Photography: Polocho

Words JOSHUA EVANS

Initially conceived as a solo project of Jacob Slater (former frontman of punk trio Dead Pretties), Wunderhorse’s early incarnation served as a canvas for the songsmith’s personal and creative reinvention. After transitioning from the gritty punk scene of London to the introspective tranquility of the Cornish coast following Dead Pretties’ 2017 disbandment, Slater poured his soul into writing 2022 Wunderhorse debut LP Cub, a magnet for acclaim, lauded as the moment in which he fully became acquainted with the artist he was meant to be.

The year of his transformative debut, he would also appear in Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols biopic Pistol, as Paul “Cookie” Cook, and the presence of on-screen bandmates would be followed by the addition of three in his own reality too. Bringing in others was the next natural step in further building the musical world he’d established and in lifelong friends Harry Fowler (guitar), Pete Woodin (bass), and Jamie Staple (drums), he found his coterie. The four have since found themselves on the road supporting genre heavyweights Sam Fender and Fontaines DC, meeting larger, more electric audiences, building their live CV and honing their sound.

They emerged in August with Cub’s follow-up Midas– a raw, frill-less record that captures the band’s unfiltered energy and authentic spirit, recorded at the legendary Pachyderm Studios in Minnesota. It officiated their status as a cohesive, collaborative unit, fully trusting each other with their creativity both on stage and as recording artists. Said growth has been matched in the size of their audience, ballooning following their live success as they picked up converts at every stop. An emblem of such up-scaling was their October gig at London’s almost 5,000-capacity Brixton Academy, announced just some 18 months after they played to a crowd of 200 at the city’s The Lexington. However, even bigger crowds await, not least at their May 2025 headline Alexandra Palace gig, in which 10,000 will turn out just for them.

Sitting down with Man About Town, Slater and Fowler discuss their recent headline tour, unconventional recording process and the daunting experience of recording within the four walls of Pachyderm…

You've just finished a major headline tour and soon you’ll be back on the road supporting Fontaines DC again. How do you make the most of this downtime to recharge and prepare for the next stretch of shows?
Jacob: I usually go surfing. I live in Newquay in Cornwall, so I spend my time down there. It’s a different pace and I can fill my mind with other things. It’s only a short break between tours, so sometimes it doesn’t make sense to go back down, which is a shame because I do miss the sea.

Harry: I usually do absolutely nothing, I like to just sleep a lot for the first couple of days. I like to get back and get into climbing. It’s something that keeps me on an even keel when I’m back from being on the road.

During the tour, you performed at some of the biggest venues of your career so far. Was there a particular night that felt memorable for you?
Jacob: Yeah. I mean Brixton Academy was a real highlight, we’ve always wanted to play there. Personally, I’ve always wanted to play that venue since I was a kid, so that was quite a moment for me. It’s one of those things you don’t really process until about a week later, as it’s all a bit of a blur. The Barrowlands in Glasgow was also particularly good, the crowds there are always cream of the crop.

Harry:Yeah, The Barrowlands was certainly my favourite show. Brixton was special as well, but it was hard to process that show on the day. I’ve not been that nervous for a show in a long time.

Your fanbase has grown significantly as you’ve supported acts like Fontaines DC and Sam Fender. Has performing to these larger audiences influenced or changed the way you approach your live shows?
Jacob: I think it’s just kind of gotten bigger, which feels right. You know, I think the songs cater to those crowds as well. I mean, they also work in small venues but I think it feels right being on the biggest stages and hearing people singing all the words back and sort of losing their minds a little bit. It's a sort of affirmation that you're providing people with something that they need, maybe, which is great. That's all you can ask for, you know?

Congratulations on your second LP, Midas. It’s a fantastic record with a raw, unpolished feel. Was that rough edge something you intentionally aimed for when you went into the studio?
Jacob: Yeah, we definitely knew what we didn't want. I think a lot of stuff nowadays, even if it's rock music or alternative rock, it's still given pretty much that same treatment. I mean, you get a lot of artists who try and make a record that sounds raw and authentic and different and it ends up coming out kind of polished anyway and everything sounds the same. So we didn't want to do that. I guess because when a lot of the songs were written in the studio and recorded that same day, you're capturing things in embryonic states. The songs aren't fully formed, which definitely lends itself to that kind of rough sound of things sort of rattling a bit. You can hear the bolts rattling.

Given that your songwriting process is so spontaneous and in-the-moment, where do you typically draw your inspiration from?
Jacob: I don't know really. It kind of just happens. I think part of it [with Midas] was the isolation and just kind of maybe subconsciously knowing that it had to be a good record and knowing we had to deliver something good.

When we we put [the track] “Midas” down, we were kind of still learning the song. It was actually a practice take that we ended up using and when we listened to it back, everything just clicked in our heads and we were like, ‘Okay, this is what the record is. I think when you're in an environment where you have no distractions and you're living and breathing this thing every day, naturally what comes out the other end of you is is going to be aligned with that, you know. So yeah, it was a strange sort of alchemy really.

What was the collaborative process like on this album now you’re more of an established group?
Harry:It’s just been really about playing music together in a room and not really thinking about it too much. I wouldn't really say that decisions are made. You get in a room and you hear a song that Jacob's brought and you just play. I mean, for me personally, the first thing I usually play, is usually the thing that works. Anytime I think about something, it usually kind of goes to shit.

Was it a daunting process to record the album in Pachyderm studios, considering the calibre of talent that has recorded there previously?
Jacob: At first, maybe like the first couple of days, you were like, ‘Oh, fuck,’ you know, ‘Nirvana was here’, ‘PJ Harvey was here’, but then I think quickly you make it your own space.

Harry:I think you're initially quite intimidated legends that have came to that studio, especially with Nirvana recording In Utero there. Now when I think about Pachyderm Studios, I think about us there and not Nirvana anymore. So I think we made it our own space for that time.

Was there a song on the album that particularly surprised or impressed you with how it all came together in the end?
Jacob: The more I listened to it, the more I really like, “Rain”. I think I'd been listening to The Smiths in the morning, I was listening to Meat is Murder and it's such a blur, I can't remember what happened, but it just all kind of fell into place. That particular session had a real pulse to it, a real heartbeat.

Harry:I remember when we were tracking “Superman”, the music behind it was in a much different place than it ended up being on the album and we were trying to jam it out and figure out a way to sort of serve the song. It was the same day we tracked “Midas”, so that was a good recording day and it was quite a confidence booster. I remember thinking, ‘Okay, we’re going to get an album out of this!’

Finally, with your biggest headline show yet coming up at Alexandra Palace next spring, how are you getting ready for such a career milestone?
Jacob: We've played there once, for the Fontaines DC show a while ago, and it was really good. It's obviously always been on the list to do and it's kind of come around quicker than we expected. It's a cavernous mouth of a room that you kind of stare into from the stage, which is daunting. But I think we'll do what we normally do and not think about it until the day arrives.