
ultimately what drives me.”
If you’d like to know more about the other members, please let us know.
How would you describe your sound? - A collective mix of pop, punk rock and indie with soaring vocal parts and an overall
sound which is entirely its own. - Emitting a gritty rock undertone, bold melodic bass riffs and driving drum beats,
WESSON delivers a soundtrack to everyday life events, touching on reflections and
memories that pass them by. Their organic approach to songwriting allows their music to
be honest and identifiable.
Which artists have the biggest influence on your sound?
- Chris’ main influences are Shed Seven, Kent (Sweden), The Stone Roses, Radiohead,
The Beatles and The Beach Boys.
What’s the last song you listened to? - February 14th by Amy Jo
What’s your source for hearing new music? - Spotify
Who is your dream producer? - John Leckie (Radiohead, The Stone Roses)
If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be? - Kent (Sweden)
What led you to music, and what motivates you to keep making it? - As above, in Bio and previous answer.
Tell us about the songwriting process. How does it all come together? - It is an inspired stream of consciousness. A moment in time, which Chris has to try to
capture. Chris sometimes has to isolate himself to get his ideas down, before the
opportunity passes. The rest of the process is quite organic. Chris will present the
skeleton of a song to the band and sometimes the band will reject it, if they don’t feel it
sounds strong enough or doesn’t fit in with the direction of the band. A form of quality
control. If the band do like the vibe, they will start off by being openly creative and
allowing their ideas to flow in a jam-like situation. Once some basic ideas have been put
down, they will slowly sculpt the song and go through different ideas for each section,
until they agree on parts they all like. The arrangement changes a lot during this process
and will often evolve massively over the period of several rehearsals or even months.
The outcome may only loosely resemble the original idea and may not even ultimately
be recognisable as the same song.
How do you connect with your audience? What is the easiest way for them to connect with you? - At the moment it is mostly through social media and the content we put out. We have
enjoyed meeting fans in person at previous gigs and look forward to doing that again this
year.
What’s next for you? - We are shooting our next music video in a couple of weeks and the song will hopefully
come out in March. We are also going back to the studio in March to record a new batch
of songs. We are also very focused on booking some bigger gigs and festivals for this
year
