
Hailing from Kingston, ON, the four-piece Alt-Rock band Willy Nilly releases a treat for the ears with "Mystery Meats." Comdeically stating that they create music that listeners can sometimes dance to, it's without a doubt that anyone will find something they can enjoy within Willy Nilly's smooth and relaxed sound.
With their recent single "Mystery Meats," Willy Nilly brings incredibly warm and calming instrumentals that hint at alternative-folk music. The lyricism depicts a family's story of attempting to make ends meet, truly fueling the fire with a relatable storyline and an overall sensation of concern and relief with the song's sweet instrumentals.
"Mystery Meats" opens with calming acoustic guitar instrumentals that drift into a mellow Alt-Folk approach. Once lead vocalist Owen begins pouring his sweet vocals over the track, he widens this calm atmosphere with his warm and tender delivery.
He sings lyrics of a modern-day family's woes where monetary matters are tight, yet the love for one another always manages to overpower these issues. The instrumentals by Willy Nilly are serenely entrancing with the mid-tempo pace that gives us something to tap our feet to. The overall ambiance and demeanor Willy Nilly delivers is this soulful and mellow approach that provides listeners with a sense of inner peace.
We love everything about Willy Nilly's latest heartfelt single "Mystery Meats." From the song's overall concept to the calming and melodic instrumentals, Willy Nilly gives us something to passionately get lost in.
We love the ambiance within your latest single, "Mystery Meats." Could you give us more background as to what the song's concept surrounds, and what inspired it?
So Mystery Meats is kind of a song just reflecting on our current situation. It's about diving into something headfirst and how scary and overwhelming that can be. It talks about how trying to make something of ourselves as musicians can be demoralizing at times, but I've already launched so much of myself into it that I have no choice but to keep going even if I didn't want to. It's also in a way a letter to my bandmates basically saying "I know I can be a pain in the ass, but I promise it's from a good place"
How did the four of you split the creative process and work for your single "Mystery Meats?" Do you guys have a specific method or approach that works best for the band?
This one actually might have come together faster than any other song we've written. It's the closest I've come to having an idea in my head and actually translating that to something tangible, I woke up with the melody + chorus riff in my head and just sat for a couple of hours figuring out where to go with it. When I showed the guys they liked it and within a couple of hours, we had the whole song pretty much written save for a few tweaks. I wouldn't say we really have a specific approach. Normally I write the songs acoustically and the guys fill in the gaps, but I wouldn't say that's a process we're dead set on by any means.
What can you tell us about the atmosphere and vibe you were aiming for when creating "Mystery Meats"? How did you want listeners to feel?
It's definitely a lyrically driven song, I don't know if we put too much emphasis into creating an atmosphere but I guess kind of campfire-y? Although it's written with music in mind, I think more generally people can get the feeling of "yeah sure, things are fucked, but I always seem to make it out okay".
Could you give us any details or hints as to what we should expect from your upcoming EP and the concept within? Has quarantine hindered your recording process?
We haven't put a firm date on the EP as of yet because we're self-producing and just want to make sure the songs sound as good as we can muster up currently. I'm guessing late November though. All of the songs have been written in the pandemic so there's definitely a bit of a theme there, but I think we did a good job of not being too on the nose and reflecting more on the feelings and worries that the pandemic has brought to light rather than on the restrictions that have come as part of it. We definitely didn't say the words "six feet apart" at any point so that's a victory in my books. Early on in quarantine we were still isolating away from each other, and that's when I was EXTREMELY inspired to write so it's definitely too bad we missed out during that time, but overall we've been able to keep fairly busy during the quarantine.
What has been keeping you inspired in 2020?
I mean, other than the fact that the world is an absolute hellscape right now and every time I open social media or turn on the news I'm confronted by more awful shit happening, I think we just get inspired watching/listening to what other artists do. As scary and uncertain as the music business looks these days and as much as we'd love to be playing live shows again to try to grow, we have only scratched the surface as far as the kind of music we can make. We're just trying to make the best of this brutal year and grow our sound, and hopefully, we'll be better for it.
The following single from the EP title "Cool Now" should be out at the end of October, and we do live streams on twitch fairly often on Sundays @willynillyband