The psychedelic-tinged rock band Wieuca has always kept a platform-wearing foot firmly planted in Athens as a creative base and source of inspiration. Spanning genres from garage rock and indie punk to emo, you may never know exactly what you’re going to get sonically, but the colorful and unmistakable art of band member Will Ingram provides a solid identity for Wieuca.
Flagpole last checked in with the band for the release of its third studio album, Burning Platform, but much has changed for the band since then. In the fall of 2022, Flagpole reported on a live show hiatus announced by the group, but Wieuca is back to energetically lighting up stages. It comes with new music, too, as the band released the album Truth Management over the summer on June 18 ahead of its appearance at AthFest. The album includes some Athens musician features with Joey Kegel of Monsoon on drums and Cannon Rogers playing pedal steel.
In preparation for this weekend’s show at the 40 Watt Club, on Friday, frontman Ingram discussed with Flagpole the current configuration of Wieuca and its new album.
Flagpole: Wieuca has always been an Athens/Atlanta band, but last we talked there was some movement of band members and things have changed since. So, what’s the current status of the band?
Will Ingram: We’re back to being split between Athens and Atlanta. Robert [Smith], who founded Wieuca with me in high school, moved to New York. We got Matt [Daniell] on drums, who we poached from the Atlanta screamo band Less Dead. Andrew Cleveland joined on sampler and synths, too, so we’re back to a five-piece. Status is good.
FP: You said during the recording of the album Truth Management Wieuca broke up and reunited. How did that impact the process or end result of the project?
WI: Being broken up made it easier to get an album done, because no one had any expectations. We brought friends in when we needed help, and some of them joined the band when we were ready to get back out there. As far as the sound of the record goes, we’ve always made records where the songs sound like they come from different albums or different artists. This is for a lot of reasons. We wanted to condense that effect on Truth Management to the point where you can listen to two parts of the same song and it will sound like different bands. Having an undefined lineup made that easy.
FP: Wieuca has experimented with a lot of genres and styles, but you described this album as “heavier/emo-influenced.” What exactly influenced this direction?
WI: We didn’t really take an intentional genre direction with the album. This is the most dramatic record we’ve written in terms of lyrics, so the songs often called for more intense performances. We wanted to push ourselves toward the extremes a little more. Our fastest song ever and our slowest song ever are on Truth Management. There’s more screaming here than we’ve ever done, but also our softest song where it’s all in falsetto. Nineties emo and some related subgenres have always been an influence, but it shows more on this record.
FP: Truth Management leans heavily into storytelling, and you said the songs add up to a screenplay. Is there more content coming or plans to expand on this?
WI: Yeah! I’m teaching myself how to animate right now. The album’s made up of stories, and I thought it’d be fun to make some animations about how these stories interrelate in the small town where they take place. We’ve already released a few clips, and we’ll put out some more.
FP: What’s next for Wieuca?
WI: A lot of shows and a lot of new music.
WHO: Wieuca, A.D. Blanco, Fishbug
WHEN: Friday, Aug. 23, 7:30 p.m. (doors)
WHERE: 40 Watt Club
HOW MUCH: $10
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