- 2 days ago
Category
đ”
MusicTranscript
00:00There were some looks about loneliness in there and I was like on follow once in a while
00:03I feel like I'm not so alone on crater if I moved from this country would I be less lonely
00:07and I want to say
00:08Are you all right? Yeah, yeah, I'm all right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah
00:12I'm not lonely now with all the people in the room
00:22Hi, I'm Alex from NME and today I'm joined by Finn Wolfhard actor musician filmmaker and just about every other
00:29Creative title you can think of for the latest in NME's in conversation series. How are we doing? Good, man
00:35There's a few that other creative stuff that I'm not good at what they're dancing
00:41Literally
00:43No, like most those are those are like I got lucky with like
00:48With acting and music. Well, I was gonna start by actually
00:51Apologizing to you for taking you a Canadian out of Canada during a home world cup here. I know it's
00:58crazy
00:59We we were doing pretty well. Yeah, it's really surprising because
01:04Yeah, like we tied like that first game and everyone just like went nuts
01:09So but I think I'm going back if we beat Egypt
01:12We get to play in Vancouver like Canada and I'm gonna be there
01:16So I hope hope that happens but then again you have been busy in London
01:21I know you went to see gorillas once the gorillas. Yeah. Oh, yeah, so fun a Tottenham Stadium
01:26Yeah, I was at Tottenham and it was so amazing because it just was
01:30He just brought up all of his friends like it was so cool to see because one of the things
01:35British people know about grills in America is that they're bigger than blur
01:38Yeah, which is like quite mad for us. Yeah, I didn't like someone was telling me that
01:43That gorilla shows like their first headline stadium show in London and I was so shocked
01:49I just was like but they've done stadiums like in you know, Canada and the US and stuff and
01:55like
01:56There's also like a multi-generational thing. I think there where it's like that I think kids also really love
02:00gorillas
02:01Oh really? Okay. Because of the like the more like the cinematic cartoon kind of aspect of it
02:07But yeah, but you also got to go and see Sadie Sink's play. Yeah
02:11I think as well. Yeah, so you've been quite busy. Yeah, I've been I've been trying to trying to get
02:15it all in as I've been
02:17Here, but we are here of course talk about your new solo album. Yeah, which is out on July 10th
02:22by from the hip
02:23Yeah, of course
02:25Let's start with the cover which I think you could kind of describe as
02:29Wes Anderson shoots Barry Lyndon maybe yeah, yeah that definitely Barry Lyndon was definitely like the oh
02:38That was like the the comp. Okay, cool. Yeah, well tell me
02:42How did that come together and more about the nautical outfits? Yeah, the yeah, yeah, yeah the English colonial slash
02:48pirate
02:50um
02:51Yeah, I mean I think like the idea was just
02:56To do something that was like pretty striking as a as a you know record cover and like this is
03:02the first
03:02Record cover that i've ever like actually been on the record is just I feel like a lot of it
03:08is just about
03:10How you sometimes can have like two versions of yourself and and have to like perform for people
03:15and then have your own like inner life or
03:19um
03:20You know something like that and so the idea of like the
03:23Record cover was like oh, it's me in a duel with myself
03:26So like if you look close, it's like two technically it's the first time i'm on a record cover twice
03:33Yeah, okay cool. You didn't get someone like a standard and say shoot me for no we shot it was
03:38in we shot um in like
03:41Minnesota and it was so cold. It was like the opposite right now
03:44We're recording this during a heat wave in london by the way
03:48Not just a heat wave an apocalypse. Yeah, yeah heat apocalypse and uh
03:52But this was like the opposite. It was literally like you would go outside and your your nose hairs would
03:57like freeze
03:58Um sounds wonderful. It was it was wonderful. Um, it was really fun. I felt quite drawn to the song
04:04maggie
04:04Oh, yeah, it reminded me of digsies dinner by oasis. I don't know that song. Yeah
04:09Yeah, and there's a bit of a kind of a pete doherty
04:11Jaunty delivery to it. Yeah, but who is maggie and where did that song come from?
04:17Uh, that was I think I wrote it
04:20Like a lot of these songs I wrote like before
04:23uh, I like released a record the last year. Um
04:28and
04:29This is one of the songs I wrote like even before that and was waiting to put on a record
04:33and like
04:34um, I don't know. It's just like a little
04:37I was just like experimenting with like writing little
04:40kind of like stories and and like, uh
04:44You know songs that were also like less personal and things that were more yeah talking about
04:50people or or characters and um, but I have like a few friends name
04:55I always loved the name maggie and also like just the idea of
04:58There's a lot of you know, like maggie may it definitely was like a huge I think like I just
05:02love love that name and um
05:04Yeah, it was fun to write. You do need to listen to Dixie's dinner because I was getting that kind
05:07of like jaunty sort of almost like
05:09Yeah, yeah kind of vibe. Are you an Oasis fan?
05:12Uh, I
05:14For what I've heard love Oasis, but I haven't honestly like everyone tells me that I would really like them
05:19and I haven't um
05:20So you're more of a Damon Albarn
05:22I'm like not as even like I mean, I love gorillas and blur and like but I'm not like super
05:29well versed in
05:31In like either band, but I love Damon Albarn. Were you in LA when Oasis live came to town?
05:37No, but my friend literally
05:40Traveled all the way from like Vancouver to like Manchester to watch Oasis
05:44That is a long way. It's crazy
05:46But no, it felt quite I know we talked about sort of um blurb and gorillas and that kind of
05:51difference between america and the uk for
05:53Popularity, but it's been quite good for us at NME, but also the british fans of Oasis to see
05:58Them have kind of this massive moment in america
06:00Yeah, yeah, yeah
06:01They didn't seem to have the first time around
06:03Yeah
06:03So I was just kind of interested to hear about whether that you've been around and there was that kind
06:07of atmosphere that there definitely was
06:09Yeah, there was like it was like such a moment and it was just cool to see like
06:14Rock music at that level with that many people going and supporting it was really cool
06:21Back to the album then I was kind of looking at some of the lyrics and there were a couple
06:24of songs that um
06:26There were some lyrics about loneliness in there and I was like on follow once in a while
06:30I feel like I'm not so alone on crater if I moved from this country
06:33Would I be less lonely and I want to say are you all right?
06:36Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm all right now. Yeah, yeah, yeah
06:39I'm not lonely now with all the people in the room
06:42You don't get too close in the heat waves though. Yeah, yeah, exactly
06:45But talk about the lyrics on this album and some of the themes you were looking to explore a bit
06:49more
06:49Yeah, I think like
06:51this idea of
06:54You know wanting to get away from the feeling that feeling of like loneliness or you know, I think
07:02just being
07:05Weirdly in a time where
07:08At where I guess maybe I have a job where I'm sort of like constantly traveling and and meeting different
07:13people
07:13And there's something that's like really amazing about being able to like have
07:18friends in different places and be able to kind of like come in and out but at the same time
07:22there's
07:23Those stints are can be short or like, you know, I'm living in a place for a few months and
07:28then like
07:30I feel like I'm more
07:33Into like a friend group and then kind of have to leave and so
07:36Well, it's interesting that you the things you do for a living like in a band
07:40Yeah, yeah, yeah
07:41Working collaboratively with actors and making films and things they're all like as a very collaborative
07:46It's very social
07:47And then you have these the traveling for the promotion and stuff like that where you might be in a
07:51hotel room on your own
07:52Trying to write a song or whatever. It's like that is that dichotomy quite
07:56Useful to as a creator. Yeah, you definitely need
07:59both I think and like that's just a part of it and so
08:02I think like yeah part of like
08:06Whatever I do is like having to you know be alone or like
08:12Yeah, I don't know and and so to express yourself through those mediums is really important, but yeah, I feel
08:18like
08:19Does me moving all these different places or like okay?
08:23I'll like maybe I'll try living here for a bit like maybe that will curb that feeling
08:26It's like it'll always follow you around kind of thing
08:29Is that something you're doing when you're traveling around on a press or whatever sort of auditioning different places to
08:35think about living in?
08:36Yeah, I mean I also feel like that's like to me what like being
08:40In your 20s like, you know early 20s is about it's just like traveling around and seeing what you like
08:45and
08:48But you know, it's also
08:51To not have roots is also like that's its own kind of thing as well. So let's talk about influences
08:56on the album
08:57I was hearing a bit more country than on your previous stuff. Yeah, happy birthday and kind of with the
09:04Aubrey's yeah, yeah
09:05Was how did that happen? Why then why now because there has been a lot of country around in mainstream
09:10music
09:11But was that it or was it just your more personal journey? No, I honestly I don't really know. I
09:16think my
09:18Band that I play with
09:21They're folksy people they're all from like two of them are from kentucky one of them is from illinois, but
09:26they're all just very like
09:28But yeah, no these guys called the slaps they're like one of the best bands and they're great. They're amazing
09:34But and like their music isn't even really country at all
09:36um, but maybe just their
09:40Something about their influence. I'm not really sure but also like listening to a lot of
09:47uh
09:47early wilco and and like, you know, even like the stones the stones have a lot of like country
09:54Elements to them and like they're not necessarily like, you know known as like the rock and roll band yet
09:59They have so much well, I've heard the new album and a lot of it is still the same old
10:04themes about sort of
10:05Jilted lovers and relationships in their 80s. So yeah, they're drawing on sort of current theme. Yeah
10:11That's what they can remember them. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I'm sure they're I'm sure they're still going through it
10:17in that way
10:18Um, you last played the uk in october
10:21Um, and got to headline some pretty legendary venues king tuts. Yeah. Yeah, that was the best. How was that
10:27for you?
10:27That that was amazing feel a bit like sort of uh
10:31We've made it kind of moment. Yeah getting to headline your own shows in these iconic venues for sure
10:35I mean, that's like the to me like that was my favorite show on that tour, but london and
10:40Um, like the electric and brixton we played um and king tuts like those are my two favorite
10:46like places that I played on that tour and
10:49Yeah, you can just feel the history and like
10:52The amount of bands and and people that I love and respected that had played that that was a really
10:58funny show because
11:00We like right when we went on stage one of the uh, like my guitarist amp broke
11:05And so we had to go through one amp like we shared one amp
11:09Well for both the whole yeah, the whole thing was on one amp
11:13So i'm sorry to any of the people that were there that heard that
11:16Um, well, I saw I saw a clip recently on tick tock about you playing in dublin
11:21I think yeah, and that the crowd looked really up for it there. They were like
11:25Dublin loves to to party and get really rowdy
11:33They have their own chance that's the thing too in the clip
11:36There was this chant they were doing and then you were sort of like tuning your guitar
11:38But you could notice and then you just like tried to join in with like an irish jig
11:41Yeah, yeah, yeah
11:42They I literally had no like I think that's so awesome that they have their own
11:48Their own thing did you have you heard about it?
11:50Were you just no I was so surprised that's why like I'm I you know from what I can remember
11:54like that night
11:55I just was so like wow like I had never heard it and like had told people afterwards
12:00I'm like that's how everyone should
12:02Have you know, everyone should have a chant like that
12:04But um, obviously you've got the u.s tours in july and august if you're doing yeah
12:10Are you gonna come back to the uk?
12:12Yes, i'd love to um
12:14Because there's no glastonbury this year. I know that would have been amazing
12:17But next year maybe hopefully yeah, you haven't played glass in before have you?
12:21No, no, I've never played a british festival. Have you been to glastonbury? Yeah, I went last year
12:25Okay, tell me about that. It was crazy. It was like
12:28I I was so um, like had such an amazing time like saw some of the I saw pulp
12:33Like I saw some of the best shows in my whole life, but I also was like it was so
12:36hot
12:37And I was so miserable in a lot of other ways
12:41um
12:41Were you staying off site or you know, I was I was
12:44Yeah, I wasn't like no I wasn't in like, uh, I wasn't like a year. I was in like a
12:49small little
12:50like, uh
12:52I don't even know where it would be it. Yeah, like a shed basically like a little shed. Yeah, um
12:57but um
12:59So I was lucky because I had like, uh, like a little foam foamy top thing. It was like kind
13:04of just above
13:05It was like like it was basically glamping
13:08Yeah, but you did it properly lots of kind of celebrities come to glastonbury and then get like a helicopter
13:13off site
13:14Yeah, yeah, you can't do that. You've got to smell worse and worse exactly
13:18No, that you really have to be there with the with the people
13:21um, but who are you there with me with
13:24I was with a few weirdly a bunch of friends
13:27Were there like joke here. He was playing. Oh, yeah
13:30Yeah, from stranger things and like a music Joe Joe. Yeah, one of the biggest people right now in music
13:37and he uh
13:39He was playing and like a bunch of my other stranger things friends were there as well to kind of
13:44go see him
13:45And how did you manage that getting around without sort of people getting mobbing you?
13:48We didn't get mobbed at all. It was amazing
13:50It was like the glastonbury is a bit like that. Yeah, they just I think that's what it is
13:54Is like you see people walking around and there's sort of this like unspoken thing of like, okay, we're all
13:59here together
14:00Like let's not bother so-and-so or whatever
14:02You can't bring your ego as a celebrity to glastonbury because they'll just be like we don't care
14:06Yeah, exactly
14:07There's like a better show. Don't like we don't care whatever you want like who cares so so
14:12That was really cool
14:14Um, well, maybe you can play next year and then that would be amazing
14:18Yeah, I had such a great time. I want to talk about filmmaking a bit more now. Yeah, sure. Um,
14:22last year
14:23You directed your first ever music video. Yeah, which is a stop-motion animation for George Harrison's song
14:29Give me love give me peace on earth. Yeah from 1973. Yeah
14:33Um
14:34That consisted of George and some gnomes floating down a river on a giant duck duck. Yeah
14:39Did he tell you about that in a dream?
14:42Well, the whole I mean that that's like a reference to this music video that George make a blow away
14:47that's like him in a him in a in a duck and
14:50Um, he doesn't love his ducks. He loves his ducks
14:52Um, but yeah, just this idea like I was really lucky because I had gotten to know the Harrison's like
14:59like friends with Danny and
15:01um, who is a musician who's a musician in his own right and like a composer and and
15:06Just they're really and olivia his mom like they're such like generous people and
15:12Was like lucky enough to go see friar park and like the gardens always wanted to go
15:17it's so beautiful and like
15:19The gardens are amazing and you could write some good songs in that garden
15:23He wrote all the best songs in that garden. So like
15:27It's amazing. It has its own like
15:30Uh energy to it and then also like what was to me what was so beautiful about it is like
15:34this person that had like been so
15:36public and
15:38You know looked at by so many people as a god and in a way, you know, he totally is
15:44but
15:44He's also he was a guy that I think really wanted his own
15:50relationship with nature and and with himself
15:53And so he like devoted most of his life to gardening and uh
16:00Yeah, I just wanted to do this video that
16:02Kind of talked about that and like I just wanted to do something pure being such a fan of his
16:07and knowing danny and knowing olivia
16:09Like what would he be excited about?
16:11Yeah, um, yeah, because obviously like, you know, like he passed away a long time ago now, so
16:17Um, it's always weird doing something when someone has, you know, died you work with the estate and it's like
16:23and then without george think about this
16:25Well, that was what was like to me
16:26What was really important about doing animation or stop motion is because you're not
16:30You're not doing this weird like voice. You're not getting someone to do like a
16:35an impression you're not doing a deep fake like
16:38You're doing this
16:39thing that's frozen in time and it's stylized and um
16:44Has like a sense of humor to it and
16:46So that was that was like a part of the reason why we went with stop motion also
16:50um
16:51Is george your favorite beetle?
16:53Horrible question. It switches. It's honestly i'm not like it really does like
16:58Switch like all the time. I think george
17:01I think spiritually is my favorite beetle just because
17:06What he
17:07I don't know what he was about and like the kind of stuff he did to like the films he
17:12produced and like i'm made films
17:14Yeah, yeah
17:15I made films like all that stuff like the terry gilliams stuff like
17:19Like with no one on like all that stuff that he did
17:22To me like not only was he one of my favorite musicians, but he also did so much other amazing
17:27stuff outside of that
17:28and so
17:29Yeah, maybe like I would say he's probably my favorite
17:31But also growing up, you know, like john like was amazing like paul was the reason why I started playing
17:36music in the first place like
17:37You know and ringo too
17:40Everyone loves ringo. Yeah, did you see that clip? There was this guy doing a kind of live stream
17:46somewhere
17:47I'm, not sure it might be in america and ringo's kind of
17:50Came in behind him randomly and he was like, who is this guy?
17:53I don't know
17:54He had no idea who he was
17:55That was an amazing
17:57There's one that's so good from a long time ago. That's like uh
18:01He's like
18:02Trying to tell people to stop sending fan mail. Have you seen that video?
18:05He's like
18:07With peace and love i'm telling you all fan mail will be tossed. Oh, yeah, yeah
18:11He said he doesn't do signatures anymore. Yeah, because it was so
18:14Off yes, so often my favorite ringo's story is that um, he did this pizza hut commercial in the 90s,
18:21right?
18:21Look it up. I will that's amazing
18:23Totally up my alley, but because of ringo's health issues when he was a kid, he was alerted to a
18:27lot of stuff
18:27Including pizza, so he stood there going go to pizza hut eat this. Yeah, yeah, yeah
18:32You can't even eat it. Yeah, you're lying. Yeah, yeah, yeah
18:36I suppose you could call this the beat your section of the interview. Sure. I don't care. No, I mean
18:39either
18:40I could talk about top three Beatles albums. I was just talking to my brother about this
18:44um
18:45Or just like favorite ones. Yeah, well like
18:50Help was the one that was the first that I loved and I think still is probably my favorite just
18:55because
18:56There's just something about yeah that album that I really like the album cup on that one
19:00It's so blue smocks and then yeah, yeah
19:03That's great. Yeah, that was always like
19:05Because it was the first like that might be my favorite but also like
19:11Sgt peppers also is like kind of a perfect record like abbey road's the perfect record like i've been honestly
19:17I think like
19:19Right now I would say my top three are probably like help revolver and
19:25Right, honestly, i've been listening to a lot of the white album. I think it's like really
19:29There's obviously songs on that that I think on purpose were supposed to be like it was throw away
19:35Yeah, and also a little bit of in a kind of punk way of like oh you think like
19:42We're gonna keep making you know the same kind of thing like we're gonna
19:47try to
19:48Show people that we're not just like a one trick pony that makes
19:53The same kind of you know, even though every album is so different. I think and maybe in their heads.
19:57They were like
19:58Oh, you like the last one like let's see how how much you really like this one
20:01It was almost to me like it was almost like a shitpost like like one of the first ever
20:07Like musicians kind of messing with the audience
20:10Where like they would have these amazing songs
20:14And but then they would put in like, you know rocky raccoon or like why don't we do it in
20:19the road as almost like
20:20You're they're almost testing people
20:22But then you you spend a lot of time on the album and you kind of grow to love those
20:26songs
20:26Just as much as like the bigger ones well, you actually can feel it's the most them record
20:32Yeah, yeah, you might not get straight away, but then you're like I know I love rocky raccoon
20:36Yeah, and you can really feel all their personalities through it like super deeply and like where they were at
20:41that time
20:41like I just think it's really like entertaining and
20:45I don't know but listening to that a lot recently
20:47I always thought that stranger things missed a trick by not having a beatles song in there
20:52You know, what's funny that was like the last
20:56The uh, like last episode had like the there's like this purple rain scene with yeah with prince and so
21:02they were like trying to figure out
21:04It was purple rain for like a long time
21:06But then there was a moment where before that they were trying to figure out like what it could be
21:11um
21:12And I was trying to push that I I had no actual like tomorrow never knows
21:16Well, we needed something that like it was like they needed that would have been cool, but they needed
21:20Two songs to like go back to back because like the whole point is that it's like time to a
21:26Bomb that's gonna blow up. So like they have to like start it on the b-side
21:29So it needed to be the perfect b-side and there just like wasn't one that
21:34That was they really wrote themselves into a corner and they really did
21:38Um, but yeah, I mean beatles would have been cool. Maybe one day we got bowie in there. Yeah, yeah,
21:43yeah
21:44Oh, obviously the soundtrack's amazing. Yeah, I'm not saying it's bad
21:47I get it. I I'm just saying I like the beatles. Yeah, everyone else should have to listen to them
21:51all the time
21:51Exactly
21:52One last beatles. Yeah, um, because I will literally talk about it. Are you excited for the sam mendes films?
21:58Yeah, totally
21:59I honestly legitimately any
22:02Any beatles material like I will be sad because I I wondered
22:06Whether there were ever any whisperings about you auditioning for any of those I auditioned
22:10Beatles look about you
22:11Yeah, but also like it would have been ridiculous to hear me, you know, you know
22:15Who did you audition for? I auditioned for George actually. Oh amazing
22:18And like I just was like, you know, I'm not gonna this is not gonna go anywhere
22:21But I'm gonna try my my hardest and every actor I've spoken to you auditioned for that film
22:25I said it's not gonna go anywhere. Yeah, someone's gotta get it. Yeah. Yes. Well, someone did get it and
22:31Joe Quinn got it and he
22:33Fuck he's gonna be amazing and like all those guys are such talented actors. So like
22:38I think I think and I think it's a really cool idea of
22:41Releasing it in the way that they are and I don't know. I'm just I'm such a fan of the
22:45music and
22:47Like the war that but what was the the audition scene the audition was like a interview that he
22:53Had in like the 60s and it's just like a
22:56basically paraphrasing
22:58Okay, I'm assuming he's grumpy in it
23:00No, no, he's actually he's very like clear-headed and okay
23:04Um in that one, but uh, yeah, it was great. It was reported that you're adapting a biopic of the
23:09replacement. Yeah, yeah, yeah
23:10Co-writing it with your dad. Yeah. Yeah. Where's that?
23:14Hopefully like we've sent it off to the director and um
23:18Really really want to make that as soon as possible and I don't know. I've gotten uh
23:23That band means like so much to me and so much to a lot of people and
23:28would love to just be able to tell their story and in the
23:33Most cool and sort of least like, you know, and like no shade to any of the like least kind
23:38of
23:38Like bohemian rhapsody way because they were so the op they're the antithesis of of that kind of thing
23:45and so to make something that's maybe a little weirder or like
23:48You know that still has something for everyone that's can be
23:53Contemporary or not contemporary but like, you know can be seen by contemporary audiences without it being too
23:58straight down the middle
24:00I think is really important. So it's just like watching a lot of
24:03Movies to me that like really got it right and that like 24 hour party people is like a great
24:08example of like a movie
24:09That's about real things, but then also kind of flipped it and
24:13um
24:13Control is also a great one and like so many, you know
24:18There's ways to do it that doesn't feel um like forced and uh
24:23You know like we've seen it, but also it's like walk hard did it like walk hard
24:28like
24:29You know spoofed all music biopics and in a way it's like
24:34You don't really need to watch any music biopic because you just watch walk hard
24:37But selfishly like i'm such a gigantic
24:40Replacements fan and like I I really connect to it personally because the
24:44Bassist tommy stinson he started that band when he was 11 years old and like
24:49Dropped out of school and a lot of like parallels to me in my kind of childhood of like joining
24:53this adult
24:55world and um
24:57So I really hope that it it would be made
25:00Um, i've got one last question that we always ask everyone. Yeah, sure in this
25:04um, which is
25:06If you had to pick one album that you always go back to what would it be and why?
25:11um
25:12I would say
25:15I would say down in heaven which is a twin peaks records with good friends of mine
25:20You supported them fairly recently didn't you?
25:22Yeah, they did like an eight night residency like comeback show in chicago and to me
25:26They're like the greatest living rock and roll band and like
25:31That record to me is so like was so important to me like in my
25:36Young like teenage years and when I started to really
25:40Want to like write songs and uh
25:42To be able to like be friends with them is such an honor and like be as close that I
25:46am with them is so great
25:48That album to me just like gets better every year. So
25:51Yeah
25:52Shout out twin peaks. Shout out twin peaks
25:54Well, thanks so much for chatting with us today. It's been an absolute pleasure. I could talk to you about
25:58the beatles
25:59And anything else. We'll do a whole we'll do a whole separate interview with that. The Beatles special a podcast
26:02Yeah, yeah, yeah
26:03Yeah
Comments