Feature | The WAYO

It was a late afternoon when EWM got to speak to The WAYO. They supported the classic musician image as they were just sitting down for breakfast. “You know how it is,” said Gray Rowan, the bassist for the Hali/Toronto group. Consisting of Gray on bass, Charlotte Day Wilson (vocals, sax, keys), Mike Fong (guitar, FX) and George Kingston (drums/percussion) this formerly Halifax-centred band has returned home for the Halifax Pop Explosion where they killed all of their performances. Here’s what they had to say.

EWM: Welcome back! You guys looking forward to HPX?

WAYO: Ya, really excited. We haven’t played in Halifax since [the] jazz festival….This is the best line-up we’ve ever seen - they’ve definitely invested a lot into this year’s festival.

EWM: So before this you guys went on tour, did a bit of Eastern Canada in the summer. What was that like?

WAYO: That was a lot of fun...that was like our first real tour I guess, even though it was just between Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, but it was great. Toronto we did NXNE for the first time and we had our own thing at the Drake, which was cool [and] one of our first big gigs in Toronto. But playing here [in Halifax] is cool – there are a lot of good bands here this year.

EWM: So starting up in Halifax. Tell us a bit about that and how you all formed as a band.

WAYO: We all went to King’s, we’re all in the same year, but we didn’t start playing with each other until second year. We all had different things going on. George and I were in a full cover band, Charlotte was doing her acoustic folk thing and was playing in a post-rock band and Nick [Yim] was the one who brought up the idea of us playing together. We jammed casually a few times and we had an attic in a place on Seymour St. doing like covers, “No Woman No Cry” and some Pink Floyd shit…And we got a show at the argyle that summer and we kind of got together a bunch of covers, a few originals, just very casual, we weren’t really taking it too seriously. But then…[we] just kept getting offered more and more shows, our song writing started to develop, and by the end of our first year together we were recording and producing our own material and putting it out online. We had a really great response on the first recording that we did and we had a feature as one of the best tracks in The Coast, which was cool. And we’ve always had the best crowds in Halifax and people really responded to our music and that was really the incentive for us to kind of keep going and then make the move to Toronto to pursue things further.

EWM: How did you find the transition going from Halifax to Toronto?

WAYO: Well I guess one thing that we notice was by the time we left Halifax we were filling every venue we played and the crowds were always pretty crazy…We came to Toronto and played – well, actually the first show we played was at a bar that was pretty packed, but the NXNE show was pretty empty which was funny. And it was at one of the nicer venues in Toronto so definitely a bit of a reality check when you come from Halifax. Starting in a different city you kind of have to work your way back up.

EWM: What’s next for you guys musically or after the Pop Explosion, do you have many plans?

WAYO: After Pop Explosion we’re gunna finish up - we’re doing another EP – and we’re working with a label out of London and we’re still trying to sort the details with them but we’re pretty excited about that. Having some label support, it’s cool. We’re also working on a remix album of Wanderings (our first EP) with a bunch of different producers: a couple of guys from France, a guy from London, a few people from Toronto, so there probably will be 6 or 7 tracks on there.

We’re also working with a few MCs right now to do more of a hip-hop oriented project. We don’t know if it’s gunna be just an EP or a few tracks or an LP but we’ve met a few cool people recently who want to collab.

EWM: Right on! Keeping busy. By the way – congrats on your nomination for the Music Nova Scotia Awards!

WAYO: Um do you know what the deal is with that if they’ve announced the winner?

EWM: No, I don’t think that happens until the beginning of November.

WAYO: Oh, Okay.

EWM: So I take it that’s not a real big accomplishment for you guys?

WAYO: I mean, it’s cool that we’re getting recognized for that. It’s kind of funny how we’re nominated for best urban music…There’s a lot of that in the music scene in Halifax…But it’s cool, it’s for the first songs we really wrote as a band, you know? Like some of them we recorded in our basement and it’s weird how it’s getting like nominated for an award like that.

EWM: Is there anything urban about the band name? Where does it come from?

WAYO: I guess around the time we first started jamming together I bought this record called Some Brand New Wayo and it was a compilation of all Nigerian disco and funk and soul from the late 70s early 80s. I got really into that album, had a lot of cool things, I mean the album was very live-party-oriented music but was done with really cool synths and weird production and cool melodies so that kind of sparked the idea for the name…But then we did a little more research and apparently “wayo” means footprint…and we like the idea and meaning or that, doing your own thing, moving forward and progressing.

EWM: If you could collaborate with anybody, dead or alive, who would it be?

WAYO: That’s a loaded question. Maybe Drake. Either Drake…or someone who’s dead…maybe Sun Ra or Miles Davis some legendary jazz man…..that would be cool.

EWM: Other than rock stars, what are your dream jobs, where money is not a concern?

WAYO: Marijuana farmer. Have a really nice farm...I think that would be cool.

EWM: Last but not least, design a little playlist for East West Melody – what’s on repeat?

WAYO: MNDSGN, “Camelblues”

Pet Shop Boys, “My October Symphony”

TOPS, “Way To Be Loved”

Stereolab, “Miss Modular”

~

After seeing them perform live at the HPX last night, it’s safe to say that these guys have a bright future ahead of them. So to all our Toronto-based readers: be sure to check them out when possible – cause it’s a real f**king treat. Listen to their playlist here.

#feature