Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how your childhood impacted your musical direction?
Rich Norris: My family (in Buckley, Wales) always had music going on. Between my parents’ love for 60’s rock n’ roll records like The Rolling Stones and such; to my sister’s 80’s American pop, then U2, and then early 90’s Manchester music; and then to my brother’s revelations of Nirvana, RATM, etc. There was always something to listen to.
From there, it was natural to gravitate to the mid-90’s UK Brit-pop and indie/rock scene and all that. These artists – and more – had an impact on me, all these bands wrote amazing songs, which still resonate today.
Additionally, Buckley has ‘The Tivoli’ which was one of those clubs that countless bands cut their teeth at on their way up to stardom. Oasis and Pulp played there – Motorhead too. In hindsight, it was a big deal for me to have access to all this music on my doorstep.
Ben Mulhern: I grew up in Madison, Wisconsin on the incredibly artsy east side. My dad acted, wrote and directed for a theatre company, and these days, plays in an alt-country/garage outfit called the Apologists. My mom also acted (still does), ran a production company and yes, even sung for several years in a disco cover band called V05, named after the shampoo product.
There was always incredible and wildly eclectic music playing on the record player, in the car, what have you. At two or so, I would dance for hours to videos on MTV, my favorite of course being The Go-Go’s ‘We Got the Beat’. Even the first movie that my folks took me to was a concert film: The Talking Heads’ ‘Stop Making Sense’.
Peter Gabriel, Echo and the Bunnymen, XTC, Steely Dan, Joni…you name it. I owe much of my love of music (read: not shitty music) to them.
Like Rich, I had a venue called the Barrymore Theater mere blocks from my apartment where I saw countless unbelievable bands once I was old enough to. Green Day came through on the Dookie tour before they blew up. Weezer in the Blue Album days. Garbage. They Might Be Giants. Morphine.
I started playing drums in 6th grade, and for the first year or so, I totally sucked. I lived in the bottom right apartment in a four-plex, and the police were called on me twice. A year or so later, I got a proper drum teacher and the civil complaints ceased.
Q: How are you planning on growing your fan base and sharing your music with the world? What message do you have for anyone who is about to discover “Wastrels”?
RN: We’re starting with a grassroots PR campaign: collaborating with blogs, and local and college radio stations etc. We recognise our music isn’t mainstream, our tunes aren’t 3 minute pop songs. It’s niche – shoegaze & psychedelic rock etc., and that’s ok. I think our music can be enjoyed by anyone who has the time, and wants to be on a listening journey.
BM: By continuing to get the word out any way we can, whether that’s music blogs, interviews, social media…we spent the better part of five years on this album, and I think it would be a waste of those five years if no one heard it. For those who are about to discover our sound, I would just say that we are very proud of this album and believe it to be one that deserves to be listened to from front to back. If you’re fans of shoegaze, psychedelia, post-punk…this is where you need to be. Damn cool on the headphones too!
Q: Who is the most inspiring artist for you right now? And where do you find inspiration for making music?
RN: There’s so many amazing women artists at the moment: Lambrini Girls, Japanese Breakfast, Waxahatchee, Big Thief, Bjork. The list goes on. They keep delivering, and it’s so great.
I love listening to radio too, Minneapolis has a great college radio station – Radio K. So between that, The Current, and KEXP, I just bounce around listening to music all day. There’s always something great around the corner that’s intriguing, sparks new ideas, and pushes music forward.
BM: Yeah, man. There are a ton of inspiring artists out there, but I’ll highlight Jeff Rosenstock. The dude doesn’t simply talk about being DIY, he lives and breathes DIY. Who else would make it so that venues that normally charge $75, 80 bucks a show set aside $20 ‘low income tickets’ to include those who are priced out? Donate merch sales to food banks local to the gig? I’ve seen him five times and he and the band never disappoint. And lyrically speaking, I don’t know that there is anyone better at capturing the ennui, the absurdity, the scream-into-the-void of what it’s like to be living in this truly astonishing time in our history.
As far as musical inspiration goes, I am probably the most far-off from everyone else in the group. I listen to a lot of hip-hop and jazz and unabashedly drum along to pop-punk; I think Travis Barker is the most talented drummer on the planet. I get a fair amount of my musical ideas in the weird half-awake space right before sleep or waking up. When that happens, I’ll wake up and hum the notes into my voice memos and then crash. When I listen back in the morning, I would say maybe 50% of the time it makes sense. But I’ve gotten many of my best ideas that way.
Q: Can you tell us about the story or message behind the new double single, “Bell Jar / Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed.”?
RN: Dan’s lyrics are quite observational, and also thematic – based on the human experience. He’d pick on something or someone and make abstract lyrics from them, and then add some random lyrics too, somewhat like what Kurt Cobain did.
I think ‘Bell Jar’ is about a pretty introverted person who’s just got a whole lot of stuff building up inside of them, and then it’s all released. Ben would have a better idea about ‘Devil…’, as it was written before I joined the band in 2019.
BM: The title ‘Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed’ came from our bass player, Sahil, and it was one of those rare songs where you have the title before the lyrics. It’s an incredibly evocative one, and it’s very timely. Dan’s lyrics are often an amalgamation of several people, and so when I listen to it, it feels a little bit to me like ‘pick the authoritarian’. There’s a line early on in the song: ‘Foolhardy/from father to the son’ that really sticks with me. Like, it’s the same nepotistic families and generational wealth running things as always. Maybe even imagining one of them and their little smirks atop their throne while their people scuttle about below, not able to recognize what was once their homeland. It feels like this song could make for a great rallying cry.
Q: How would you describe your sound in one word for potential listeners?
RN: I would need to portmanteau something like: Ethereal+Post-Punk = EtherPunk.
BM: I’m going to go with subversive.
Q: Did you face any challenges while writing or recording “Bell Jar & Devil Built a Home Where You Once Prayed”?
RN: I feel we faced – but are beginning to overcome – insurmountable challenges: Dan (singer/guitarist) passed away in March 2025, by far the most devastating loss for all of us as friends and band mates. It is immeasurable the impact this has had on Ben, Sahil, and myself. We’re reeling from his loss, but we’re working through it. Additionally, we also faced other health challenges and post-pandemic issues. It’s been a tough 3 years.
In light of these events, we persevered: we knew we had to release these 2 songs, and the rest of the songs from the forth-coming album – ‘Wastrels’ (due end of October-ish). While the album isn’t sonically perfect, it’s the best we could do given that the Dan’s versions of the mixes were about 95% completed. Through some post-production tricks and great mastering, I think we pulled it off. We have wonderful memories of being together, writing & developing these songs over the years.
BM: To echo Rich, I don’t think it gets any more challenging than losing a band member. We will never actually get over it. When you play music in a band, it is in many ways a brother/sister/otherhood, so it is the same as suddenly losing a family member.. Getting the album across the finish line, even with as much emotional warfare as it has caused, is honoring him the best way that we possibly can.
Q: What is the message of your music? And what are your goals as an artist?
RN: I don’t think we have any specific messages in our music, they’re just great songs.
Mine & Ben’s short term goals are to continue promoting the album/project through. Additionally, we’re discussing working on ideas together. Long term, it’s to continue writing & being involved in music.
BM: One thing that has always come across to me in the lyrics of our stuff is that people can be really complicated, almost contradictions. The goals of Wastrels as a collective is, quite simply, to get heard by as many people as possible! And hey man, if it results in more than that, we’ll take that too!
Q: Who is your dream artist to collaborate with? (dead or alive)
RN: Having Dan back would be a dream collaboration.
Last year, Dan & I discussed Josh Homme’s genius songwriting & guitar work, so him too!
BM: MCA from the Beastie Boys and the aforementioned Travis Barker.
Q: What is your advice for people interested in pursuing music as a career or for those trying to enter the industry?
RN: Pursue your passions. Keep learning. Listen to everything.
BM: To be patient, and to immerse yourself in the scene. I was in a successful local band for many years before joining Wastrels, and we achieved a lot of pretty incredible goals; a lot of that came through networking and becoming good friends with our peers in Minneapolis bands.
It wasn’t enough to become a career, and Wastrels may not be either, but you are always a click away from it being the click that changes everything. So be open to plenty of projects. One percent of one percent of one percent of bands can make it an actual living. Just getting out there and doing it, and giving it a shot, even if it’s not your career, is still really impressive and something to be proud of.
Q: If you could go back in time and give a younger you some words of wisdom, what would they be?
RN: I’m fortunate to be where I am, I wouldn’t want to spoil my journey by giving myself shortcuts.
BM: You never know who you could end up impacting. Just because you don’t matter to everybody, doesn’t mean you don’t matter to somebody.
