[Photo courtesy of Alice Falkowski]

By Julia Weber, Editorial Director

This year’s annual ACRN music festival, Lobsterfest, welcomed sets from nearly a dozen bands from all across North America, including Indiana’s Wishy. Named a 2023 “Band to Watch” by Stereogum, Wishy is quickly gaining momentum in the music scene, on the cusp of releasing their new EP Planet Popstar after their full length album Triple Seven. Ahead of their headlining set at The Union, I spoke with Nina Pitchkites about the group’s songwriting and recording processes, being on tour and finding inspiration in everyday life.

[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]

JW: Planet Popstar is set to release on April 25, and that’s not too long after the upcoming performance this weekend. I read that it was born out of the same recording session as your debut album, but I was wondering: What else can you tell readers about the EP?

NP: Yeah, you’re correct. These are all technically B-sides from our last album. A lot of people ask ‘Oh, is this just an EP because it didn’t necessarily fit the vibe of the whole album?’ which is partially true, but also, it’s really just because we didn’t want the album to be super long. There were actually two different recording sessions; Most of Triple Seven, the album, was recorded in Bloomington, Indiana, but basically all the songs on Planet Popstar, with the exception of one song, was recorded in LA a couple years ago. These were all songs that weren’t necessarily created for Wishy. A little bit of lore is that we used to be called Mana, and at the time, when we wrote a lot of these B-side tracks, Wishy wasn’t even a band yet. Wishy was Mana, but Wishy, at the time, was a separate project which included a lot of these songs. They weren’t for our day-to-day band Mana, and so we were like, ‘What do we do with these songs?’ They were just sitting on the back burner for a long time because we were like, ‘Well, they don’t necessarily fit with the rock and roll vibe of our band,’ but over time, it became a logistical thing to merge the projects. Once we did that, we ended up having this really big catalog of songs because of that. The Planet Popstar songs are more poppy, more sweeter-sounding than what we released on Triple Seven. We really wanted to put out these songs, but we didn’t necessarily put them on the next album, but we felt like it wanted to be its own thing, so that’s what happened.

JW: I know there was a lot of overlap between your previous project and now existing as Wishy, but tell me about the process of merging two different acts that are spanning different genres. Was that freeing for you to have more creative territory to cover, or did you find that overwhelming at first?

NP: Yeah, definitely both of those things, but more so freeing. It’s cool to not be lumped into one category, because I think before we merged the projects, people always just assumed we were a full-on shoegaze band, but now we’ve broadened our horizons which just allows for more creativity, and who doesn’t want that? But, it was overwhelming; it still kind of is because we do have a lot of songs that the whole band doesn’t even know because we kind of reverse engineer a lot of songs, and what I mean by that is we record the song first and then the band eventually learns it. We want to get a little more away from that and really write as a full band instead of me and Kevin all the time. We’re actually having a little writing bootcamp in a couple weeks where we’re all going to take a few days off work and hunker down and really write things together, which I’m excited about.

JW: That is super cool. I feel like most of the time, it’s either a full band process, or it’s a frontman or frontwoman — what have you — who is responsible for everything, and it seems like it’s a little bit different for Wishy, having two main writers. Tell me about that process and how that impacts both the creative process and the output you’re generating. What is it like to have two minds at work coming together to create these songs?

NP: When we first started this band, Kevin really had the full on concept for the band because he had written a lot of songs during the pandemic. I used to live in Philadelphia, and when I moved back to Indianapolis where he lives and we all still currently live, he was like ‘Hey, do you want to be in this band?’ He had written the majority of the songs and then slowly I was throwing in songs here and there, but really the way our process works is we both typically write on our own. I did this the other day where I just sent him a bunch of voice memos — it’s a combination of humming a tune and a simple guitar riff or a chord progression — we’ll send things back and forth like that to each other and be like, ‘Hey, if there’s anything you want to expound on with these demos, go for it.’ I honestly feel like it’s pretty rare where we’ll actually get together in person and be like, ‘Okay, let’s write a song.’ We separately think of things randomly, and we’ll bring it up next practice or just make a quick demo on GarageBand or something and send it. Oftentimes, he’ll come up with a lot of instrumental parts and send me the demo and say ‘Hey, do you want to add a melody to this and write some lyrics?’ and I’ll be like, ‘Yeah, that sounds cool.’ In the future, we’re trying to really have it be a full-on, collaborative band project where every person in the band is writing stuff because up until recently, it was just Kevin and I writing, but I love the idea of everyone truly having songwriting input.

JW: What it sounds like to me is that lyrics and music come concurrently instead of one coming before the other. Is that correct?

NP: More or less. It just depends on the song. Sometimes we’ll both randomly think of a really good idea for a melody; Lyrics typically come later. Normally, when we make demos, we’ll hum something unintelligible into the mic and flesh it out later, try to create a theme around it. Some songs are more intrinsically meaningful than others, and some are a vague concept that we decided to shape into a song.

JW: It sounds like you work fairly quickly. Is that true?

NP: Not necessarily for me. Kevin works really quickly; I work pretty slowly to be honest. I guess that’s all relative and depends on who you are. Some people may think writing five songs a year is fast, some people think that’s slow. I’m more on the slower side. It definitely comes a lot quicker to Kevin.

JW: This is probably getting deep into the lore, but right before I joined this call, I was reading your Reddit AMA, and I read that your favorite show that you’ve played was in Baltimore with Dazy and Narrow Head. Dazy is our Saturday headliner, so I was really curious: Could you tell me about that? From an artist’s perspective, tell me about playing with our other headliner.

NP: We toured with Dazy and Narrow Head in May of last year. Dazy, they’re such an awesome band. We got to know them really well. It was great to see them play every night. I was just happy to be there; I kept saying that the whole tour. There were things here and there that were going wrong, and I was just like, ‘I’m just happy to be here being able to see you guys play every night.’ Seeing them sell out of their merch, that’s always an awesome thing to see. They’re an amazing band; I wish I could see them the day after, but we unfortunately have to quickly scoot back to Indy because we’re playing a Record Store Day event in Indy the next day, but love Dazy (and) have nothing but great things to say about them.

JW: Obviously, I’m excited to see them, but it’s even more exciting when the other headliner is vouching for them.

NP: I actually just saw a video on Instagram last night, someone had filmed Dazy playing — I don’t know where — but it looked like it was just him and one other person, which was interesting, because when we played with them, he had a bassist and a drummer. James is really cool. That band is super dynamic; it’s really impressive to see a band who can change the lineup on a whim, whether that’s playing with a solo track or with a band.

JW: You’re about to hit the road with Momma, and we are big fans of both Wishy and Momma in ACRN. Tell me about that and what you’re looking forward to about that.

NP: I’ve been a longtime fan of Momma. We actually played with them when we used to be called Mana back in January of 2023. I think it was right after they released Household Name. The biggest thing I’m excited about is being on tour with other female musicians. We have before, but I feel like we’re just gonna hang out so hard. Musically, we have a very similar vibe and socially as well. We’ve hung out with them in New York a couple of times because that’s where they’re based out of. I’m excited to watch their set from the wings every night. It’s so cool to see how big they are now, and their new record is also amazing. They’re just cool people and really funny, and I’m so honored that they asked us to tour with them. It’s going to be a great time. May can’t come fast enough.

JW: Outside of music, where are you finding inspiration?

NP: It sounds cheesy, but there’s inspiration in every facet of life. Even driving home, I’ll see — I don’t know — a guy bending down to tie his girlfriend’s shoe on the street, and I’m like, ‘That’s so cute. I bet that would be a cute line in a song or something.’ I haven’t written a song about that, but it’s these little moments that you can pick up on and maybe create a theme around it. That is a good question. I’ll have random thoughts throughout the day, or I’ll think of a word that sounds cool and I’m like, ‘I’d love to incorporate that word into a song somehow,’ or even just being in nature. That’s the beauty of life is there’s inspiration everywhere. It sounds so corny, but it’s true.

JW: This is my last question, and it’s something that I like to ask everyone. What’s your favorite song right now?

NP: That’s a good question. Broncho just released a new song called “Funny.” It’s been stuck in my head for a month. So good. I think it’s a single off of an upcoming album. Great song, check it out.