Wheel: Pushing The Envelope

Ever since taking the leap and moving to Finland over a decade ago, life has been particularly exciting for James Lascelles. Leaving his family in the UK behind to chase his dream of being a musician in a new country is an endeavour not many people would have the confidence to undertake but thankfully it has all paid dividends as he is now getting to reap the rewards of his courage with his fellow bandmates in progressive metal outfit WHEEL.

2019 saw the release of their debut full length release entitled Moving Backwards and they were pinching themselves in disbelief at just how well this album has been received. “To be completely honest we were blown away with how well the album was received. We expected pretty much nothing! In 2018 we toured with AMORPHIS here in Finland and played Summer Breeze Festival but still we only played about 13 gigs in the entire year which brought us up to a grand total of about 25 by that point,” explains James. “When Moving Backwards came out it just exploded and we were getting attention internationally. We played over 100 shows all over the world with the likes of KATATONIA, CHILDREN OF BODOM, SOEN and some pretty major festivals so it was almost like it changed overnight for us. Don’t get me wrong we’ve always believed in what we were doing but we never expected to be taken so seriously. It was quite a pleasant surprise.”

As with most well laid plans for 2020, their scheduled touring was unfortunately shelved by the rapid progression of the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst this unfortunate situation was being a significant hindrance to the livelihood of touring musicians, WHEEL took the opportunity to delve deeper than ever before to devise an array of dramatic, intense and intelligent compositions which came to form their highly anticipated follow-up Resident Human.

“This time round we wanted to go for a bigger, more dynamic range and we’ve got used to how we sound live and the natural way in how the tempo pushes and pulls on stage so we wanted to capture a bit more of that sound and how we perform together as a group,” James discusses. “We decided to go for something a bit more vulnerable and more human with less editing overall and let it all be a bit freer which was terrifying. At points we turned off the click track entirely and just decided to see what happened. I remember having nightmares about it and waking up in cold sweats thinking it was going to sound awful. We got the mixes back and it does really sound like a band performance which in an age where you can correct everything there aren’t a lot of people who are doing that any more.”

Wheel have never been afraid to tackle ground which others may fear to tread and Resident Human is no different. An example of this is the lyrical narrative inspired by the distressing events which led to the death of George Floyd and the birth of the Black Lives Matter campaign which form the structure of the track Movement. “It’s scary writing about subjects that are so divisive and so polarising but I also think what happened to political music? When I grew up that was kind of the norm that social issues and politics were part of the fabric of musical conversation,” states James. “I think for us it’s always been about being authentic and sincere. It was quite frightening at first as we weren’t sure what the reactions would be like but I’m kind of over it at this point. It would be insincere for us to not be talking about this kind of stuff and it’s such an important part of our day to day lives. I feel that when you listen to art you can really feel if someone has put themselves into it or if they are just going through the motions and doing something to release a CD.”

As well as being politically charged and holding people accountable for their actions (or lack thereof) Resident Human also holds a lot of personal sentiments for James as he, like most people felt the effects that the pandemic was inflicting on our society and mental well-being. “When COVID-19 took hold and everything ground to a halt, there was no touring, no means of getting into a studio and no immediate fires to put out and I suffered a complete burnout and was feeling completely uninspired. I don’t believe in fate but it was at this point that I came across Hyperion Cantos by Ben Simmons and a lot of the themes really resonated with how I felt and what I was going through.”

“The thought process for the is going down the route of mortality and this notion that we’re all on this train journey from life to death and no one has any idea what happens or what comes next. We can’t change the speed or the direction of the train and every single person we meet is going through the same linear experience of time yet we are totally immersed in our own experience and we forget that everyone else is having the same existential crises that I’ve had over the past year. The song Hyperion is about trying to be more empathetic to other people on this journey. We are all in a sense of mourning over the time we have lost over the past year and it kind of makes us forget to be in the moment and be a bit more present. I felt this information really helped me in a rough time in my life.”

Resident Human is out now via Odyssey Music. 

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