July Gunk (pt.2) x Pamela Guest x Secret Riso
N. 12 (Just when you thought GUNK couldn't get any cooler) featuring an interview with Wiring by Jojo Sommer & your full show list
Voila JULY Gunk
★ illustration by Pamela Guest, designed by Gonzalo Guerrero, printed by Secret Riso Club★
To The Wire
by Jojo Sommer
Wiring, the project conceived by bandleader Connor Gibson at Purchase College in the spring of 2022, are some of my very best friends. They also happen to make music that is a push and pull of force and tender precision. The semi-amorphous band consists of Gibson (vox, guitar), Mikey Sandvig (drums), Calder Mansfield (bass, vox), Kevin Wulf (guitar), and Moses Torres (bass). A ride, a riff, a heavy ass half-time breakdown you cannot get off, the listener is pulled in each direction: “listen to me”/ “stop looking at me.”
The band’s debut LP “Of Good Fortune,” released through Candlepin Records last June, shifts from structured explosions, as heard in the last thirty seconds of “He’s Without,” to moments of twisted lightness, like the tormented lullaby “I try to haunt you but I don’t know if I can” of “Kinderhook Memorial.” Sandvig’s disciplined stops and starts and the rest of the rhythm section create the rock-solid foundation Gibson furnishes, perhaps epitomized in “Every Apple” off their recent EP “Spinning Chalice.”
With a new album written and recorded, and summer tour with MX LONELY imminently underway, I talked to Mikey, Connor, and Kevin over mango IPAs about the gift of friendship in a conversation that has been edited and condensed for clarity.
When did each of you start playing music?
Kevin: I used to listen to a lot of music that my mom would play on the TV when I was a baby, and [my parents] found out that I had a real knack for it. When I was 2, they put me in violin lessons and I didn’t like it because it hurt my hand, so then they got me a guitar and I’ve been playing since.
Mikey: I started playing drums when I was 9. I had a lot of energy and I love music and it just worked out. I love being loud and ruckus. I’m 26 now and I’m still doing it and it’s awesome. I love playing drums with my buddies.
Connor: My uncle taught me guitar when I was really young and I hated it. When I was 12 my parents wanted to give me formal lessons. I went to this guy’s house, Joe AD, he was a painter, and we would go into his backyard and he would teach me how to play four chord blue songs and then he would just solo over me for two hours. Or he would teach me, like, “Kryptonite” by Three Doors Down and then he would just sing over me.
Wiring has now passed the 2 year mark– is the band what you thought it would be?
C: It started out with just Mikey and I recording a singular song.
M: We were called the Northern Buddies.
C: It was recording “Interest Of” in our dorm room at school, and then a couple more songs. Then I hit up Cally to play a show, and we got a live act together. Moses and Kev came and started playing with us, too, so it just kept picking up in numbers and becoming more fun because now it’s a team.
Did you initially see it as a project you would be touring?
C: Like no, when we started recording I had no intent on it being a band. I was working on an album for a while with this old band Winkie’s [Podcast] and it just didn’t end up coming together, so I was like, “Oh man, it would be really cool to keep working on music.”
M: I never envisioned a whole band unit, but I knew Connor and I have always had good musical chemistry together so I knew it would definitely morph into something. I’ve just been along for the ride and now here we are.
C: It’s the same thing with Kev joining the band. Like, seven months before Kev joined we jammed and wrote the verse riff for “Every Apple.” It’s come together pretty organically.
How did Kev join?
K: My perspective is, I was in a band called CPS, and our drummer, John Porcelli, joined Connor’s band Winkie’s. He got the demos for all of their unreleased songs, so me and Anthony [of CPS], everytime we would hangout we would listen to the Winkie’s music. We were obsessed. And then Wiring came out and we were obsessed with Wiring. We played a show with them at The Living Gallery and that was the first time we met in person and I was geeking and was like, “I wanna join y’all.” Then I joined the band and now I’m happy.
What is your writing process like?
C: Typically, Mikey and I will have a shell of a song done where we’ll be like, “Ok, here are the transitions and here is the melody and the first guitar.” Then Kev and I will work on a dual guitar part together and then Moses or Cally will write a bass part to slide right in. Often by the time everyone has learned their parts the song has changed a little bit. Another filter a song will go through, is when we take it to Justin Hatch, of Birdweek, who we record with. Justin will also have suggestions on what he thinks a song could and should sound like, because Justin is very passionate.
M: He is very opinionated. He’s great though, he is like our George Martin.
K: He’s like our Rick Rubin.
What is the role of friendship in the Wiring universe?
C: Paramount.
M: It’s crucial, vital. Traveling with these guys is super fun, we don’t fight at all. Kevin and I make each other sick from laughing in the back seat while Connor is driving. It’s just a really great relationship, which I feel comes through in the chemistry of our sound as a band, too.
K: I’ve been in music situations on the road, where it’s not the closest friends and it shows because you play like you are out of place.
M: I think it’s a special thing, playing in a band where the show isn’t always the most fun part. Sometimes just kicking it, and drinking beers, and fucking making each other laugh is the best part.
If there was a Venn diagram of everyone in Wiring’s influences, who would be in the middle?
C: Probably Genesis. Those prog bands like Yes, King Crimson, Soft Machine. There’s a bunch of other stuff that crosses over between certain members. Like Cally, Kevin, and I, Unwound is a big one for us, Mikey and I really fuck with The Blue Nile, Mikey and Moses love The Weekend, I would say the majority of the band really loves Black Sabbath–
M: My favorite band of all time.
C: Exactly, and Moses and I really love Animal Collective, Cally and I love Elliott Smith and Diane Cluck.
If you could play on a four band bill with anyone of your choosing who would it be?
C: I really like this band that doesn’t play anymore, Smart Went Crazy, which would be a really cool band to play with. Kate Bush.
M: Oh my god, why didn’t we mention Kate Bush earlier. Björk. We could open for Slayer.
K: I would say Soft Machine. I just saw Sun Ra Arkestra, and that was the best live show I’ve ever seen in my life. So, for me, Sun Ra Arkestra, Soft Machine, and probably Slint.
C: Kate Bush, Charli xcx, Smart Went Crazy. Oh, and Omni.
What are your three current obsessions?
M: I’ve been really into falafel recently. I love Mario. I’ve been watching iCarly. That show is mad funny.
K: I’ve been watching a lot of fast eating competition videos. I’m really obsessed with early music, right now I’ve been learning about the cornetto, which is my favorite instrument at the moment. And I love sandwiches. I just went to this town in Cape Cod called Sandwich and it was fucking crazy.
C: Did they have good sandwiches there?
K: No, they had no sandwiches, only tacos.
C: The movie Sorcerer, the “Live Rust” version of “Cortez the Killer,” and “Brat” by Charli xcx.
Editorial Addendum:
“Hello, my name is Calder “Cally” Mansfield, I am writing post-interview, as me and the other bassist, my dear comrade Moses, were not available for the initial interview– one of my greatest regrets. I’m here to answer some of the questions asked. Did I read them? No. But I am assuming you, interviewer, are of an intellectual nature and wish to dig deep. So let’s get deep. Who are your influences for bass? I’d say probably myself and Bill Gates. What do you fear? I fear the rock. But I also live for the rock. What keeps you going? *I look out to my midsize ranch and smile wistfully, setting my whiskey down on the porch while my golden retriever lays its head on my lap. I shed a tear, yet chuckle slightly, implying that through my struggles I still remain hopeful* My girls. *my super hot wife throws the ball and our daughter chases after it, they turn back and smile.*” -Calder Mansfield
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