For our monthly feature on up-and-coming bands, Wot Gorilla? fill the July spot.

Formed in 2008/2009, Wot Gorilla? quickly made a name for themselves with their blend of math, pop and progressive rock with heavy melodic breakdowns. They’ve played with the likes of Tubelord, The Get Up Kids, Tera Melos and Cursive. The band have also played Reading and Leeds festival and their debut album, Kebnekaise, is due for release in August.

You can check the guys out here: bandcamp facebook website

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WC: For people who might not have heard about you guys before, can you give us some history about the band?

WG: Si (the drummer) and I have played together in various bands over the years, we’d had a break for a while but decided to get back on it. The initial idea of this band was to draw on all our prog influences, Yes, Genesis, King Crimson etc

How many releases have you got out there? Are you signed?

So far we’ve released 2 EP’s and a couple of singles from the forthcoming album, all of which you can download for free from our Bandcamp: wotgorilla.bandcamp.com. We are currently unsigned but happy to release our own stuff, there’s a lot more work involved but the advantage is we reap all the rewards!

What’s next for you guys? Any tours planned?

We’re releasing our debut album ‘Kebnekaise’ on 27th August, to coincide with this we will be playing shows around the UK.

Who are your favourite bands? Main influences?

As a collective I’d say we all enjoy a bit of Oceansize, Genesis (early stuff) Glassjaw, Maps and Atlases, Deftones, Jeniferever, Radiohead and Minus the Bear. I’m not sure we really reflect any of these influences in our music but those bands certainly inspire us to keep writing.

If you could describe your sound, what would it be?

After years of trying to figure this one out we’ve come to the conclusion that‘we combine math, pop and progressive rock.’ Within any one of our songs we tend to go off on a tangent, generally not revisiting any section more than once. Perhaps it’s a little self indulgent and listeners may find it difficult to connect with sometimes, but we’d get bored of playing conventional song structures so that’s that I suppose!

Do you have any funny band stories?

Hmm can we change this to costly/not so funny stories? Cos we’ve got plenty of them… We don’t seem to have the best of luck when it comes down to the band but we always manage to see the funny side of things and get on with stuff. I suppose the worst example of this is having a UK tour all planned out and only managing to play a couple of dates due to our bassist slipping on some wet cardboard outside his flat after a gig and breaking his ankle, total nightmare!

Favourite gig you’ve played so far? Favourite bands to play with?

Reading festival was certainly a highlight for us so far, we had such a great response and we were still fuelled from supporting The Get Up Kids the night before. We should make a special mention to Vasco Da Gama, Gunning for Tamar and NGOD as our favourite bands to play with, they’re all awesome and great to hang out with too!

Do you drink on stage? Or do you prefer to play sober, and get shitfaced after the gig?

I can’t speak for everyone but alcohol pre gig is essential for me, I need to have had at least 3 pints before I feel comfortable singing in front of a load of strangers! Farney likes a drink before we play too, unfortunately the other two tend to have to do the driving so there’s not really much of a choice for them, sorry boys!

What do you guys do outside of Wot Gorilla?

I’m a Civil Servant and the other guys work for a bank doing the usual clerical work, seriously exciting stuff but it pays the bills, unlike playing in a band!

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Be sure to keep an eye out for the guys’ touring dates, and pick up the album when it drops. In the meantime, help some brothers out and buy a t-shirt.

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