Ariel Body of Music Faith: Can you tell me about how you guys got together as a band?
Dave: Yeah. Me and Matt met in college and started playing pop-punk music, kind of Blink182 stuff. Just from there we got two guys who played the guitar and drums. After about three-and-a-half years of that band, those other few members left and we got three other guys to come to the band. The sound changed and stuff, and we changed our name to Wavorly.
Ariel Body What was the inspiration behind the name Wavorly?
Dave: We originally wanted to change it, because our new sound was darker. Like, "Freshman15" sounds... you know. We couldn't see ourselves if the band were to last ten years, us being like thirty-something and like "We're Freshman15!" So that was kind of a motivation. We named it after an old civil war home, like a mansion, in mid-Mississippi, called the Wavorly mansion.
Ariel Body: Your debut album, "Conquering the Fear of Flight", just released - how would you describe it?
Matt: We just say it's a rock album, really. A lot of the songs are taken from things that have happened to us over the past few years. Soundwise, it covers a lot of bases, I guess. It's very melodic, it's hard in moments, and there's a soft kind of dancy... I don't know.
Dave: It's eclectic. Right? Wouldn't you say that? It's got a lot of stuff. There's pop stuff on there, there's really hard stuff, really dark stuff, and there's really soft stuff. So it's just got a lot of different things. It's kind of random in spots. But you know, people have said that it's cool, so hopefully it is.
Ariel Body: I understand CS Lewis' "The Great Divorce" is a big inspiration. Can you tell me about how that played into the album?
Matt: We wrote two songs about a book called "The Great Divorce" that he wrote. One's called "Part I" and the other is "The Endless Day". It's just about a guy who has to make a choice. We kind of took either option he could choose and wrote a song about it. We wrote one song if he chose one outcome, and the other one is about the other choice.
Ariel Body: Were there any musical influences on the album?
Dave: Muse is a big influence on us.
Matt: Foo Fighters. Anberlin.
Dave: Danny Elfman is on some of the instrumental stuff. The classical side of it.
Matt: Coldplay. Eisley.
Dave: Yeah, that's some of them.
Ariel Body: Do you have any favourite songs off the album?
Matt: "Part I" and "Forgive and Forget". And "The Dragon Song".
Dave: Another favourite is "Time I Understood".
Ariel Body: What was the inspiration behind "Summer's Song"?
Dave: My girlfriend. Her name's summer. Is that funny? Is it lame? *laughs* We had been dating about two years when I wrote that song, so it was for our two-year anniversary.
Ariel Body: You guys have been touring a lot lately, do you have a favorite memory as a band?
Matt: We have had so many things happen... *laughs* As far as a funny memory, we've got a ton of those. On a more serious note, this kid last night talked to Dave. He had been kind of depressed and he said God just blessed him through the concert last night. So that was really cool. But we've had so many... We broke down in Nebraska and like washed our clothes in a laundry mat.
Dave: We walked from the auto shop all the way down to the laundry mat, it was about a mile. It was like 100-something out.
Matt: Yeah.
Dave: How cool is that? We all had our laundry bags behind us. We looked homeless.
Matt: There's been some crazy stuff. This whole tour for us has been like, the tour of blessing. We stayed at this place called Hume Lake, it's a fishing camp, with some friends of ours. The drummer from Red, his dad works there. We had a blast! It's good to be out in nature and stuff. Then we got to be in California for a while with In 'N Out Burger, and all that cool stuff. And now, here we are, in the hottest place in the world. It's terrible. *laughs*
Ariel Body: If you could have someone listen to one song off the album, which would it be?
Dave: Probably "The Dragon Song". Not because it's a good representation of our sound musically, but because the story of it is the allegorical story of Christ. He sacrificed it all for us, so probably that one.
Matt: Another one would be "Time I Understood". Just because so many people struggle with God because things get taken out of their lives. That's exactly what that song is about.
Dave: Yeah, let's do "Time I Understood" not "The Dragon Song".
Matt: Well, we can say two songs.
Dave: Okay.
Matt: Like, "The Dragon Song" and "Time I Understood". That's a pretty foundational level if you're a Christian or if you're not a Christian. Everybody loses something important to them.
Ariel Body: What's currently playing in your CD player or iPod?
Dave: Imogen Heap. Just bought it. But tomorrow, it will be Eisley.
Matt: Yellowcard's new CD. I like The Starting Line's new CD. And Mae's new CD. I heard an advanced copy of it, and it's really good. And then I really like Anberlin a whole lot, and their new CD. I listen to those over and over.
Ariel Body: What's the weirdest question you've ever been asked and the answer?
Matt: I don't know. The other day at Spirit West Coast, it wasn't really an interview, it was when we were signing stuff. Which is the weirdest thing, signing stuff. It's so weird. Because it's like, "Alright.. there's my name." But anyway, this lady came up and she asked me some question. And I said, "Man, ya'll are goofy". She said "What did you say?" And I said "Goofy." And she says "Say it again!" And I was like "Goofy..." And she was making fun of my accent. But that was probably the weirdest for me - "Say goofy again."
Dave: I don't know any weird questions. Somebody asked us if we had accents, and they're like "Oh my gosh! You guys have accents?!" And we're like "Yeah..."
Matt: So I told her she was slow on the uptake, and she didn't really know what that meant. So that was funny.
Ariel Body: Most memorable fan encounter?
Matt: Oh, there's lots of them.
Dave: My most memorable fan encounter was when we played in Temecula, California.
Matt: It was with C28.
Dave: We started playing "Praise and Adore" and there were like 3000 people there, probably one of the biggest shows we've had ever. And we started singing one of our songs "Praise and Adore" which plays a lot on Air1 out here. And people just started yelling for it, and we're like "what?!" We didn't even know people knew who we were. So we started playing and everyone was worshipping along with us. That was a pretty memorable moment, it was very humbling. So we get done and I walk off to the side of the stage. There's a lady and her daughter and she says hey, can I get your autograph or picture or whatever? So I was like yeah. So I started talking to her, and she said she had a dughter that had got in a car wreck and died like three weeks before then. She said they turned on the radio for some comfort and "Praise and Adore" was playing. And she said it comforted the whole family. I was speechless, I didn't know what to say.
Matt: It's also really cool when you hear about somebody who's in a band bigger than you and you hear that they liked your record. Like, I've never really listened to Disciple much, but they have a good reputation as good guys. Our manager told us that the bass player, whose name is Joe, really liked our CD. That was pretty cool. Then, they asked us to come on tour with them, and that was awesome. That was very flattering.
Ariel Body: What's one song - any song - you wish you'd written?
Dave: Imogen Heap, "Hide and Seek". It's my favourite song. Gosh, it's a good song!
Matt: There's a song called "Jesus Christ" by Brand New that's really good. It's kind of weird, some people might think it's a bit blasphemous, but in the end it's got a really good point to it.
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