Wilshire – Interview

Wilshire is the sort of group that you would love to hate. The only problem is you just can’t bring yourself to hate them. Not only are their songs too infectious the members are just the same. Love them or hate them you won’t be able to ignore them. Welcome to Micah and Lori Wilshire’s world.

What are your thoughts on how to classify the music?

Lori: We say it is a lot of pop rock. It’s very hard for us because there are so many aspects to so it’s hard to say.

Micah: We have a wide range of what we like. We grew up listening to everything so pop rock works for us.

If you are called pop people get turned off, but the music did surprise me because it is smarter pop than the norm.

Micah: I guess the aspect of it being pop is our melodies. Pop can be sugary stuff to rock today.

I also read you were Beatles fans. They didn’t have that bad stigma of being pop.

Micah: Right and for us the Pretenders were pop too.

When you were doing solo stuff was it similar to this?

Micah: I think so. It’s always a thing of developing yourself and what you love. If you love a lot of stuff it is going to…

Lori: …take a while.

Micah: right to be yourself. I guess at different times whatever record you are into, especially as a kid, and then you find your own voice later on.

Do you find a lot of music today and a lot of young kids are just emulating what they have heard in the last year?

Micah: When you are finding your voice you find out what you like and you do that. I remember doing that and then getting bored. Finally I did something else. I guess that is part of learning who you are.

Was the coming together natural?

Lori: the first time we sang together we knew we wanted to do it together. This was a surprise because we are both very headstrong, but when we first sang together it was overwhelming because the melody and the blend were so on the first time. We didn’t have to work to create that and it surprised us. Within a couple weeks we were writing songs together. That is hard because you have to trust each other and have confidence in each other. Now we are each others sole writing partners.

I guess you must just know.

Lori: Yeah and you don’t have to force it because it’s already there.

So it was instantaneous and you didn’t need to fine tune your voices?

Micah: That’s what was strange to us. It was at this club and as soon as we got of the stage people told us we sounded great together and we knew we could do it. It was so interesting. When you sing with other people you have to work around their voice, but with us it was like breathing and it was very surreal.

There have been a lot of pairings in the past like Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell. Did you listen to those artists to get an idea of where you wanted to go to as a duo?

Lori: It’;s funny that you mention Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell because we would do all these covers of them in these little clubs. It was so perfect and brought back stylistically things we love like old Motown and R&B.

That was one of the greatest combinations.

Micah: Those songs are classics. Probably a week after we got together we were thinking of which Marvin Gaye and Tammy Terrell songs we could do together. But that was part of finding our voices.

Is it helpful that you two are going through everything together?

Lori: This is a whole new world for us. It’s awesome and great, but it is also frustrating and is a roller coaster. To have someone walking the same road and going through the same things as me is priceless.

Micah: Yeah I don’t know how I would deal with it otherwise. It is very easy to get pissed off at things or happy about things, but its great to have these things to share with. We are used to acoustics in a coffee house for a long time and this thing is a blast so I’m so happy to be able to share it.

Now are you married?

Lori: (Laughs)

Micah: (Jokes) we are married and brother and sister and from the south. Actually we are from the south and we are married. (Lori laughs)

So you aren’t the White Strips.

Micah: No. (Laughs)

I wondered about that specifically because some of the songs sound like they could be wedding songs.

Lori and Micah: (laugh)

Micah: It’s funny that you say that because everyone has said that.

I don’t know why, but I just heard it.

Lori: We have already been asked by people if we could use them.

How did you get found by Columbia?

Lori: We moved out to Los Angeles because we had to take the plunge. We flew by the seat of our pants. We went to open mic nights. There was a BMI circle of songs and we got to do that and the guy who turned out to be our manager was there looking at another artist. We began a relationship with him over nine months and sent him songs. We sent him “Special” and he said we were onto something. Our management took the song to Don Ienner and we were signed. It sounds fast but it took really about seven years.

Is it weird to think fans will think you just popped up from no where?

Lori: I used to think that too and thought the band just started. It never happens though. More often bands struggle before anything great happens.

You don’t sound that good together in six months.

Micah: For a long time we were on the Honda Civic tour. And part of that was the Honda Civic with no AC tour. (We laugh)

Did you try to stick to the north and head for Canada for the no AC tour?

Micah: We did try to head up the coast. The first part of the tour was in Oregon.

Lori: It was nice and cool. When we first moved out here we knew we had to get out of L.A. We booked ourselves in colleges north of L.A. and in Oregon. But it didn’t work very well when we called and tried to book ourselves.

Micah: Yeah, so I started to book us and gave myself a big agency name like Mike Ford Booking Agency and lowered my voice. So the same colleges that turned us down the week before booked us. You do what you have to do. We’ve had fun.

What is the feeling doing the shows?

Lori: I get nervous before every performance. We did this big conference room tour (We all laugh) we were doing radio show tours for a handful of people and I even got nervous for that. If I didn’t have that then I would worry because I’d be too laid back.

Micah: The fewer people in the room the harder it is to play for them because you can see their reaction, it’s nice to have a padding of people.

Lori: We love to play where ever and whenever. Maybe it’s because we are in the honeymoon phase of this. One time we went to a radio station and the general manager couldn’t see us so we literally sat in the lobby and played for the receptionist. (We laugh)

Micah: It was fun, it worked.

After spending years and years building up to this point is it everything you hoped for?

Lori: I didn’t know what to expect. It is exceeding my expectations. We got to open for Train. We are doing what we dreamed. We are doing television shows and we heard our own song on the radio.

Micah: The fact that we don’t have to book ourselves and manage ourselves is great because we get to focus on the music. We are doing all the work that we love. We get bored waiting. It’s been great.

What has been the thing that has kept you pushing and not giving up?

Micah: It’s the fact that we honestly love to do music. It’s what we did before we met and all our lives. Plus this is who we are. It’s not like we decided to do music. The passion and get up everyday and write a song that people get moved by is a big deal for us.

Lori: Plus we have been doing shows where people have already heard “Special” and people tell us they love the song and it makes them feel good is great. The idea that we are having a positive effect on people is amazing. Plus we have no other skills; music is all we can do. (We all laugh)

Micah: We had no back up plan. We had to make it happen.

That is a big incentive there.

Lori: We have the coolest parents too. They never told us to get real jobs and were always supportive. There were a few times where it looked dark and dreary and to have our families behind us was great.

+ Charlie Craine