Fresh off the release of their sophomore EP, Wyland is gearing up for a full summer of music. The core three musicians that make up Wyland Ryan Sloan (lead vocal & guitarist), Mauricio Salazar (guitarist), and Richard Joyce (drums) will tour this summer in at a slew of exciting festivals and venues (James Preston joins the band as a live bassist). Wyland gave us the inside scoop on Mumford and Sons, growing up Jersey style, the band’s bond, and what to expect from their new EP, You’re In The World, Get Off Your Feet.
Ryan Sloan: Hello, we’re a band called Wyland. And we came together by chance, really. It started with a handful of songs I had written in my bedroom. I felt strongly about them and thus, I began looking for band members to help me make the songs into something more. I found Mauricio off of Craigslist. He had moved out here from California and was looking for a band to just make music with. Then, with Richard, we were somehow friends on Facebook but we didn’t know one another. Thankfully, he was also from New Jersey and was looking to make music. We all really connected and became brothers of sorts. And now, we’ve been together for nearly two years.
Richard Joyce: Yeah, I would say we all equally hold the crown of being the biggest practical joker. We mess with one another on a daily basis but it’s all love. I think it helps our connection on stage as well. You know, we bleed together, we laugh together and it all makes us that much better at what we do.
Richard Joyce: It was surreal. We were coming back from a twenty hour drive from South by Southwest in Austin, TX, and we just knew it was going to be such a big show for us. When we hit the stage, I remember Ryan grabbed us and said, ‘we drove thousands of miles to be here, let’s leave it all on that stage,’ and I’m confident that we did.
How is the new EP, You’re In The World, Get Off Your Feet, different from your debut? How did you come up with the title?
Ryan Sloan: Well, it’s funny because the title of the EP came long before the band name and moreover, it inspired the band’s name. A close friend of ours misinterpreted a lyric from Bon Iver’s Holocene as ‘You’re In The World, Get Off Your Feet’ and when I found it wasn’t the correct lyric, I was like ‘that is one of the most beautiful misinterpretations I’ve ever heard. Let’s use it,’ and it ended up inspiring our band name Wyland. We thought Why Land?
Mauricio Salazar: Our second EP was certainly more conceptual than our first. We chose to combine more organic elements as well as some new electronic ones that we were experimenting with. We took the title, ‘You’re In The World’ as the organic half of the EP then ‘Get Off Your Feet’ as the electronic half.
You have been described as “…the band blends suburban angst with city kid confidence,” what exactly does that mean to you all? How has being so close to NY enriched your music?
Mauricio Salazar: I’m not completely sure…It certainly sound cool though. I can say that from my apartment in New Jersey, I have the most beautiful city skyline in the world and that definitely influences the music we make.
Ryan Sloan: I agree. I think that because of where we live in New Jersey, it’s hard not to be inspired by the beauty and madness of New York City.
Richard Joyce: Yeah, and the opportunities and potential exposure are truly endless. New York is filled with business people and I think the best form of education is just being thrown into the whirlwind of what it is you want to do so in that sense, New York has been a challenging learning experience but its certainly making us better at what we do. – RJ
