Features, Music April 24, 2013

Q&A: The Wendy Woo Band @ FoCoMX

by James Garcia

521505_10152085702010639_328965254_nThe Wendy Woo Band played to a packed house, bringing everyone into their Mile High spirit and the audience really responded to their energy. The band is composed of six members, including two guitarists, a bassist, drummer, keyboardist and a multi-instrumentalist (violin/guitar). Both the band members and the audience members seemed to range very colorfully in age and musical background, blending wonderfully into the start of a great 4/20 musical experience.

Q:

What did you think of the turnout on Saturday and your show?

A:

Yeah, crazy party over there. I felt good. I was glad that the room was full. I play that room a lot, that’s kinda been my room. Rob, at Avogadro’s, really gave me a chance 20 years ago, had me play there a couple times a year before I really had any kind of following or anything. And it’s just built up and built up. I’ve always loved working with Rob and that room. I can’t believe the turnout at that thing. Fort Collins is really an amazing music scene.

Q:

What were some of your favorite acts you had to caught over the weekend?

A:

We went to all the bands. I’ve always been a big fan of The Patti Fiasco and Alicia Craft. Yeah, I know all the bands, and they’re all really good. I love Avogadro’s and playing with all those bands, it was really cool.

Q:

How is that, playing with six of you? Is it difficult to reign everybody in and get everyone focused?

A:

Yes! Yes, it’s like having a relationship with six people. It’s hard enough with one. Luckily, we’ve just really gotten close over the years, such good friends… Another thing I like about the Fort Collins music scene too which is nice, for a young scene, is everybody is playing with everyone else. Everyone is in many bands, so you ran into people running from gig to gig to gig that night. It’s cool to see people working the music.

Q:

What’s been your biggest inspiration for your sound? Whether it be other musicians or someone you know.

A:

Really, the other people in the band. I did my own writing for the first 10 years of my career, the first five albums. And then I met with Chris who was the drummer and plays guitar and he does a lot of writing and so we started writing together. Which was nice because I did a lot of folk in my earlier days, I was pretty mellow. So when I met Chris it was a nice amalgam of funkier rock. So I started writing with the band members. Our last album, “Austerity,” was very co-written. Someone would bring a song in and I’d help them finish it up and we’d put it on the album. So it’s nice to get a whole bunch of people’s perspective on songwriting, to keep it fresh after all these years. It’s very fit, a very family-friendly band.

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