WILD YEAR
Early in 2015, in Los Angeles, Will Volkmann decided to pick the guitar back up and write songs. With a vision for merging a sound that blended indie-rock with synth-pop, he began recruiting others to fill out his plans for a five-piece indie electro-pop band that would become Wild Year. With the addition of singer Cole Morrall, he had found a singer experienced in music and theater since childhood - and with a voice capable of both great sensitivity and explosive power. They also shared a need to cope with recent personal loss and found the band to be a shared catharsis to heal through expression. Later that year, the pair rounded out the band adding contributing and live performance members Asher Young on keys, Hunter Gurney on guitar, and Ajay Awasthi on drums.
By 2016 the band had developed their focus and musicianship to record and release their first album "Creatures". The album established Wild Year's reflective and up-tempo sound laced with shimmering guitars, keys, and Cole's soaring vocals. Following the release, the band extensively toured the west coast building their fan base through high-energy performances.
At the end of the "Creatures" period, the band regrouped with Volkmann to collaborate and begin developing and recording new material that led to the release of a series of interlocking singles. The first - "Columbian Necktie" - further matured the band's sound followed by "Twitching + Teasing", "The Economics of Emotional Labor", and "Meanwhile... (Little Spark)”.
The fifth single, which is actually written as a two-song EP, "Confessions of a Temperamental Rationalist" will be released on Wild Year's new label, Diversion Records, this fall. In addition, the past four singles from this series will be reissued on Diversion Records, some with new B-Side tracks. A full-length album that collects these singles plus new tracks is scheduled for release in early 2019.