“I guess that’s the question to life. ‘What do you do with yourself?’ Yeah, that’s a tough question. I feel that personal growth and bettering myself through learning, art or exercise is the way to go. There’s alternate non materialistic ways of feeling fulfilled.”
Dylan Fuentes is the writer, lead singer and art director for Seattle-based psych rock band: Weep Wave. He takes a very down to earth approach to life when he’s not lit by bright projections and eyed by roaring crowds. He is one of the four members of this unique band, which also includes Colton Harold, whose modulated synth sounds solidify the band’s unique tone, Dylan Trujillo, who has hummingbird-like speed and precision on bass, and Van Wolf, whose rhythms on drums perfectly unite the crazy package that is Weep Wave.
Their newest album, Amassing a Mess, starts out fast and hard but quickly divulges into beautiful but chilling rhythmic moans and a theremin like synth sound that embodies what you may have hoped for when you hear psych rock. Their sounds will engulf your very being and force you to sway effortlessly while their lyrics draw your attention to what you may not have known you were doing wrong in the pursuit of happiness.
“I think a lot of people think stuff will make them happy or it will fill the void or what ever when really it’s just a cure for the wrong problem,” Fuentes explains. “I used the term ‘landfill filler’ in one song to describe the junk that they fill their lives with.”
Weep Wave has no plans on slowing down. “We put out Amassing a Mess back in October and then we did a three week tour. When we got back we recorded three singles that we’ll be putting out over summer and we’re also working on another full length album that we will be releasing on 12” vinyl.”
But where does all this inspiration come from? Fuentes explains: “My mom was an animation teacher so she would always bring us to these art events, galleries and whatever projects she was working on so me and my brother were very exposed to that sort of thing when we were young. It’s funny because I took art classes all through school and could never quite get what was in my head down on paper but with music I can produce what I hear in my head, that’s why I stuck more with the music side rather than the art side of it.”
Even so, all the album cover art was done by Fuentes and, as usual, his humbleness shows that not all rockers must come from dingy, difficult backgrounds.
Weep Wave can be seen at the Astoria in Vancouver, BC on May 18th alongside local bands Wax Cowboy, Club Sofa, Kai Bravewood and Closer.