A conversation with Woo

Woo are a five-piece indie-rock band from Liverpool comprising of Jake Chin (lead guitar), Jack Fallon (rhythm guitar), Shi Burman (vocals), Kieran Flannery (bass) and Guto Tyson (drums). With a wide range of influences and an impressive show history under their belt.

Woo are making waves in the Liverpool music scene and beyond, playing with bands like Cast, Stone and The Sway. Featuring songs titled “My People”, “Keep Me” and “Wake”, their set list is an exhibition of their signature sound that draws from both classic rock and contemporary punk influences that deserves to be seen live. 

NSG: Good morning and how are you? What have you been doing today and how’s that going?

Woo: Good morning, yeah we’re doing well thanks we’ve mostly just spent the day working on some stuff for the New Year, we’re excited to be getting back into things now this year!

NSG: So let’s start at the beginning. Where did you grow up and what was it like?

Woo: To be honest we all grew up relatively close to one another in Liverpool, some of us even went to primary school together so we’ve all known each other for a long time – except for our drummer Guto anyway who grew up in Wales and we met at college. 

NSG: Who are and what is Woo? It’s a cool name, what’s the story behind it?

Woo: We’re a five-piece band from Liverpool and we started out in early 2021. We got the name Woo from Jake, our guitarist’s, great grandad’s name, which we’ve also recently found out translates to the wizard/shaman, which we’re happy about. We definitely went through a bit of a journey to settle on a name but we all loved the name Woo as soon as we heard it.

NSG: How would you describe your sound?

Woo: Big. I think that we’d all agree that our sound is still evolving, it’s a huge combination of all our individual tastes and has definitely changed over time but one thing that has always stayed consistent is our energy. We put a lot of ourselves into our music whether that be lyrically or through the songs themselves and I think that when people listen to it that definitely comes across. It’s a mix of the raw angst of modern scouse music and our own kind of energy – it’s definitely us.

(Woo)

NSG: You have supported some iconic bands like ‘CAST’ and local up-and-comers ‘The Sway’, what was that like?

Woo: Playing with The Sway was a boss experience for us, they’re all lovely lads and seeing another local band smashing it like they are is inspiring. That gig was a huge step forward for us, especially for establishing ourselves locally, plus their afterparty in the Jac was boss! As for supporting ‘CAST‘, playing alongside such a professional and established band was a privilege, to say the least, and definitely opened our eyes to something new. Touring with them is something that we’re never going to forget and even gave us our first opportunity to play outside of Liverpool so we’re always going to be grateful for that.

NSG: Will you be releasing new music this year and what can listeners expect?

Woo: We’ve got big plans for this year and we’re hoping to release our first single in the upcoming months.

NSG: Who or what have been your biggest influences?

Woo: There’s definitely a long list of names we could say that have affected us all individually but musically the bands that stand out for us all the most would probably have to be ‘Fontaines D.C‘ and ‘Pink Floyd‘. There’s a mad mix of tastes in the band that goes from old stoner-rock bands to experimental modern music where there’s more of a production focus but I think that it all ends up in a melting pot together which we can share with each other and find ideas from.

NSG: What’s your process for writing a song?

Woo: To be honest it usually just starts with one of us bringing a riff to practice and everyone messing around with it and bouncing ideas off of each other until we have a semi-completed song. The lyrics are usually written alongside this and end up directing the energy and tone of the track but it’s definitely all a collaborative process.

NSG: How would you describe life in the UK currently?

Woo: I think we can all agree things are pretty bleak at the moment, there’s a government that doesn’t care about people like us and obviously the consequences of it are hitting everyone. There’s no way to sugarcoat it, times are shit right now but who knows, maybe making everyone study maths might fix that!

(Woo_o2 Liverpool_Credit: Billy Vitch)

NSG: If you could sit down for dinner with any three people from history, past or present who would they be and why?

Woo: It would probably end up being David Gilmour, Steven Gerrard, and Thom Yorke. Besides the fact they’ve all been idols to us at one point or another, I’d love to just watch those 3 interact with each other.

NSG: What’s your best advice on finding happiness and living a fulfilling life?

Woo: It would be rich of us to try and enlighten you when we’re only 18 ourselves! But we know that surrounding yourself with people that you love and people who love you back is a step in the right direction. 

NSG: What is 2023 looking like for you?

Woo: 2023 is looking big for us we have a lot of good things in the works and we’re looking forward to showing everyone what’s next.

NSG: Thank you so much for your time, we wish you all the luck in the world! Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Woo: Thank you for having us, It’s been a pleasure!

You can follow Woo on Instagram via the link below

Instagram