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

This time we speak with eccentric art rock duo, WOOZE.

Formed in 2017 out of Brixton-based art collective Muddy Yard, WOOZE is the surreal musical brainchild of Theo Spark and Jamie She that’s making some of the most imaginative and maniacally addictive music of the moment.

Drawing from the ancient Pansori musical tradition, the eccentric performance of David Bowie, the monumental guitar riffs of Led Zeppelin and seemingly countless other influences, WOOZE blend guitars, drums, vocals (and not a whole lot more) to make their vibrant, genre-smashing sound.

Coming off the back of two sensational singles (their showstopping debut ‘Hello Can You Go’ and their anthem for the introverted ‘Party Without Ya’), WOOZE have just dropped their latest slice of warped alt. pop. in ‘Ladies Who Lunch With Me’ which delightfully builds on all the sonic splendour of their previous work.

To be sure, WOOZE’s tracks are both melodically gratifying and sonically rich, but hidden beneath the madcap bombast of it all lies another layer of this increasingly curious musical oddity. With a name deriving from an anglicisation of the Korean word for ‘(outer) space’ (우주), it certainly makes sense that Wooze should also explore issues of identity, detachment and estrangement in their meaningful yet playful lyrics.

This British-Korean duo are on a hell of a run right now, and with rumours of an album in the works, we simply had to catch up with Spark and She to discuss the WOOZE journey so far…

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TMR: Hi Theo, Hi Jamie. Could you start by telling us a little bit about how this project came together? What did the first few months of WOOZE look like?

We were living together in a disused builder’s depot in Brixton Hill called Muddy Yard for a couple of years with other artist friends, putting on lots of art and music shows, so it really came about through that and the need for there to be a house band. We converted a room into a rehearsal space and wrote most of our early material within a few months.

TMR: There’s a lot of musical information contained in the songs we’ve heard so far. They incorporate huge rock riffs, 80s synths, funk basslines, psychedelic organs and falsetto vocals, cycling through genres and ideas extremely quickly. How do you go about writing songs like this?

We both had a very clear idea of what our musical manifesto was from the outset, which was essentially creating something as fun and interesting as we could through the limitations of just drums and a guitar in our practice space. That and also trying to make the other person laugh. Once that foundation was set, the other parts came about very painlessly through us essentially chucking shit against the skeletal song structure until we both were happy with what stuck.

TMR: Korean culture is clearly an important aspect of the band. For those of us that aren’t so familiar with Korean culture, what aspects in particular are you drawing from with regards to WOOZE’s music?

Theo, through partially growing up in Korea, listened to a lot of late 90s and early 00s K pop and hip hop, as well as more trad korean music, which has definitely influenced our songwriting to a degree. We both are really into Asian music generally, especially Japanese City Pop and Yukihiro Takahashi from YMO. Certain elements of street fashion in Seoul as well are really down our street.

TMR: We’ve heard there’s an album in the works. Is there anything you can tell us about your experiences, processes and inspirations for this?

Before we formed the band we were working towards a claymation opera, so wrote a huge amount of songs for that as well as developing an ensemble of different characters, and this definitely has bled through into WOOZE’s lyrics. For the album we want it to be centred around the theme of identity crisis through character vignettes. Due to social media and online games it’s easy to redefine your own reality and that’s really fascinating as well as problematic for us, and seems like a good place to start conceptually.



TMR: You guys obviously have a very strong and clear visual aesthetic. Of course there’s the ubiquity of the colour yellow in almost everything you do, but there’s also your cinematic videos (shot by renowned K-Pop director Nuri Jeong) in Seoul. How did you go about establishing this visual dimension? Was this developed in tandem with the music?

Definitely. We both believe that if you’re gonna talk the talk you have to walk the walk, or at least give the impression that you are. Most of our favourite artists had the visual aesthetic to match their music so it just seems like a shame if you don’t make the most of that opportunity.

TMR: Of course we’re familiar with the bizarre world of your videos but what can we expect from a WOOZE live show?

We’ve finally completed our live lineup - it was initially just us two, with bass on backing track [WOOZE now have a bassist called Macca for the live shows]. One of our favourite ever shows was LA Shark at Corsica years ago so they’re a big influence in what we try to channel live.

TMR: We understand you’re both big fans of karaoke and spend a lot of time in the Seoul karaoke bars when you visit. What’s your go-to sing-a-long?

We have a grim fascination with the Filipino phenomenon of the ‘My Way’ killings where people have murdered because of a dodgy or really tremendous rendition of Sinatra. So we test the water with each other by singing a rendition of My Way each whenever we go to karaoke. We haven’t killed each other yet so we must be reassuringly mediocre at it. Other than that, Jamie usually goes for the crooners and Theo goes for power pop.

TMR: If you could curate an ideal environment to experience your music, what would it be?

In Korea there are loads of cavernous places which go under the banner of ‘night clubs’ but are only frequented by middle aged Koreans. Theo went to one with a friend and there were about ten people seated in a place that could have fit a thousand, eating fruit platters and watching a Korean boy band performing. It was so surreal - like something out of a David Lynch film.

TMR: What would be your dream piece of WOOZE merchandise?

We already have them - small 3D figurines of us that we made for the ‘Party Without Ya’ video. Vanity insanity.

TMR: Are there any up-and-coming artists or bands you’re really enjoying lately?  

Pleasure Complex are immense. We also really rate: Grace Lightman, Show Boy, Jessica Winter, Pelicandy, Another Sky, SWEAT, CHAI, just to name a few.

TMR: What does the rest of 2018/2019 hold for WOOZE?

We’ve got a few festivals left this year and then we’re playing a New Year’s Eve show in Seoul. While we’re there we’re doing another vid with our director Nuri Jeong and then releasing our EP shortly after!



Watch out for WOOZE’s new EP and be sure to catch them at The Great Escape’s FIRST FIFTY show at the Curtain Hotel on 27^th November. We certainly will be…

-Karl Jawara