Chatting With Wildcat! Wildcat! About ‘No Moon At All’ And The Band’s Future

David Weiner ’16 / Emertainment Monthly Photo Editor

We climbed into a black van parked right out front of the venue, The Great Scott. It was the tour bus and was cluttered as such. Two girls approached the window; fans? I excitedly sat back to watch the interaction.

“Are you guys moving?” One woman said into the window. “My friend is coming around with the car and we could use the parking space.”

“No, we’re just trying to stay warm,” Jesse Taylor said with a smile. The other guys laughed.

“I think we still have that whiskey,” Jesse Carmichael said, reaching into a cardboard box that was far bigger than the bottle. “It seems like a good time.”

Michael Wilson and Jesse Taylor sat in the front seats, bundled in winter clothes, Carmichael sat in the back with me. The Boston cold was clearly a little much for the band. Wildcat! Wildcat! is from LA.

In 2012 Wildcat! started putting out music and within the last two years the group has grown tremendously while staying centered and focused on their path.

“We’re on the right trajectory,” Taylor said. “We’re on the slow burn, taking things step by step.”

After the release of their popular song, “Mr. Quiche,” offers started to roll in. People from around the globe started reaching out to the group as well as managers and labels wanting to work them.

The guys sat up in there seats and leaned in.

“We could tell pretty much within the first couple minutes of a meeting if we were interested in working with someone,” Carmichael said.

Jesse Taylor toyed with the butterfly keychain dangling from the ignition, nodding.

“We absolutely could’ve jumped on the Quiche bandwagon and just gone out and written more poppy songs like it, but that’s not who we are, we’re not a Quiche band,” Wilson said with confidence.

“We’re more interested in putting out the music that we want to make and really building up our own true fans. We want to gain actual fans and not just fans of one song,” Carmichael said as his beard bounced atop the seat in front of him.

“Our favorite shows are the ones were the promoter doesn’t do their job, it’s freezing outside and there’s like 20 people in the audience, but we know that those 20 people are there to see us and they love the music,” Wilson said. “Those shows are the best because they’re so unexpected.”

Opening for Wildcat! was a group of baggy-clothed, long-haired skater-looking kids with so much energy their equipment started to topple over. The Sun Club put on an opening set that could only described as pure fun. The cuffed corduroys of the lead singer bounced as he pelvic thrusted the audience while the band spun their hair.

I’ve yet to see such a perfect combination of opener and headliner. At one point a mic fell over and Michael Wilson quickly made it to the stage to set it back upright. They hugged and chatted as they cleared the stage afterward.

“It’s truly been an honor to play for people we’ve never met in places we’ve never been,” Taylor said.

We climbed out of the warm van back out onto the cold streets of Allston and made our way into the venue.

You can see Wildcat! Wildcat! next in DC and buy their new album, No Moon At All on iTunes.