Mike Supina of A Wilhelm Scream (photo: James Meadows/iwasrighttherephoto)
Interview by Malcolm Lasky
Rice and Bread got a chance to hang out with A Wilhelm Scream guitarist Mike Supina while knocking a few cold ones back during Pre-Fest in Tampa, Florida. We discussed the band’s recent special set at Pre-Fest (see YouTube link below), how Supina’s involvement in writing for A Wilhelm Scream has evolved on their latest album, Partycrasher, and what the band will be working on next.
What made you guys decide to do a Twitter-request set?
It just seemed like a fun idea, Ray [Picard, the band’s manager] mentioned it to us. It’s really as simple as that, actually, he just asked us, “How about we do something fun for this Pre-Fest? How about we take requests on Twitter and see if people reply?” And people replied and shouted out what they wanted to hear, and we just looked at the songs and went, “Fuck yeah, whoa, sure, yeah, fuck no!” [laughs] and, yeah, the rest is history. But it was a lot of fun to do that because we played a lot of songs that I’ve never played with the band, and we’d never played “(Walkin’ with) Michael Douglas” as a band. “Pardon Me, Thanks a Lot,” I don’t think we’d ever played before. “Bowling,” the Smackin Isaiah [A Wilhelm Scream’s former name] song, I mean, they played that, obviously, but I had never played that; I actually just learned it yesterday! [laughs] Same with “Pardon Me, Thanks a Lot,” because I didn’t have time before I was leaving. So, it was a little hectic, but really fun, and I’m glad we did it.
Are there any songs you’ve never played that you want to, or songs you never ever want to play again?
There aren’t any songs that I never want to play again. Songs I’d like to play… we get requests for “Hairy Scarecrow” a lot, I’d like to play that. “Sassaquin” we get a lot of requests for; I think that’d be a lot of fun to play. I think we’re gonna start doing “(Walkin’ with) Michael Douglas” more now that we’ve, uh, popped the cherry, so to speak. But I’d really like to start mixing up the setlist, well, one of my favourites is “Bodies as Suitcases,” that’s one of my favourite songs to play, and favourite songs in general. You know, just other songs; I’m glad we did “God Loves a Liar,” and “Speed of Dark” is fun to play; “Cancer Dream,” too. That was one of the first songs I learned before I had joined the band, just filling in; that song was in the setlist and I was just like, “Oh, that song is just so badass!” Especially stuff off Mute Print like “Brand New Me, Same Shitty You,” so I’d just like to start bringing those songs back into the mix. Maybe take away some of the ones we’ve been playing for a while, you know.
It seems like on Partycrasher there was an evolution for you personally. You seem to have taken a larger role with the writing this time around, particularly with lyrics. How did that happen?
Well, back in one of the bands I was in I had a big part in the writing. Not so much with lyrics, just a bit on one of the EPs we did, then for the full-length we had a different singer who did all the lyrics. When it came to that… this is gonna sound terrible. I was reading this book called The Game.
I don’t…
…about pickup artists.
Oh god! [Both laugh.]
So, listen; Ryan Collins [guitarist for The Swellers] gave it to me. Anyway, it’s like… an entertaining read. I mean, I… suck at pickin’ up chicks; socially awkward and shit. But it was an interesting read and for whatever reason… it’s good to read, just reading books in general makes you wanna write. At least, for me. But I was reading that around the time I was starting to write lyrics and stuff, even though none of the songs have anything to do with The Game [laughs]. I’d just been writing riffs and songs to bring to the band and showed them to Trevor [Reilly, guitarist of A Wilhelm Scream] and he said he could write some lyrics for the song, because… the first song I brought to the band was “Bulletproof Tiger,” but I didn’t write the lyrics, Trevor did. He took the reins on that and I really love the way it came out. But he asked me again, “Do you want me to take the reins and write the lyrics for these songs? I love doing that type of thing, it’s fun, it’s different for me… or do you want to do it?” And I told him I already had some lyrics, so I’d like to give it a go. The fun part for me though, was that it was a really big learning experience because I went over a few different drafts per song, and Trevor basically became my coach. So he’d ask me, “What are you trying to say here?” or, “Maybe you could word it a little like this? A little more direct with this and that’s really cool.” I’d show him the melodies and get back upstairs and write more lyrics, and then sit with him again and we’d finally come to something where he’d say, “Alright, I think this is really workin’ out.” And it made me feel really great to hear that from him, and it was just a great learning experience. I’m stoked to get back into that and writing more lyrics, and just being more involved in the writing. It’s a lot of fun for me.
Mike Supina of A Wilhelm Scream (photo: James Meadows/iwasrighttherephoto)
Well, you also co-wrote one with Nuno [Pereira, singer of A Wilhelm Scream]. What was that like?
Yeah, “Wild Turkey.” Well, Nuno had written the lyrics, or a great deal of them, and this song was supposed to be on the [2009 self-titled] EP and it was kind of my responsibility, but for whatever reason it just wasn’t happening. Well, I couldn’t do it. I wasn’t happy with it. So that’s how “Australias” made it onto the EP. But I kept messing with it and was finally really stoked about it, and then I got together with Nuno and showed him ideas for melodies and he’d be like, “Oh, this is really cool, but like what if we tried something like this?” and I’d be like, “Oh, that’s incredible! This is is so much fun!” And I wrote just a few parts for it and turns out one of the parts I wrote I didn’t like as much as the original lyrics, and Trevor said, “Those original lyrics were way better,” and I was like, “Fuck yeah, let’s use those.” Because I was still on the fence about that song until we reverted to what was already there. I think I was just over-thinking the song. But I’m really happy with what it is now, and I had a lot of fun working with Nuno. I look forward to doing more with him as well. I think he’s a brilliant writer. Even Trevor has said that even when Nuno writes lyrics on paper, it looks like art. It’s beautiful; his writing. So it’s always fun to get lyrics written from him.
You also wrote one of the songs completely yourself: “Ice Man Left a Trail.” What’s that song about?
That song is about a girl I met not long before the pre-production had started for Partycrasher. She was someone who I spoke with a lot, during a really rough period in my life. I think it’s a common thing to attach yourself to someone when you’re down; you attach yourself to someone who can bring you comfort and bring you up. At one point she just flipped her script; got involved with someone, which is totally fine, and cut off all ties. And so, during this dark period, I had to deal with the fact that I didn’t have this security anymore, that I didn’t have something that I could immediately turn to to make me feel better. So the song’s kind of about that; the feelings I had for this person as a friend, and that attachment, and why I have this attachment because it doesn’t make sense to have it, but I do.
Alright, completely different topic… what have you been listening to and have you found any smaller bands on tour that you’ve really gotten into?
Well, Direct Hit! is really great. I remember when we first got together with the; they were really loud characters, just very loud personalities. But by the second day, we were like, “Okay, I get these guys.” Such Gold were great; they were great to tour with. I’d love to do that same lineup we did before with The Flatliners. But, yeah, Such Gold just came out with a new album that I can’t wait to hear. But a band I’ve been listening to that I like a lot is Circa Survive. Other music that I listen to… I kinda just listen to the same shit over and over [laughs]. Looking forward to Strung Out’s new album, whenever that comes out. I love The Flatliners’ new album. I really want to hear Chris Cresswell’s solo work as well. Astpai is another really incredible band and I think they’re doing something really awesome.
So what’s next for A Wilhelm Scream, in terms of recording?
Well, we were talking about putting out a 7-inch. I’m not sure when that’ll be; after the new year, for sure. And then after that just getting on writing another album. With this last record there were a lot of songs that we’d never played as a band. It literally came down to demos that Nick [Angelini, A Wihelm Scream’s drummer] heard and then wrote drum parts for. So writing was a hectic experience. It would have been nice for us to actually get together and play through the full album a bunch of times, however I think the album is really unique because we didn’t get to do that and I’d never trade that for anything. That being said, I’m really looking forward to getting together with the guys next year, and definitely making a point to be out in Massachusetts more, just so we can be together, even if we have nothing, just go downstairs and crack a few beers, have some coffee or whatever and just jam. Even if it’s like one single riff and then see what happens and get back at it as a band.
Is “Partycrasher” going to see the light of day? The song, obviously, not the album…
Yeah, that’s one of the plans for the 7-inch we’re thinking of putting out. There’s also another song we did that didn’t make the album, it was recorded, but I’m not sure if it’s finished; I think the lyrics may not be 100 percent complete. But we never got around to recording the vocals; all the music for it is done. But, yeah, I think it’ll be that song and “Partycrasher,” which was written but never recorded. Our next focus is to just bang that out. And then focus on the next album.
A Wilhelm Scream‘s most recent album, Partycrasher, is out now on No Idea Records.
-Video courtesy of Mike Plante
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