Q&A: Wine Moms

“I definitely started off caring so much about streams and followers and now after having done it for a couple years, it’s so much fun just getting to make music without getting caught up on stuff like that.”

Photo by Jos Hurley

Wine Moms have established a reputation for themselves in the alternative DIY music scene in Glasgow, ingraining their unique grunge and punk sound into the consciousness of audiences all over Scotland. They are widely known for their riotous, chaotic, and loud live performances.

Since forming in high school, Wine Moms have grown significantly, headling iconic Glasgow venues such as King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut and Nice ‘n’ Sleazy, as well as sharing stages with countless bands like BILK, Master Peace, Grandmas House, and a short tour with Welsh rockers James and the Cold Gun. The band are at the top of their game and ready to bring fresh new material to the table in 2024. After two years, three new members, a tonne of new music is just around the corner.

Your most recent single was ‘White Lies’. Can you tell us a bit about the track and how it came to be? What was it like signing to Electric Honey Records?

I'd had the main riff for White Lies lying around for about 3 years and could never properly get it to click. Then the day that Rishi Sunak was put in power, I wrote the second verse all in one go and the rest of the track shortly followed. Signing to Electric Honey was a steep learning curve for us. It was really difficult to hand over so much responsibility that we were so used to taking ourselves. After the single came out through them, we figured out that we weren't really ready to lose that control over our music yet so we're back to doing it ourselves. We made tons of amazing connections through EH though, including our new drummer, Arran Black. 

What is your creative process when creating music? Do you have a specific technique for writing/composing or is it freestyle?  

For me, I have two ways of going about writing a song. Either riffs or lyrics. With riffs I find it a lot easier to figure out how I want to structure the song and develop the melodic ideas that I've started with. Lyrics on the other hand, are more hit or miss for me. I'll either write nothing for a month or finish off three songs in a couple hours. I much prefer the freestyle approach, it means I'm not held back by a set of rules that I've made for myself. 

What was your favourite show you played/went to last year?   

Favourite show we played has got to either be our first headline at Sleazys with Scottish Music Collective and our mates Wishbone, or getting to headline King Tuts with San Jose, Brat Coven, and The Runaway Models. I saw my very first gig at King Tuts so getting to headline with the best bunch of support acts I've ever seen was really special. Best show I went to either has to be The Prodigy at The Hydro or San Jose's first headline at Audio. The crowds were both absolutely nuts. 

Tell us your three desert island albums.   

Collection II by Misfits

Dummy by Portishead

Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing by Discharge

If you could collaborate with anyone on future music, who would it be?  

Out of anyone it'd have to be Dave Grohl, that man is an absolute machine and he shaped my entire music taste when I was younger. On a more realistic level though, I'd love to start collaborating with some local punk bands, I think the local music scene is really missing that right now so I'd love to explore it. 

What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are looking to establish themselves in the Scottish music industry?  

Do it for yourself. A lot of what held me back when I started creating was this fear that no one would want to listen to it, but now it doesn't really matter to me as much. I definitely started off caring so much about streams and followers and now after having done it for a couple years, it's so much fun just getting to make music without getting caught up on stuff like that. 

Lastly, what can we expect to see from Wine Moms in 2024?

Well we have our new single, Dogma, coming out on February 2nd and the day after we'll be co-headlining Audio with One Nine Eight. We're really excited to get this new era for us on the move. We're gonna be sending off some old favourites at that show in preparation for a lot of new music. And for the rest of the year, we've got our third EP fully recorded and ready to drop whenever so keep an eye out, and a couple surprises that I don't think people will expect.

To pre-save Dogma and keep up to date with all things Wine Moms, click here.