husband wants a wife
Good friends of mine Husband wants a wife., are a surf rock / grunge band from Wollongong with Luc English on rhythm guitar and vocals, Callum McCombie on lead guitar and backing vocals, Riley Clark on bass guitar and Riley Brown on drums. I caught up with the boys in Riley Clark’s backyard in Wollongong during their jam before a gig to talk about their music, gigs, and what its like creating music whilst three out of the four and completing year 12 and one doing a trade. Straight off the bat you get a sense of how these guys don’t take themselves to seriously and this charisma gives a feel that reaches out during their live gigs.
WANDERER: In three words describe Husband Wants a Wife?
LUC ENGLISH: How bout really fucking shit?
RILEY BROWN: I would go with that.
RILEY CLARK: No no no that's not fair
When did you guys first start to play instruments?
CALLUM MCCOMBIE: Around 10
LE: Year 5 I don't know how old that is though, probably around 11.
RB: year 1.
Were they the instruments you play now?
CM: Yeah
LE: Yeah, Mr Clark has done many different instruments.
RC: First instrument was drums in year 1 for two years. Then violin in year 2, dropped that and picked up saxophone in year 3 and have played that ever since. Then from year 7 to now I’ve picked up piano, bass and guitar.
RB: Yeah I did a few others but not for long.
LE: I also did singing lesson from like when I was 9 to 14.
When did you first get together?
CM: Ahh it was around late 2016.
LE: It started with my and Riley (Brown) originally, we just wanted to make songs. Then we were like ah we’re a bit shit together so then got Callum and then we got Riley (Clark).
CM: It all accumulated in a year, we all knew each other through school.
Who came up with the name husband wants a wife?
CM: Riley Brown
How?
CM: A Vietnamese holiday
RB: So we were on a Vietnamese bus to Har Long Bay and we saw a sign that said the Bachelor and I said isn’t it that show called Husband Wants a Wife and then everyone laughed at me because I meant to say…
LE: Farmers wants a wife?
RB: So... ah I don't even know what I meant to say
CM: So you meant to say farmer wants a wife instead of Husband wants a wife and then it just stuck.
RB: But what I meant to say was the bachelor, yeah something like that, and when we started the band and didn't know what to call it Luc said just call it Husband Wants a Wife and yeah.
How do you find time to make music together between school and work?
CM: Well it starts with one of us having an idea, so maybe I would write the cords, and then we would come together and jam it out. Or Luc would write a song by himself and we will jam that out.
RC: And we have a group chat too, with the boys and if someone comes up with an idea they will film it and send it in. And we either say yeah thats sick let's jam it out.
CM: Or that sounds shit don't do it again.
RC: Yeah thanks!
The Wollongong Music Scene is huge, would you guys ever consider playing gigs in Sydney?
CM: Yes we want to. We want to play more gigs. We've played one of two up in Sydney. Locals fun but.
LE: I wanna play all of Australia!
RB: All of the world! U2!!
Do you get many people interested in your music that from places you don't know?
RC: Yeah we have some guy message us on our instagram and he's like when are you guys coming to Europe. And it's like ah man!!
LE: When our second song came out "Rick and Morty" in a week we got over 1000 streams in Brazil, and yeah it was pretty cool.
RB: Our second most popular country is the United States and then its New Zealand and then the UK.
LE: And Germany
CM: Yeah so we would love to be able to play anywhere we can.
Do you think you will get more into the band stuff after school?
CM: Yeah for sure, more time to work on it and try to turn it into something bigger is a huge goal for all of us.
What's it like playing gigs? Do you guys still get nervous?
CM: At first it was nerve racking but after the first couple of songs we loved it. Don’t usually get nervous now, More excited and pumped up!
RB: Nah not at all anymore, it's more like a “hurry up, I wanna go play!”
LE: Playing gigs is a fun feeling now instead of a nervous feeling.
RC: Playing gigs is heaps of fun, more adrenaline than nerves, but sometimes when we try something new you can get a bit on edge but as soon as it’s done it’s the greatest feeling.
