Written By Wolves are a progressive, new 5-piece Cinematic Rock Band hailing from Auckland, New Zealand.
Please list all of your band members and their roles in the band.
Michael Murphy – Vocals
Davie Wong – Guitar
Bahador Borhani – Guitar
Karl Woodhams – Drums
Oli Lyons – Percussion, Keys, Electronic Wizardry
For starters, what bands were you guys a part of prior to Written By Wolves? How long has the band been around?
Mikey – 5Star Fallout
Davie – False Start, Shotgun Alley
Bahador – Shotgun Alley
Karl – Shotgun Alley, Hurricane Kids
Written By Wolves formed in late 2014 and released our first track in May 2015.
What’s the origin of that name and have you changed the band’s name before?
The idea behind the name is that the band is a pack, at our strongest when operating as a unit and that can be evidenced in our live show. However, if I remember correctly, the idea for the name first surfaced one night when we were writing in Davie’s home studio. He has these two cute as shit but wolf-ie looking dogs that walked into the studio, climbed up on the chairs and started staring at the screen as if they were involved…
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?
Davie’s dogs… But on a more serious note, we are all very involved in the writing process, someone will usually come to the group with the initial idea and then Davie will usually build the track up around that. I will then work on lyric and melody ideas and then we all come together in the studio to finish things off!
The lyrical ideas generally come from whatever is going on in my life at the time – things that are good, things that are bad and things that are pissing me off about the world at any given time. Our most recent single, ‘Promise Me’, stems from the phone call between my Dad and I when he called to tell me he had been diagnosed with cancer. The lyrics in each verse replicate our conversations and the chorus is my plea for him to fight.
I try and keep the ideas and themes for each song as diverse as possible and am sure they will continue to change and develop.
What bands are currently inspiring the music that you’re making?
Our influences can be hugely diverse – anything from Hans Zimmer to Bring Me The Horizon to Sia to Metallica.
We are all really digging what Bring Me The Horizon and Asking Alexandria are doing at the moment – trying to push the boundaries of the genre and keeping their sound progressing.
Was there a particular band/artist or concert that inspired you to start a band?
For me personally I have been singing as long as I can remember and have always aspired to be in a rock band but I remember standing on a wheelie bin in a packed stadium watching the Foo Fighters as a 14 year old and thinking this is what I want to do for the rest of my life…
What do you do to prepare for a show? Any flexing, exercises, etc …
Generally rush round like crazy making sure everything is set and ready. I will usually be making a whole heap of really loud, weird noises warming up my voice and about two minutes before we are meant to be on stage one of our guitarist’s, Bahador, will have lost all of his picks, realize his wireless isn’t working and will run off to the bathroom because he needs to take a s**t…
What has been the biggest highlight of the band’s career so far?
We played this incredible winter festival in New Zealand this year called Ohakune Mardi Gras. It was one of Pendulum’s reunion gigs and we had the slot right before them. There were 9500 people there and it was absolutely mind blowing – freezing but mind-blowing…
If you could tour with any bands, past or present, who would they be and why?
We would kill to tour with Bring Me The Horizon right now; we are huge fans of their music and their live show and think that would be one hell of a tour. I would have loved to have had the chance to tour with Linkin Park. Chester is a massive inspiration to me – we still play a little tribute to him at most of our live shows.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
Go and check out our new EP Prologue and feel free to send us a message with any of your thoughts!