INTRODUCING: Wallowing

It’s easy for a band to pay lip service to a concept. Albums with loose themes or story lines are fairly commonplace (think MASTODON‘s centering of albums around classical elements, or OPETH‘s sprawling narratives). Bands will sometimes take the extra step of producing something like a graphic novel that ties into the ‘world’ of a release (typical of COHEED AND CAMBRIA). South coast based sci-fi psych-sludge soundscape squad WALLOWING have taken the idea of a ‘concept’ and kicked it into hyperdrive.

Composed of current and former members of the likes of KING GOAT, AEROSOL JESUS, SURYA and PRISA MATA, the five piece craft a searingly spacey blend of sludge and noise focused through a lens of abrasive doom and John Carpenter-esque horror sound tracking. It’s not just the band’s debut full length Planet Loss that has been making sine-waves through the metal underground though. Their approach to the universe surrounding the band and the record (the Wobbleverse, perhaps) is something the kids today would call ‘extra’.

“WALLOWING began late 2015 when I started putting together ideas for a project that wasn’t bound by genre or a specific style, that worked as a creatively open space for anyone involved,” explains founding guitarist Tom Harrison. Swiftly accumulating like minded members, the crew knew they had aligned mission vectors from the very first practice; “From the first time we all got in a room together we knew we had something special. Everything and everyone just clicked, which is a very rare beast,” explains Mark Roberts, vocalist/sequencing/knob twiddling.

Taking to the stage in custom-made inter dimensional exploration suits (absolutely not spray-painted beekeeper outfits), WALLOWING have released a graphic novel and limited-edition tape cassette housed in a case looking like heavy-duty sci-fi tech straight out of an Alien film. The next logical step for any band pushing the merch envelope is, naturally, a limited-run of custom made (in)action figures based on the band members themselves.

“The idea for the figures came about via a random scroll through the ol’ Instagram and seeing Delicious Again Peter‘s (the artist behind the figures) page,” Tom explains. “It instantly resonated with us as something that would not only fit right at home beside our cassettes and DIY comics, but also something that bands don’t really do and would suit our aesthetic.” So, that’s how the figures came to be, but what about the moniker Wobblenauts? “The name comes from an inside joke. I think it was along the lines of us all having a good few beers before a show and one of us making the awful pun of being ‘Wobbling’ and not ‘WALLOWING‘ due to how drunk we were,” Tom explains. “Also given that our Bee-keeping suits are intended to be our own version of astronaut space-gear, we dubbed ourselves Wobblenauts from then on.”

Bands who commit to a wider concept or certain costumed look often have little substance below the surface, their mean or monstrous outer layer masking a goofiness of subject matter or lack of depth (looking at you GHOST). There’s nothing goofy about WALLOWING‘s sound, or their subject matter. Debut Planet Loss deals with some hefty themes indeed. “The album covers the current political climate, racism, homophobia, classism & discrimination in general, mental health and the stigma surrounding it, and being born into a failed system,” says Tom. “This is all wrapped within the story of a small rebellion on a dystopian planet fighting their final battle against an evil rulers oppressive regime, and the result it yields.”

Fittingly, the band soundtrack this climactic struggle with a roiling mix of extreme metal that draws from across the heavy spectrum, but focused through the lens of the sci-fi fan’s favourite: prog. “A huge inspiration to myself and Rauiri Boyden [bass] whilst working on Planet Loss would be early progressive rock such as RUSH (2112 specifically), CAMEL and YES. We always thought of the record as a prog album – expressed through extreme metal,” says Tom. This filtering through extreme metal brings in influences from some of the heftiest bands on the scene; “I wanted to bring some PRIMITIVE MAN meets BONGRIPPER style bass to the mix and generally make it as abrasive as possible,” Rauri explains.

With the band having put in such an insane amount of collaborative focus into building a universe around Planet Loss, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the lines between reality and (science) fiction might be starting to blur a little bit. Mark is quick to reassure any doubters with a typically sage and sensible answer; “Wobbling is all. Wobbling is life.”

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