Last Tuesday I had the pleasure of heading to Bath to watch the wonderful Wise Children, as well as cheeky interview beforehand. I really do suggest you check them out, especially if you’re into the folky genre. You can listen to both EPs for free here.

First off, could you give us a little introduction to who you are?

Okay I’m Robin and I set up Wise Children, which is to me is a folk project; a mixture of dark folk and pop. It’s turned into a bit of a community in where by sometimes I play by myself and sometimes I play with up to 3 or 4 people. It’s in a state of transit at the moment, which is quite nice as there are an awful lot of people involved so we can utilise a lot of different skills. 

How long have you been singing/playing guitar, and is this what you’ve always wanted to do?

I’ve been playing guitar since I was about 10 and singing from a similar age, but I’ve been playing music since I was really young. I think I always loved it, but it was more of a side thing until I went to university and realised there was nothing else I could do in the world that wasn’t music. Everything I did was to be done fast so I could get it out the way and get back into my music. That’s when I realised it’s what I really wanted to do, and probably all I could do, I can’t really concentrate on anything else. 

Do you have any particular influences for your music?

I have an awful lot of influences that I listened to when I was in my mid-teens that don’t necessarily come through in my music; a lot of heavier bands like A Million Dead and At The Drive In. They were really big influences, and I played in a lot of bands with that kind of sound in my later teens. But now, the big influences on me in a Wise Children sense are Frightened Rabbit, Nick Drake, The National and the atmosphere of Sigur Ros. I think that’s what I try and make Wise Children into - somewhere in between song writing like Nick Drake and Sigur Ros.

You previously posted on Twitter that this was your first gig in a while. Why has it been so long?

I’ve just been trying to get other aspects of my life done while I’m young and can focus on them, so that I can then focus on Wise Children in a full time sense. It’s been very much a part time thing ever since it began. It’s also still in the process of developing as a band as I’d prefer not to play solo gigs anymore.

What has been your biggest achievement so far with your music?

I don’t really know.. I think it’s an on going thing. I’m most proud of the things I’ve done in the short term, like the most recent writing. Writing is the biggest buzz for me so any writing that I do that I consider to be good makes me really proud. In the songs I’m writing at the moment I can really see the development. In terms of performing there is still a lot that I haven’t done, so there is a lot to go.  
 
Where would you like Wise Children to be in a years time?

I’d love it to be my full time project. I’d love it to be a much more fixed band. I’m going to moving to Bristol in the autumn so it will be based there, and presumably there will be an album somewhere along that road. I do a lot of demo recording myself using various facilities but at the moment I’m more interested with the short term, like putting out high quality singles. I feel that’s a better way of developing a fan base, and I want to really hone the essence that is Wise Children before releasing an album. It’s all there in my head, but I haven’t quite got it onto paper as it were.

If you found out a celebrity or artist had Wise Children on their ipod, who would you like it to be?

I don’t really put that much weight on different celebrities, I’m not really that interested in them. I’d like more for it to be a musician like Matt Berninger from The National. Yeah, let’s go with him.

And finally, is there any song that you wish you had written? 

Hmm, you always have those moments where you’re thinking “This is the best song ever” but when asked you don’t remember what it is. One of my favourite songs ever is a live version of Starálfur by Sigur Ros, but that doesn’t have any English lyrics so that’s a bit of a cop out. Can I say a record? The Midnight Organ Fight by Frightened Rabbit. I mean, it’s not suited for every time of day, but when you’re in the right mood or time, there’s pretty much nothing better. It’s total expression which I think is probably the most important thing for me with music.