“As soon as we incorporated the pedal steel and started exploring what a country version of This Wild Life would sound like, dozens of songs just started coming out of me—more creative output than any time in our career,” says Kevin Jordan, who makes up one half of This Wild Life.
This Wild Life made their debut in 2012 with the release of Heart Flip, an eight-track album that contained all the angst and pop-punk swag that you would find at, say, Warped Tour. Over the years, Jordan and bandmate Anthony Del Grosso continued to pair emotional songwriting with an intimate acoustic guitar sound, and they released hits like “Westside,” “Catie Rae,” and “History.” Their heartfelt music and DIY ethos (from handing out their CDs at Warped Tour to building their own stage sets) attracted a strong fanbase, who feel a sense of connection and resilience with the band. But music is not objective, so it can change over time for many reasons.
“I think our taste and passions have just changed over the last ten years. We started falling in love with the country genre ten years ago after randomly seeing an artist named Jason Isbell perform at a festival we played in Milwaukee,” says Jordan. “The next crucial catalyst for the sonic shift was Anthony picking up the pedal steel and becoming obsessed with the instrument.”
Jordan goes on to share that the inspiration to write more acoustic songs after This Wild Life’s last album, Never Fade, had actually started to…fade. But when they tapped into a country sound, they were reborn. They traded in their acoustic guitars for pedal steel and fiddle. They swapped out their matching button-down shirt and shorts combos for t-shirts and blue jeans. They updated their Spotify bio so that it reads, This Wild Life is a two piece country duo. Yes sir, the boys went country.
In July, This Wild Life revealed their new identity with the release of “Good Man Gone To Waste.” The track incorporates their signature acoustic sound, but it feels wider and more inclusive. There is a warm, full band sound that comes through, and Jordan’s soft rock vocals have a bit of a country twang to them.
“It was important to us to make an album that had inspiration being pulled from all the different sub-genres within country that have moved us”
“It felt like a great bridge between our past catalogue and the sound that we were chasing,” explains Jordan. “That being said, there is a TON of variety on the album between up-tempo/windows down sing-a-longs, to mid-tempo two steppers and true ballads. It was important to us to make an album that had inspiration being pulled from all the different sub-genres within country that have moved us.”
Turns out, “Good Man Gone To Waste” was the first song they wrote for the new album. Until this song, they had scrapped dozens of earlier tracks that sounded more like an attempt at a country version of This Wild Life rather than an actual version.
“It was so gratifying to hear it all come together in the studio and finally HEAR what we had only imagined a country TWL song could be,” Jordan shares. “The writing and recording process can be grueling at times, but the delayed gratification of hearing a piece of art that you just imagined at one point keeps me coming back. I still get so excited to get mixes of songs that have only been rough demos up to that point—it’s kind of the reason I still do this, to be honest.”
When Jordan listened back and heard his voice accompanied by electric guitars, drums, pedal steel, and fiddle, he knew that it was game over. This Wild Life was onto something, and that something was going to be a brand new era.
The writing and recording process began, but it was different than it was on previous albums—aside from the new sound. Jordan and Del Grosso went from living a half a mile from each other to living on different sides of the country. “Our writing relationship has always been strange. Now that we live on opposite sides of the country, it’s even more file sharing,” explains Jordan.
Still, Del Grosso’s new connection with the pedal steel was exciting for Jordan. “I had been feeling burned out on making albums after our last cycle, didn’t really feel that passion I did ten years ago,” he says. “That all changed when Anthony picked up the pedal steel and really dove in headfirst with the instrument. I wanted to chase that passion, and it led to the most songs I’ve ever written in a year’s span.”
Overall, they wrote over 50 songs for the new album. “It’s been the longest writing and recording process of our career, and I think that’ll show when fans hear it,” explains Jordan. And fans will definitely get to hear some of these songs on the road this fall, when This Wild Life head out on their first-ever full band tour. They will be joined by Nate Bergman, and they will hit up various venues across the US like Cannery Hall in Nashville, the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix, and the Marquis Theater in Denver.
As for the city they’re looking forward to playing the most?
“San Antonio! Somehow, that city has become our home away from home,” Jordan says. “Our most passionate and loudest singing fans somehow all live there, and we’ll never understand why.”
“Our first full band tour is something we’ve dreamed of since the band first started”
Of course, the tour is going to be an incredible experience for everyone, no matter who they are or where they live. “Our first full band tour is something we’ve dreamed of since the band first started,” says Jordan. “Having a live drummer, fiddle, and guitarist with Anth on pedal steel is going to be a whole new experience for the band,” Jordan says. “I couldn’t be more excited to ring out the first note next month. Going to be doing a really cool stage production as usual, and I’ll start sharing the building process really soon.”
So, new sound, new album, new tour. You can say they have a new look too, but if we are talking about the jeans, This Wild Life lean more toward the pants than the shorts. Before we wrapped things up, I just had to ask Jordan if jean shorts—“jorts”—will ever be in This Wild Life’s future. “I actually bought a pair of jean shorts when we were in Australia this year,” he shares. “I walked out of the hotel to meet Anth for lunch, and he just said, ‘Nope, go back to your room and change.’”
As far as change goes, This Wild Life have reinvented themselves. And none of this might have been possible if not for their fans. “[We] would like to thank the fans for a decade of support and allowing us such a long leash creatively,” Jordan explains. “Not a lot of bands have the kind of unwavering support to pursue new sounds like this, and it doesn’t go without notice or appreciation. See everyone on the road!”
You can listen to “Good Man Gone To Waste” and the band’s newest single “Hello Rock Bottom” here.
Catch This Wild Life on tour this fall with Nate Bergman here.
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