Wilderado
words by Reese Gorman
photo by Cara Robbins
I had the immense pleasure of talking with Maxim Rainer, of Wilderado, and it was one of the best conversations I've had. After seeing them live I knew I had to interview them. Any band that performs with that amount of passion and emotional vulnerability automatically has my heart. Consisting of, Maxim Rainer, Colton Dearing, Tyler Wimpee, and Justin Kila this Tulsa based group of dudes have created an Alternative sound that is something special.
Five minutes into my conversation with Maxim I could immediately tell I was talking to a guy who truly loved music. "I wanted to start a band with people who wanted to sing songs, not so much be professional musicians." That comment alone perfectly describes what Wilderado is about. They put so much work into each individual song to the point where each one has a special meaning, "My inspiration when writing songs is wanting to reveal something to myself." Maxim explains. Each song he writes is so introspective that he has to be alone when writing, he even admits to himself and explains to me that he's not strong enough to write around other people, "it's hard to be introspective and honest with myself when someone else is listening." This shows you just how personal his lyrics get. He pours himself out into his lyrics, he doesn't want to even have the risk of not being truthful in his songs, "It's too hard to not tilt towards whoever is listening to you [when writing]."
To give you even a deeper look into what they're truly about, I asked him if he could choose one band to tour with who would it be, "Opening for Coldplay would be pretty crazy, I don't think we would say no, but opening for The National would be just so tight." Mat Berninger being one of his favorite songwriters, "After getting off with RKS, there is something about playing to a crowd who is there to see a band who they know all of their songs, as opposed to playing arenas where most of the people there are there because they know a hit." Once again showing me that they really are all about the music.
This is one reason why they are so excited about ACL (Austin City Limits). To be surrounded by people who are there to appreciate the music and to hear bands is the dream. As a listener, I know how amazing this is, and I can only imagine how it feels being a band in an atmosphere like this. On top of all that, having it so close to home for them makes it that much more special, "Being Oklahoma and Texas boys that's the cool thing in the music industry, in our region."
A big thing for them that he realized on this tour was that people didn't know their name on the bill but when they started their performance people knew their songs. Explaining that the main goal of having people listen to and like their songs is being accomplished but wondering now how to have their name register within people. "I wonder now what's the translation from hearing a tune, to understanding and knowing the band." Maxim explains. I know this happens to me a lot, where I love a song but don't necessarily pay attention to who's singing it until I happen to see them live one day. That's the next challenge for them, they already have people listening to their music but to get people to the point, that when a song of theirs is played people automatically think of Wilderado. "The only way to get there is to just keep making music" he explains, "that's what was cool about being out with Rainbow Kitten, that's what they've done. They've just so abided to this philosophy of, put out music and tour it. And after six years and now this year, where I mean every place we went with them they were filling out venues with rabid fans." Seeing someone else, who now they are really close with, get to where they are by doing it this way gives them such hope that it can be done. In my opinion, they aren't that far away from just blowing up. After the show I saw, everybody I talked to afterward loved Wilderado. They couldn't stop talking about them. One of my friends even said she was mad at herself for not knowing their songs because it was such a great performance she wanted to be able to appreciate more by singing along with their songs.
Everyone that was at that show loved Wilderado and are excited to see where the future takes them! Here are their remaining shows for the year. You do not want to miss out on seeing such a great band!
