The Sun and The Wolf haven’t always been that. Once upon a time named The Have, they had a manager, a solid fan base in their home country New Zealand, played SXSW in Austin and Barrett Jones produced their album. Things were working out nicely for the band, the future looked bright. However, they had reached a point when a challenge was required and decided to try their luck somewhere else. They packed up and headed for Berlin. The move wasn’t without casualties, losing two band members in the process but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to get those artistic juices flowing.

Consequently The Have became The Sun and the Wolf and have been playing all over Berlin ever since the move here in the spring of 2009. Their sound has developed in a more psych-rock direction from the bluesy feel of The Have and made them one of the best bands playing around at the moment.

In early November I talked to two of the members, Peter and Brodie, right before an acoustic gig at a new venue in Wedding, Studio Acht.

Why did you take the plunge and move to Berlin without having been here before?
Brodie: I think it was kind of a leap of faith. We were at a point in New Zealand where we’ve done a bunch of stuff and I don’t think there was so much of a place yet for us there.
Peter: I don’t know. I think we were just kind of bored.
Brodie: Yeah, I guess maybe restless.
Peter: We needed a drastic change because we were all creatively done and moving was going to either make or break the band. Another reason why I moved over because none of has had an overseas experience.

You lost two band members.
Brodie: The keys player wasn’t one of the core members but the bass player was and he didn’t want to come over with us so it ended up being just the three of us. Me, Peter and Mike, the drummer. We just kind of started as two guitars and drums as The Sun and The Wolf in Berlin.

You changed your name after you moved here right?
Brodie: Yeah, I think we did a couple of shows as The Have and then we thought we should mark this as a new start and cast away the shackles of the old days. That kind of thing.

So how is this adventure going for you?
Brodie: It’s been fantastic…so far.
Peter: It’s not so much an adventure now as just life. The first year was an adventure but now we’ve all settled in to life here.

Do you think you’ve grown as artists since you’ve moved here?
Brodie: Definitely. We’ve grown in more ways than just as musicians. With life experience you gain inspiration for everything and music is definitely one of the areas is that is affected.

Your direction in music has changed since the time as The Have. What would you say was the major influence that contributed to this change?
Brodie: With The Have it was more blues-rocky. I think it was a natural progression from where we were going. I just think that the drastic change of lifestyle brought about a more drastic change in music.
Peter: I don’t think the music would be any different if we were still called The Have, I think it would eventually come to be what it is now regardless of the change in lifestyle.

What are the major differences between developing as a musician in Berlin and New Zealand?
Peter: I think in New Zealand there is much more support for artists from the government. We had a really big manager over there and here we don’t have anything. I don’t know if it’s wrong. It’s just gone backwards. [laughs]
Brodie: We’re kind of carrying the load of looking after our own affairs and all that kind of stuff.

Is there anything you miss?
Peter: I think it’s probably that which we miss the most, just the support we had.

Do you find that maybe the struggle is pushing you forward musically?
Peter: I find it that if you’re struggling to get by day to day it’s kind of hard to make music. For me the easiest time to make music is when you feel very comfortable.

You just recorded a new album titled White Buffalo. How did the recording go?
Peter: It was pretty easy. We recorded it pretty quickly. It took us a while to mix it to get it sounding pretty good as we used really basic equipment. We weren’t  in a massive professional studio or anything. We just did it with our friend Frank Popp. He produced and recorded it with us.
Brodie: We kind of blocked out three weeks to make a recording. We did it at a leisurely but a swift pace. It was good.
Peter: Just because we had a lot of time to work on sounds, different parts of the song. We were free to do whatever we wanted to.

Any particular songs on the album that you’re close to?
Peter: I think “You” is one.

Brodie: Yeah, “You” definitely is one.  What else? “Mountains” and “Oh My Lord”. I guess the first three songs we feel very strong (about). These are our personal favourites.
Peter: “Oh My Lord” and “J. Billows” we played since we first moved over here. They are quite old songs. They are like three years old.
So basically the album is a compilation of all the songs you’ve written so far.
Peter: Yeah. Since we’ve been here.

None of you guys calls himself the main songwriter. How do you develop your songs?
Brodie: It becomes this sort of ritual. One of us will bring an idea forth and from there we collaborate. It’s kind of always the way that we worked. We’re kind of a three headed beast.

What are your plans for the future?
Brodie: We’re going to tour this record. We kind of set up a recording studio of our own and we’re working on building that up. Eventually we want to be just self-sufficient and be able to create at will.

Are you going to organise the tour on your own?
Brodie: Well the album is coming out through TV Eye records, a record label of the same guy who recorded and produced the album with us, Frank. So I guess we have support there. Eventually we are going to work with a booking agent.

Roy Gedlia had just left the formation to go back home. At the moment you are three?
Peter: It’s always been us three creating, being the main creative voice. Since we’ve been in Berlin. And our bass player Roy he didn’t play on the record or record any of the songs.
Who played the bass?
Brodie: I did.

I saw a video of you guys drinking a bottle of strange green liquid. What’s the story behind that one?
Peter: Oh the Chronic.
Brodie: The Chronic.
What the hell is that? It looks like mouth wash.
Peter: It’s The Chronic.
Brodie: A while back I went on to support a folk singer from New Zealand who was touring Europe, and the last date on the tour was in Austria in a place called Liechtenstein. The venue was right next door Goefis where we played the night before. That last night we met some really nice people in Liechtenstein and we decided to go next door. We went there and met the craziest cafe owner guy who gave us this liquor and said  “Take this. It’s like finest Swiss Hemp Liquor”.
Peter: It doesn’t taste good.
Brodie: And that’s the origin of the Chronic. We would sit around and drink it and listen to “The Chronic” by Dr. Dre.

What do you do in your “normal life”?
Brodie: Peter is a barman extraordinaire.
Peter: I work at 8MM bar. Great bar. They have very good concerts there. Do you know about 8MM music night? You should come, it’s very good.
Brodie: I am Mr. White the guitar teacher and I work at Gaudy cafe. Great coffee.

Anything you’d like to add?
Brodie: It’s to Roy. Peace in the Middle East. We don’t stop hoping.

The Sun and The Wolf are Brodie White (guitar, vocals), Peter Mangan (guitar, vocals) and Mikey Tweed (drums).

The Sun and The Wolf will play in full formation with The History Of Colour TV at Knochenbox on 7^th December, presented by www.blitzgigs.de.

Interview & photo: Olga Baczynska

Be Sociable, Share!

•