Having released their sublime debut EP Darker Days at the Grand in April, Villanelle and The Northern Wonder are on the rise. Their distinct sound combines elements of classic rock with the flare and flamboyance of The Last Shadow Puppets. The Manchester-based duo, consisting of Kieran Greville and Dan Shaw, teamed up in 2019, fusing fuzzy guitars and crooning vocals. They will play their first headline show at Manchester’s Peer Hat on 25 August. We sat down with the duo to chat about their influences, upcoming projects, and where on earth that band name came from?
The Indiependent: Villanelle and The Northern Wonder! Can you briefly introduce yourselves to our readers?
Kieran: I’m Kieran. I put out a few releases under the band’s name before 2019. But then we became a duo.
Dan: I’m Dan. I joined the band more so as a guitarist for the live stuff Kieran had been doing previously. Then we had the lockdown which gave us the time to write. Kieran was sending some old stuff over and I was reworking that into a new sound that had been developing throughout the live sets.
Kieran: It’s been going really well!
The Indiependent: What artists influence you the most?
Kieran: We’re big fans of The Last Shadow Puppets, so that’s where the duo aspect comes from. But then we’ve got a bunch of personal influences ranging from T-Rex and Bowie to Queens of the Stone Age, Nick Cave and Father John Misty. There are bits of Alexandra Savior, etc. A big melting pot of whatever we’ve accidentally been listening to at the time.
Dan: The lyricism of Alex Turner, Father John Misty and Nick Cave inspire us. The musical side takes stuff from 70s glam rock and a bit of Alexandra Savior’s dark Americana sound.
The Indiependent: Would you say that films have been an influence? Your new EP has a spaghetti-Western sort of soundtrack style to it.
Kieran: Yeah, we were going for that for a while. The whole cinematic thing came about once we realised we could whack a load of spring reverb over the guitar and it sounded great. That was going to be one of the cornerstones of our sound. Ennio Morricone is such a great composer.
Dan: It definitely feels like a soundtrack. It feels like there’s a visual element to it, even if it’s not there.
Kieran: We like to put you as a listener into a setting to enjoy the tracks. Our producers, Sunglasses for Jaws, do quite a lot of conceptual stuff, so I think that finds its way in and works quite well.
The Indiependent: Would you say there’s a running theme throughout your EP Dark Days at the Grand? Did you want it to sound cohesive?
Kieran: I think it happened by accident but eventually we realised it almost told a story. Weirdly, some of the songs have been around for a while and some of them were brand new. Some of the lyrics have been floating around in the ether since 2016 or 2017. There’s a very loose story but it’s also up for interpretation. Bordering on Nick Cave’s Murder Ballads. I don’t think we ever sat down and decided to write a concept album though.
Dan: All the songs are written from a similar kind of place. Some of these lyrics are things that Kieran has given to me. We knew each other several years ago and then there was a period where we weren’t in contact. So, there’s this part of Kieran’s life that I hear second-hand. It allows me to put my own ideas onto whatever Kieran’s life has been.
Kieran: Live vicariously through the words [laughs].
The Indiependent: How has the dynamic changed since you became a duo?
Kieran: Dan’s a great musician and writer. It’s nice to have someone to bounce ideas off. He gets what I’m trying to say and makes it work. And then I found out that Dan can sing…
Dan: We were meant to record the whole EP as Kieran’s vocals. And then we were in the studio, and I did a take.
Kieran: I was struggling to get the delivery right on one of the songs that Dan had transformed.
Dan: It’s quite a nice mix of voices. Kieran is higher and chestier and I’m more of a baritone. It comes across well in a live set.
Kieran: It makes it less boring. And I quite like just playing guitar sometimes.
The Indiependent: So where did the name Villanelle and The Northern Wonder come from?
Kieran: When it was just me, I wasn’t sure whether to do it under my name or to come up with a persona. I’d listened to lots of Leonard Cohen and he has a song called ‘Villanelle For Our Time’, and Queens of the Stone Age had recently had their Villains album out. Also, my second name is French and Killing Eve had just come out too. As it turns out a Villanelle is a 19-line poem so it’s a form of writing too. And the Northern Wonder part comes from a nickname for a friend from university, who was from Sheffield. I thought that would look good on a t-shirt or a poster. It’s a bit ridiculous really!
The Indiependent: Do you think being based in Manchester, the music scene here has influenced you to some extent?
Kieran: Manchester’s a great little melting pot for all sorts of things. It’s a great place to be creative. I guess where you live kind of seeps into your music so there’s elements of it in there.
Dan: I think the feeling of the city has seeped into our music. But we’re not like a typical Manchester band.
Kieran: We’re quite far removed from that. But I think the general ethos of the city, and the friendly community spirit has had an impact.
The Indiependent: You played your first couple of gigs in a long time at the end of July. How was that experience?
Kieran: It was really good! The first one was sold out which was unexpected. It was crazy how many people came. And there were a few people singing the words to the songs and that’s not really happened much before.
Dan: This is my first foray into singing the songs in a live context. It’s been great playing that EP and feeling the response. It’s made such a difference having a band of friends rather than strangers coming in also.
The Indiependent: Is there a particular city or venue you’d like to play at?
Kieran: I’d love to headline Rock City in Nottingham because I really love that venue. Give it a couple of years [laughs].
Dan: Being from the Derby/Nottingham area originally, that was our kind of main venue. Our number one. The main thing I want to do is just explore different cities. Leeds, Bristol, Newcastle, Glasgow.
Kieran: Liverpool would be good as well! Everywhere that wants us. Or doesn’t want us. We’ll be there anyway!
The Indiependent: Do you have a favourite song to play live or one you particularly enjoyed playing the other day?
Kieran: Mine is always ‘The Good, the Bad & Pedro’s.’ It’s big and unruly towards the end, but then it’s quite controlled.
Dan: I really like doing ‘Horoscope Wytch.’ I love the improvised ending where it builds and seeing how people react to it
Kieran: It’s quite grandiose. I liked playing ‘Oh God’ live. I really enjoyed that. Letting Dan take centre stage, smashing those vocals. It was quite dancey and got a lot of people moving.
Dan: Yeah, that’s my favourite for seeing the response from the audience.
The Indiependent: So, what does the future hold for Villanelle and The Northern Wonder?
Kieran: We have everything planned. So, in terms of new music, we’re reimagining some of the old releases that I did on my own but with the two of us doing them. I think we’re aiming for that to be all done and out by the end of September. And then we’re also in pre-production for the next EP’s worth of new music. And then we’ve already started writing the one for after that. So, we’re all go! We’ve just booked our first headline gig. We’re headlining The Peer Hat in Manchester on 25 August. Our good friend Bobby West, from Liverpool, will be coming over to play with us. We’ll just keep playing and keep writing. The writing’s constant, it doesn’t stop. It’s like a disease! [laughs] We are the type of people who just keep doing new stuff.
Interview conducted by Sarah Taylor
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