The Who, What, Where and When on Why?

When most people think of rock stars, they think of the exuberant, over-the-top partiers. Yoni Wolf, the lead singer of Oakland, Calif. rock experimenters Why?, talks about how he manages to find time for himself on the road; getting his hands dirty in all facets of the recording of their newly-released record Alopecia; and how he plans on escaping the non-stop music extravaganza that is known as South by Southwest.

Edward Gaug: You personally have been in a couple different music outfits, including cLOUDDEAD. How did Why? come to be?

Yoni Wolf: Well, I started recording stuff called Why? when I was younger, sort-of a solo project early on, and then kind-of evolved into a band later on over the years.

Gaug: You said you started when you were younger; what were your inf luences at that point? With a mix of indie-rock and hip-hop, Why? has a unique sound.

Wolf: I don’t know. I was watching a lot of Kids in the Hall and Monty Python when I was growing up, listening to a good amount of Bob Dylan and sort of that kind of older stuff a lot. It’s hard to say what your inf luences are because you are pretty much inf luenced by everything around you. It’s hard to pinpoint stuff that like; it’s just where I’m at at a certain place in time and what I’m around—that kind of stuff mostly.

Gaug: On the new record [Alopecia], the song that stood out for me was “Good Friday” just because of how the lyrics f lowed. Is there anything that you do specifically when you write your songs that develop into something like that, compared to what you might hear in other bands?

Wolf: Yeah, I think I just try to block out any preconceived notion of what any song should be about or what it’s supposed to be or sound like. To be honest and true to the moment that I am in and try to just find how I might feel at certain moment and put that into words; to relay that to people, so that I can try to get something across to people while I am alive, without this filter of what everyone else does. [It’s] my conception of what people would want a song to be about.

Gaug: You said earlier that you started off Why? as more of a solo project, compared to a band that is on this record. Are there any different approaches you have to take because you have more people working with you now?

Wolf: Yeah, it changes everything. Every new person that you bring into the mix will change the dynamics. It’s weird to have social dynamic as the process of making any sort of art, I guess. It’s a tough thing. In some ways I feel like, it’s sort of a solitary pursuit in some ways, or certain aspects can be. The part of the process where you’re recording has a little more craft involved, and you’re figuring out how to get the song across in the best way; and that part of the process can be really good to share with people. Different opinions can meld and merge into your production basis. I have been doing collaborating with not only my bandmates but with other hands on deck, like the recording engineer and mixing engineers and mastering engineers; those kind-of science guys. They really knew their shit and it made it really easy to be creative while they worried about the technical shit. I mean, they’re creative too; Eli Cruz really had a lot to do with how the record sounds.

For the rest of my interview with Why? click here!