Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.

Dartanyan: vocals, guitar, bass (mystery boy sex symbol)

Dan: vocals, drums (best drummer in the world™)

Madison: vocals, guitar, bass (girl that slays vocals)

Justin: guitar (goofball kid just shredding whenever he gets the chance)

For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Wild Planet? How long has the band been around?

We’ve been a band for about 2 years now. Before WILD PLANET, Dartanyan and myself (Justin) were in a band in high school together which is how we became extremely close friends. We went on to college and met Madison through Dartanyan, and we were hooked on her voice immediately. Maddie had her own solo project going before college so she had an EP that Dartanyan got his hands on and it was over for him. He called me more excited than you could imagine and was like: “DUDE, YOU GOTTA HEAR THIS GIRL’S VOICE. Like actually, she’s so talented, and she plays guitar and …” on and on and on. So I checked it out and we jammed, wrote a song and that was it, bang we were a band.

What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?

Our name was David and The Phoenix inspired by the name of my mom’s favorite children’s book that has a really interesting story, you should actually check it out, but we then nearly a year later met a kid named Dan also through Dartanyan. He’s a jazz drummer in the school of music at FSU and was a resident on Dartanyan’s floor in the dorm they both lived in. D found out Dan played drums and it was a rap from there, we jammed, and wrote Running From The Sun, and our new band was formed. Our sound kept on changing and we eventually decided to come up with a new name, based off the french film La Planete Sauvage, translated to Fantastic Planet, we went with WILD PLANET. And that’s how we came to be. (Justin)

Who writes your songs? What are the main themes or topics for most of your songs and do you think these topics will change over time?

Normally when we piece together a song and jam it out in practice Dartanyan will improvise with Maddie some lyrics to throw in melodies, and then after the fact they’ll go back and rework some of the lyrics. We’ve all taken part in writing vocals but Dartanyan and Madison are the primary writers in the group. As for the music goes we more often than not come to practice with small ideas and then 15 minutes later have a full-fledged song. But we all partake in the direction of which we want our songs to go and how to translate the feelings behind them. It’s a very natural process for us which is a great thing because as you know that’s not the easiest thing to come by. Very open-minded people and the creative process behind our music is so enjoyable. (Justin)

The main topics of our songs have to do with past relationships, experiences, and just all around life.  One of our most recent ones is about how stuck in your head you can be after something big happens like losing someone you love.  Timing really is at the essence of everything we experience.  It can affect being with someone or not, getting that job or not.  And at the end of the day we all want more of it...especially because everything eventually has a due date.  Moving forward I think that our topics will change as we experience new things in new ways.  But I think at the core of our songs that person you maybe feel like you knew in the first album will still be there in the second and third album. (Madison)

What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?

I’d say a big band for majority of us that’s influenced our sound a decent bit is bands like Hippo Campus, Vampire Weekend and more. Personally I’m into bands like Fidlar, Slothrust (who we actually played with a few months ago they were awesome), We Are The City, Kings of Leon, Remo Drive, Dr. Dog and some more. We have each a pretty eclectic music taste that covers a lot of spectrums so it’s hard to say. But our love for music definitely extends into other realms like hip hop, jazz, new wave, punk, grunge, classic rock, rap, everything you name it. (Justin)

I would say Hippo Campus and Vampire Weekend are definitely big ones too.  I’ve always been into singer-songwriter type musicians like Regina Spektor and Damien Rice.  But when I first met Dee and Justin they showed me all these cool indie rock bands and it opened up a whole new world of music for me.  (Madison Fields)

Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?

I feel as a kid growing up around the same age as myself, bands like RHCP and Nirvana put me on to wanting to be a musician and love, breathe and create the same thing with a group of people. Watching documentaries and youtube videos on them and their background stories is what really got me in the lifestyle of music, wanting to get better and better and expand my knowledge more than I’d ever thought. Those groups growing up that had so much honesty and emotion, even vulnerability in their music helped me and everyone who listened to it in so many ways and got me thinking that I want to do the same thing one day. Also guitar hero put me on to playing guitar, which is why my taste for music extends far greater boundaries than just one type of rock or metal.  (Justin)

I feel like what always got me into music were artists like Norah Jones and Sting.  My parents would play a lot of their albums and live shows growing up and something about their music drew me in.  Once I started listening to more rock stuff and seeing how many amazing songs bands like Led Zeppelin and Nirvana wrote, I realized that there is a certain kind of collective genius that can come from being in a band with so many talented individuals.  It gives you a lot of room to grow and that’s how I feel playing in our band.  (Madison)  

What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, ect …

We just did the hokey pokey the other day before our show lol. Before big shows we’ll huddle up and whoever is feeling the drunkest or the least introverted that day will say a little speech about kicking ass, then we’ll all say we love each other and let’s get wild (as an ironic statement because that’s what our thing is haha). It pretty much fits in every situation so feel free to message us anytime about getting wild, we love it.

A group huddle is always a fun way to hype eachother up. Also a couple shots doesn’t hurt. Considering Justin’s answer, you can bet I’m usually the one giving the speech about kicking ass! (Dan)

What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?

Our EP release was a really fun show! I think it was the 1st or 2nd most packed show ever at the Venue we played at (The Wilbury) in Tallahassee so that was a really great thing for us. But we’ve played with some great bands and I think that’s all really our favorite highlights. We played a show with Magic City Hippies an awesome band from Miami, super cool guys. We played with Slothrust (love them, most listened to band on my spotify in 2017), as well as the Jacuzzi Boys, another band from Miami which was a huge thing for us. We also played with some great up and coming bands like Stoplight Observations, based out of Charleston, South Carolina. Great guys that we hope to play with again, and we also play consistently with our good friends Glass House Point out of Tampa that are coming up real fast ready to make a difference in the music scene. And recently we played with a band called Midnight Matinee out of Bainbridge, GA and they are great guys. Super super talented. Playing shows with great bands always is a special thing and it makes you want to get better along the way so it’s always fun for us. (Justin)

Ditto that haha.  I have loved getting to play with so many great bands.  Not just in that they are amazing to see live and the fact that we get to play with them, but so many of them a such great people.  They’ve all fought for their own way into getting their music heard and it’s really inspiring.  (Madison)

If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?

If I could tour with any bands I would love to tour with Fidlar, Remo Drive, Stoplight Observations, Diet Cig, Hippo Campus, Slothrust. Touring with SWMRS would be fun, and other groups like Cage the Elephant obviously oh my god they were incredible. Let them all know that we’re down haha, we’d have some seriously awesome shows. (Justin)

I’d love to tour with Stoplight Observations, Hippo Campus, Rostam, Frankie Cosmos,           A R I Z O N A, Local Natives and so many more.  They are all such insane bands and their music never gets old.  (Madison)

Going on tour with Tame Impala would be the real dream. They have such a unique style that always puts a smile on my face and simply being in their presence for however long would teach us a lot. Other bands like Portugal the Man, Local Natives, Dr. Dog, and alt-J, would be a great fit simply because I think they’re listeners would really enjoy our music. I think there’s enough overlap in our music to make for a wild tour. (Dan)

Is there anything else you would like to add?

Find us at your nearest blockbuster for a 3 day rental and a quickie. Stay wild you wild people, from yours truly: WILD PLANET.

Oh and seriously, come out to our shows. They’ll be fun I promise. Justin will get you a drink and talk about your favorite netflix shows, sports, or philosophical life topic. You know you want to get … wild. Lol love you guys though, thanks for listening to our music and for those that haven’t heard us yet, you might want to take a listen before your friend beats you to finding this “cool new band on my discover weekly playl