Getting To Know... The Wha

After delivering the singles '40 Odd Years' and 'Innocents', which have so far drawn support from the likes of BBC 6 Music, Radio X, DIY Magazine, Dork and many more, Irish outfit The Wha are quickly becoming one of this year's most talked about new acts and have now returned with their latest offering 'Blue For You'.

Produced by the legendary Stephen Street (Blur, The Smiths, The Maccabees), 'Blue For You' uses that sweeping 90s Britpop sound and give it an extremely vibrant and contemporary edge. With its lullaby-like direction and sweeping guitar hooks, this newest delight sees them continue that fresh and uplifting direction they have always looked to explore.

So with their new single on rotation for many right now, we sat down with them to find out more about their earliest beginnings and what has inspired them over the years.

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What were the first instruments you fell in love with?

Marek: A Rickenbacker i saw in a movie and the 909.

Abe: Uhhh drums I guess.

Sam: Michael Cera's Rickenbacker bass in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Finn: Guitar baby.

What has been the most prominent inspiration behind your music so far?

M: A lad from another band once said i play bass like your man from Fugazi, hating capitalism.

A: Why ABBA of course!

S: A rejection of the vile, destructive, noise pose of last year's Dublin city clanger.

F: Sam Cullen.

What kind of music did you love as teenagers?

M: Terrible, awful music.

A: The Madchester scene for a while, also Blur, The Clash and THUH BEATLES.

S: Most things beginning with the letter A. Arctic monkeys, Aztec Camera, Arcade Fire. - Abba and Lily Allen.

F: (Finn apparently didn’t listen to music in his teenage years).

Can you remember the first song that made you want to pursue a life in music?

M: 'Rio' by Duran Duran has such a fat bassline it made me get a bass and learn it in a month.

A: Definitely not.

S: 'Police and Thieves' by the Clash/ 'We Are The World', Bob Dylan Isolated Vocals.

F: (same)

When you wake up in the morning, what kind of music do you like to listen to?

M: Either glitzy bubblegum pop, metal or math noise jazz art music.

A: Too early for me.

S: I like to listen to my demos early morning.

F: Can’t beat a bit of ska in the morning.

How many of your songs have you written about people in your life?

M: Loads, that’s why i don’t sing.

A: I can't read or write.

S: A few, but it is inevitably all an extension of my own internal universe. But people are important for presenting your self-concealed epiphanies. Other people are clues to unlocking the puzzle of the personal.

F: All of them.

What have been the most memorable moments in your career so far?

M: Having our first proper headline in Dublin and seeing strangers in all sorts of altered states of mind getting down to our music.

A: Supporting Supergrass and recording with Stephen Street fo sho.

S: Sitting in the smoking area of some trendy pub in Acton, rationalising the school-boy-giggle-inducing excitement of working with Stephen Street. Cracking the code to optimistic futurism, with a table-full of pints and a pack of best buddies.

F: The first gig we ever played. It’s all gone downhill since then.

Outside of music, what are your biggest passions?

M: Grillin, smokin with the boys (unisex), computer.

A: Boring old portraiture.

S: Smoking fags (rollups x), books and films.

F: Don’t really have any.

If you weren’t musicians, what other path do you think you might have taken?

M: College, shit job, move back to Poland, suicide.

A: Don't want to think about it tbh.

S: Copping dope at 1AM from an ex-priest named Anton Sculpy outside the Red Abbey with a flaggon in my trackies.

F: Landscape gardening.

And what advice would you give to those looking to start a career in music?

M: Stop being dickheads to each other and the people you work with, don’t get a god complex (whoops), practice for a very very very long time before you ever play, don’t try to sound like Mac DeMarco (i love him really) and/or U2.

A: A gig is a gig is a gig is a gig.

S: Convince yourself you are special and can never die. Understand the pros and cons of division. Be prolific and prophetic. Carry all burdens willingly and be the mouth sucking the dark.

F: Be better looking than us.

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The Wha's new single 'Blue For You' is available to stream and download now. Check out the new video for it in the player below.