The Wildbirds

Life passes slower here. You can almost watch the wrinkles form on your friend’s faces. To be happy is to be content, and to be content is to be 7 beers down in the strong city of Milwaukee. The cold is a painful thing, and it gives you far more time than you need to contemplate your future, your fuck-ups, your strength and your weaknesses. It gives you time to plan for the next big summer.

Life can most certainly grow drab, but lucky for us all, music has the power to take it away.

But not environment, alone has been the band’s creative fuel. Since 2007, influences pushing and pulling the band have been more than mere winter: picking up and leaving home,coming back again, lineup changes, reconciling with band mates of old. Stuart elaborates, “I could talk about how after making music most of my life, I gave up on it, but I’ve come to realize that it’s the only way I know how to live. It’s not the easiest route, but I’ve watched my dad swing a hammer his whole life, I choose this.”
“There’s times like these I miss the countryside, sitting in the garden drinking dandelion wine”.
“We’re country boys stuck in the city, but it’s where our lives have led us and for that we’re thankful, but some days you just miss the simple things” says bassist Hugh Masterson . Most of the Birds are from outlying towns of even smaller cities of the Midwestern farm country. Where giant red barns are more than irrelevant roadside art, but a part of their childhood memories. This feeling is ever present on Sunshine Blues, or at least the struggle to not get washed away by modern distraction.
These boys could go at it alone, (most of them singer/songwriters in their own right), but have come to see the beauty of a brotherhood. Nearly everything is best to be shared, and a song is undeniably one of these things.
“I may often pen most of the songs, but they’re rarely about me alone, they’re ours”. Says Stuart.

Following up 2007’s Golden Daze (Universal Republic), they’ve summoned even more swagger and strut on Sunshine Blues with influences from T. Rex (“Like a Cigarette”) and bit of pretty polish with the Zombies-esque sunshine-pop of “There’s Nobody Like You and Me”. Key player Bradley Kruse turns up his Hammond for the blues rock anthem “Love and Soul”. Sunshine Blues bristles with a natural energy but plays up the pop-ier side of the Wildbirds, making good use of bright and clean guitar work from Scharber and Stuart’s arresting vocals. It’s a good example that a band’s best music is often composed from adverse circumstances, lending an originality and bite that’s genuine. The Wildbirds have taken their experiences and melded them easily with their fresh inspirations, penning another set of unforgettable songs.

Summer is here, soon to be gone……. Sunshine Blues.