Get On The Wavelength With ISLA RICO
Interview by Lindsey V. Britt
Photos by Liam Maxwell
A band, place, and a state of mind. ISLA RICO is an indie-pop trio, from England that is bringing good tunes and vibes to their fans worldwide (Callum Richards (vocals/guitar), Jasper Whitehead (vocals/guitar) and Harvey Rafferty (vocals/guitar). They have been working on upcoming projects while performing at various gigs and festivals this summer including supporting Ten Hands High in London on Sep 20th. The band is releasing their latest single “wavelength” on August 2nd.
You have a new song “wavelength” coming out on August 2nd. What can you tell us about the song?
Jasper: I think I can say confidently for all of us it’s our favorite song that we’ve put out so far, agree as well Harvey?
Harvey: Definitely!
Jasper: We’re very, very proud of this one. It came out brilliantly by accident, to be honest, it was just one of those moments where it just worked. Cal came in with the acoustic version. We brought it to our producer, amongst a bunch of other songs like we normally do and this one just came out in a way where like this really works. Then it’s been quite a few months of us teasing it on TikTok and other social media. It’s not even out yet but it’s been the best response we’ve had from people naturally. Even a musician that we know just took it upon himself to cover it on TikTok a good two months before it’s even out, so we definitely feel like there’s something very special about this song for us, we’re very, very excited to share it! Timeless, I think that particular person told me after a few beers he said that it is a timeless song, so that’s big praise and we humbly agree with him.
Is “wavelength” the start of a new era for ISLA RICO?
Harvey: I think it definitely carries the same sort of message that we’ve been trying to spread throughout all of ISLA RICO. The whole vibe of ISLA RICO is escapism and going to that special place that takes you out of the grey world. I think both of our countries aren’t in the best places at the moment, and we’re trying to be that sort of escapism for people. And it’s about getting on that wavelength and all being on the same wavelength of just positive vibes. We’re here to have a good time, not a long time. I don’t know if I’d say it’s a new era. But it’s definitely I think going to be the first step into where people are like these are some serious guys about what they’re doing.
Jasper: Like Harvey said, every time we’ve gone in to record, we’ve managed to get a little bit closer to having a song that encapsulates the ISLA RICO message just a bit further. And this one probably really hits the nail on the head.
Harvey: If anything I feel like the things we’ve put out have been leading us up to this point. So if anything it kind of feels like the start of the ISLA RICO era, it feels like we’ve been feeling it out for the last few years. And now we’re like we’ve got our identity, we kind of know our sound and that’s where we want to go.
Jasper: It’s like the evolution is like ”Laying in the Summer Rain” then “dave” kind of carries on that message. Then “it’s been a minute”, and then “wavelength” is just very we’ve nailed it this time.
Harvey: Like the cherry on top.
Will there be a music video for “wavelength”?
Jasper: Currently no, there are no plans, purely because we can’t afford it at the moment because this isn’t the only song to come. So we have to think ahead of all that stuff as well. But, never say never because there’s nothing stopping us should the opportunity arise to go and make one and put it out. I know when we recently did the shoot for the photos and TikToks we got lots of video footage which we could do something with. There’s also a meeting tomorrow about something as well which I bet you’ll later have, so wait and see, I’m saying no but don’t say never.
Harvey: The door’s not completely shut it’s just closing.
What is the songwriting process like for you lads?
Harvey: We’re lucky in this band there’s some very, very talented songwriters. I feel like the way it works is a lot of the time a bulk of the writing is done by Cal and Jasper. I feel like Jasper should be answering this question I’ll be honest but I’ll do my best, haha. They come together with ideas already sort of there and then we go to the studio. And then that’s where I chuck my two pence in and we break it down, mix ideas and start to come up with either new melodies, new lyrics, new whatever and that’s where the layers come in.
Jasper: We’re very lucky that Cal manages to amongst all our responsibilities and jobs we have to do on a daily basis in this band, Cal more than anyone finds the time to crank out his ideas to bring to the studio the most. Luckily, it’s a very collaborative process, especially when we work with Andy Gannon who’s worked with Clean Bandit and Rudimental. We had a meeting with our label when we first met them and Harvey described Cal as the best songwriter he’s ever met and described me as knowing exactly where a guitar riff is, so that was nice.
Harvey: See I didn’t word it the best way, clearly, but I meant it in the most nice complimentary way, of like he doesn’t have to think about it. He’s just a natural musician, like he just knows where things should be and what they should be. He’s got that right active listening.
Jasper: I never took it to heart, I didn’t forget it either.
Harvey: Clearly, because that was a while ago!
Is there an ISLA RICO LP in the works?
Jasper: Fantastic question, no is the short answer. We’ve chatted about it, we’re a long road off because we still have a lot of growth to achieve as a band. And we’re still in our early stages of trying to get our footing in the industry. It would be fantastic, as soon as the conversation comes up I’m instantly terrified because we know how much time, work, and money it is to do an EP of five songs. Imagine an album with our current resources and limited time. We have to work day jobs and music is expensive, to put an album out we don’t feel we’re at the level yet where we know that would be successful.
Harvey: I feel like it would be a bit of a waste to be honest, like you said, we’ve got a lot of growth to do. So I want to put out an album when we’ve got the optimum audience there to appreciate it.
Jasper: Maybe, hopefully this batch of songs is more successful than the last ones, and then the ones after that is more successful. And hopefully all of you American listeners out there discover us, go listen, decide we’re the best English band you’ve ever heard since One Direction obviously, and The Beatles. It’ll be fantastic to have that time justified to put aside and go make an album without pulling our hair out and crying.
Now I always ask everyone not based in the states this but, are there any plans to have a stateside show soon?
Harvey: We would love to. When I look back to when ISLA RICO was first birthed, a lot of the imagery and a lot of the vibe that we were looking at was stateside. It was a lot of California and stuff like that, looking at the sunsets, the neon lights, all of that stuff that comes with being stateside. Personally, I know it’s like a bucket list thing, for me, I would love to play somewhere like The Troubadour or somewhere like that. That’s one of my dream venues to play. We definitely have ambitions to get on a plane and go over there.
Jasper: Me and Cal, we went to L.A. once before Covid and fell in love with it, like Harvey said. The start of the band, we are a bunch of English boys from rainy England who wish we were cool California kids. We’re cool but we ain’t California kids, but a lot of it is longing for that which English people do. So if you’re in the right parts of America you’re very lucky and we’ll get to there. Where would you like to do, obviously L.A. Troubadour, that’s a would love.
Harvey: I really like Arizona, not for any music-based reasons. I just want to go to Arizona, and I think to say playing in Arizona, whenever I look at tour posters and I see the little AZ, I want that on my tour poster.
Jasper: I’ve been to Arizona, they are quite well off, I went to a really cool park there once, oh imagine the photoshoot we could do in the desert.
Harvey: Exactly, that’s what I’m saying.
Jasper: We wouldn’t even have to go bring a cactus in.
Harvey: We could’ve done all of our EP, and single covers so far we could’ve actually got in real life.
Jasper: There’s no way we’re going all the way to America and not getting a single cover out of it. For anyone who doesn’t know us, ISLA RICO is also always about cactuses and they’re not very common in England. The ones in the garden center are well expensive, so any naturally grown cactus out there we’re all over them. America, we want ya!
You just opened for holler at their Manchester tour stop. How exciting was that?
Jasper: It was really, really good, it was kind of everything you wanted from a show, sounded great, we played great. The crowd was fantastic, and it was really nice vibes after the show as well hanging out with everyone. We met a lot of people that we hadn’t met before, but it’s always daunting when you go on as a support act. One person that was there was wearing a holler t-shirt, as they should be because they were really good by way, big fan of those guys. But everyone seemed to want to have a conversation with after and have a photo, and seemed to be coming to our next Manchester show. There were two girls who came for us because they saw a random ad which was really cool.
Harvey: I know it was reassurance that those things actually work, Instagram aren’t just taking my money they do show it to some people.
Jasper: There we go, organic growth from advertisement, haha.
Harvey: It was really good. Sometimes it’s a bit nice to be a support act because you can walk in to a gig where you’ve not had the pressure of setting it out. Of course, you’ve got to bring in your end of the support but you don’t have all the added responsibilities. So sometimes it’s nice to just come to support a show and just take it in. Like Jasper said the crowd was great, the holler guys, they’re such nice lads. And their bass player as well, she was a lovely lady. It was just a great night overall. The vibes were good from the minute we got there to the minute we left, so that tells you it was a good day.
Jasper: And we sold some merch, we did a great job that night, and we had Brad play with us for the first time as well.
Harvey: Yeah, we had live bass with us which makes a massive difference.
Jasper: We’re a five-piece finally, so our live sound is about to evolve and go to a whole new level. The next couple of shows just you see.
It was recently announced that you’ll be performing at Lost Cat on July 25th as well as Tramlines Fringe in Sheffield on the 26th and 27th, are there any nerves with back-to-back-to-back performances?
Harvey: For me personally no, I’m actually looking forward to it, cause it’s like with all of us living at different ends of the country. It’s not always easy to get rehearsal time, so to me I’m just looking forward to it because by that third gig we’re going to be so tight, we’re going to sound so good. And I think we’ve been doing this so long now, ‘cause there was a point we were doing four shows a day, so I think any nerves that we used to have kind of less than then. It’s second nature for me now speaking personally, going up on stage and doing our thing is the bit I love most about the band. So if anything I don’t get nervous I just get excited.
Jasper: It’s when we feel like The Power Rangers and we feel full-force team megazord is about to come out. No matter what you think of the band or if you’re not into that type of music, we just have this feeling of like yeah you should wait.
So, are there any plans for an official ISLA RICO tour?
Jasper: Ah yes that question, our collective answer for that is no (wink).
In your song “mine in the morning” from your eternal optimist EP, there’s a lyric “with a donkey and an ogre” I’m guessing you’re Shrek fans, right?
Jasper: It’s a shame Cal isn’t here because I’m speaking on behalf of him because he wrote that song entirely. While we were doing our first EP, we were just throwing songs out, trying to produce, seeing what stuck, and if there were any voice memos we had on our phones. Cal happened to write a song. He never attended it to be an ISLA RICO thing it was just a thing. He wrote a song about after he had just met his girlfriend and I think one of their first few dates they had just stayed and watched Shrek and listened to Earth, Wind & Fire in the car. So both of those references are in there, so that’s about Cal meeting his lovely lady. Our girlfriends are a little pissed off that none of their songs have made it onto the EP yet. “mine in the morning” is a very intimate personal song which turned into a very popular ISLA RICO banger, and it’s great, underappreciated I’d even say.
Speaking of optimists, what are your thoughts on Dua Lipa’s new album Radical Optimism?
Jasper: I love that album I was very excited because Kevin Parker being massively involved. I think Dua is great at what she does and I think she works with really, really talented producers and songwriters, so we always look forward to what work that team turns out. And you can’t really go wrong with Tame Impala, I did enjoy watching him come out with her at Glastonbury. I love how everything was so big like theatrical budget and he just came out in his shirt and jeans looking like he had just woken up.
Harvey: That’s how you know you’ve made it. You just woke up and smashed the place.
Jasper: He literally just got off the bus at Glastonbury, nobody knew who he was, came on, played a little ditty, it’s like boom Kevin Parker. You know what, I remember seeing the cover for that and thinking that is a cool cover, that really feels like something we’d do.
Harvey: Dua always does it right. Can’t go wrong with a bit of Dua, she’s always grooving.
What was the last song you played on Spotify?
Harvey: Mine is probably our song, I listen to a lot of podcast at the minute, so I haven’t actually listened to like a fresh new song but let me look.
Jasper: Chappell Roan, I went into Costa today to ask the staff to pre-save our song and we all got chatting about Chappell Roan, I can’t remember the song but you know the one, let me look it up.
Harvey: My last song was “dave” by ISLA RICO.
Jasper: I lied, it’s blink-182’s “Feeling This.”
Since you’re named after a tiki bar, I’m curious what your drink of choice is?
Harvey: If we’re not talking ciders and beers, we’ll ignore those cause we’re talking tiki vibe, it’s probably a Pink Gin.
Jasper: I’m going to go for a Piña Colada
Harvey: I know there’s cocktails I like more than Pink Gin however I do not drink, therefore I do not know the names of them.
Lastly, do you have a recommendation? This can be absolutely anything, restaurants, advice, movies, places, etc.
Jasper: My recommendation would be to pre-save “wavelength” by ISLA RICO their upcoming single, it is the best song they’ve ever made and highly likely the best song you’ll ever hear this summer.
Harvey: Well Jasper did the obvious. so I’m going to say watch Lord of the Rings, support Liverpool, and I don’t know read the Bible.
Jasper: And be kind to dogs.
Make sure you pre-save “wavelength” here and give it a listen when it’s out on August 2nd, and you can stream the rest of ISLA RICO’s discography on your favorite streaming platform now.
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