In this interview feature, we get to know the most radicalist up and coming stars on the planet.

This time, we had a chat with charismatic songwriter and synth enthusiast Wesley Gonzalez.

Having cut his teeth as a teenager with his first ever band Let's Wrestle, Gonzalez set to work forging a solo career quickly after the band's disbandment in 2015. Veering drastically away from the confrontational guitar-driven sound of his old outfit, Gonzalez' first sole offerings 'I Spoke to Euan' and 'Come Through And See Me' showcased his penchant for good-humoured lyricism and unusual-sounding analogue synthesizers.

Releasing his cheekily titled debut album Excellent Musician in 2017, singles 'I Am A Telescope' and 'Piece of Mind' picked up praise from press and switched us on to Wes' off-kilter sound and left us eagerly waiting for the follow up.

Almost exactly 3 years later, we have a release date for album two - the counterpart to Excellent Musician, Appalling Human. With first tastes 'Change' and 'Tried To Tell Me Something' taking a dancier direction, we wanted to learn more about Gonzalez' musical process and influences as well as getting the scoop on his soon-to-be-arriving new album.

(Photo by Holly Whitaker)

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TMR: For those that might not know, you used to front the boisterous indie-rock band Let's Wrestle back in the noughties. Now you're gearing up to release your second solo record. Do you miss the band dynamic at all or do you prefer to write music alone these days?

I definitely do not miss it, sometimes it was nice to be with a gang but I have fantastic musicians I work with all the time so it doesn't feel that different, only that I don't have to argue to get what I want into a track. We were a very volatile group of people and incredibly young so tensions flared all the time, cant see myself going back.



TMR: Excellent Musician was packed full of interesting synth sounds and from what we've heard of Appalling Human, the same is true. When did you start exploring the world of synthesizers and what makes you so fond of them?

I got very depressed after deciding to call it a day on Let's Wrestle not knowing what I was doing and taking a lot of drugs, Ive got quite an extreme personality and decided that I should quit playing guitar cos it hard started to bore me. So I bought an electric piano for about £100 and a Siel Orchestra synthesizer, little weird Italian synth, to try and make Goblin-esque soundtrack music. I have always been a pop writer so it ended up just turning into pop music, then If I got a good royalty check through I'd buy an old synthesizer, I've stopped that now as i don't have the space. I think whats so appealing is the range of sound 1 synthesizer can make, guitars always sound the same pretty much, to me anyway, having said that I'm getting back into playing guitar now, so the next record will probably have a lot more on.

TMR: You've described your debut as “pre-therapy”, with Appalling Human being the “post-therapy” album. Can you tell us more about that?

Its quite literal really, the first album was all written in the midst of what became a breakdown that caused me to start therapy, this one was written during the most dark sessions and learning how to cope with some very heavy parts of my upbringing but also learning to let go of them too. so its a bit more balanced in light and dark that the first.

TMR: There's always been a whiff of tongue-in-cheek to your tunes. We can see that in the titles of your albums also. Is this a conscious decision or something that just happens naturally?

It happens naturally really, I try and write in the way I speak and I think thats where that comes from. I like nothing more than taking the piss out of something but I don't think my writing is intentionally funny, I just like songwriters who aren't afraid to mock themselves and others.



TMR: James Greenwood (aka Ghost Culture), who's worked on things by Daniel Avery and Kelly Lee Owens, came on board to mix your brilliant recent single 'Change'. How did that come about and has he mixed any other tracks on the album?

I really wanted someone on board who had a background in dance music as thats what inspired a lot of this record, I spent a lot of time listening to house, hip hop and disco stuff and got more and more locked into rhythm sections or bassier parts. I find that Sub bass is overlooked in Indie music especially with bands and it often lacks in indie production so I was talking with my manager and he suggested James and I remembered really enjoying the Ghost Culture record and thought it seemed like a good match. I think he's done such a good job with the mix, very talented guy same must be said of Euan Hinshelwood who co-produced the record with me in his Vacant TV studio in Greenwich.

TMR: Were there any particular artists, records or even non-musical references that directly inspired the new album?

I don't think i've ever consumed more music than during the writing process of this record. Prince, Yellow Magic Orchestra, Scritti Pollitti, Ata Kak, Sly Stone, Aaliyah, George McCrae, Soichi Terada, Jessy Lanza, Golden Teacher, Patrick Cowley, Lil Kim. those are just a few. The biggest initial inspiration on the sonics of the record was a compilation of home recorded Electronic Soul music in the 70s, called Personal Space, I had that on repeat and used it as a bit of a template to build on. It doesn't sound particularly similar but I think I took a lot of inspiration in a lot of the singing, as well as synth/drum machine sounds.

TMR: Can you explain a bit about the writing and recording process behind Appalling Human in general?

I would usually write after therapy sessions. I was falling out with my stepfather and I was disowned as a child by my real father and it all felt like history was repeating itself, which it inevitably did. So there is a lot of references to family, I was living with my ex girlfriend in Brixton and was in the process of extreme change and was slipping between nihilistic depression and ecstatic energy after having mini breakthroughs. I found that the more I went to therapy the more I would write so I amassed a tonne of songs and I picked out the best and we recorded it at Euan's place in Greenwich which was really fun. Euan had been playing in my band on the last album cycle and it was really great having someone I was so close with in charge of the engineering. He was very quick to understand what kind of sounds/ideas I wanted, it was all done over the space of about 2 weeks. Apart from 'Tried To Tell Me Something' I wrote that one after we'd finished and decided it was such a belter it needed to be on there so we went back in for that one.

TMR: We were lucky enough to catch you live at your Brixton Windmill residency back in 2018. Are you planning on using a similar live set up when we're finally able to go to gigs again or do you think the new songs will require some changes?

Yeah pretty much the band has had a line up change and I'm trying to downsize the amount of keyboards we are using, because theres 5 onstage along with sax bass and drums so a bit of a logistical nightmare. the other big change is theres a couple of tracks i've started playing guitar on, which I'm weirdly nervous about, I genuinely forgot a lot about it and have spent the last year trying to relearn it in a way I find interesting. Basically teaching myself how to play Nile Rodgers style, very hard to sing and play guitar.



TMR: Whilst the atmosphere was pretty spot-on at those Windmill shows, if you could create the perfect environment to listen to your music in what would it be?

I spent most of the time working on ideas and listening to it smoking dope and walking up and down Coldharbour Lane in Brixton so thats what I visualise when I re -listen to it, if you want the authentic experience. but I think it suits the dirtier parts of London, I found myself being drawn to walking around seedier darker back streets as I think it suited my mood at the time.

TMR: As a blog specialising in emerging artists, we'd love to pick your brains about any interesting new things you've been listening to?

My favourite new band are Jockstrap, I think they are really fantastic, a really amazing balance of modern experimental production with beautiful classic pop melodies. I saw a great band in NYC at the end of last year called Sweet Baby Jesus who reminded me of Sheer Mag, I'm really looking forward to another Golden Teacher record, loved their last one. Champagne Dub made a really interesting record about a year ago that I recommend, I love Oliver Coates his last two albums have been incredible. PRAH label mates Pozi are great too, lastly, the new Grimm Grimm LP is well worth a listen, as always.

TMR: Finally, we know the current health crisis has well and truly halted all possibilities of touring, but how are you planning to spend the next few months?

I did my first livestream thing for DIY magazine the other day which went really well so working on doing some more of them, want to try and get better at filming/editing stuff so I can broadcast more stuff from home. I've also recorded an EP to release as bonus stuff during this crisis, into just recording some stuff from home and just putting it out digitally so hopefully I'll do a bit of that, I like how direct it is. I will mainly be writing tunes I guess, like usual. Can't wait til its over and we can play some shows!!!



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Appalling Human we be released on the 12th of June via Moshi Moshi Records. 

-Holly Mullineaux