A BRIEF HISTORY OF WAYWARD SONS -
In September 2017 Wayward Sons released their debut album – ‘Ghosts Of Yet To Come’ to widespread acclaim.
What started out as a tentative and generous offer from Frontiers Music SRL to help Toby Jepson ‘get back on the horse’ ended up, twelve months later, as a full-blown new band project that took everyone, including the members, by surprise.
At the tail end of 2015, Toby had all but given up on being in bands. Several years of singing for established acts such as Fastway, GUN and Dio’s Disciples had, despite the obvious rewards of touring the planet, convinced him that should there ever be an opportunity to make records and tour again it would have to be on his own terms, writing and performing original music.
When the call came from Frontiers it was, to say the least, a surprise. However, the idea of making new music with the full support of a record label was hard to resist, so Toby set about formulating a plan that would ultimately see the creation of Wayward Sons.
Finding the members was actually very straightforward.
Toby’s first call was to long term friend and colleague Nic Wastell. Nic had been the bass player in Leicester band ‘Chrome Molly’ when Little Angels were taking their first tentative steps into the UK live rock scene, and did in fact share the same label for a while, which led onto support slots with the band in the late 80’s ahead of Little Angels signing to Polydor Records. After losing touch for several years, the friendship was re-kindled and Toby eventually produced two albums for Chrome Molly. Nic was instrumental in the formation of Wayward Sons, bringing a wealth of experience as well as an old school punk ethic to the music.
Dave Kemp has long featured in Toby’s life having been a member of the ‘Big Bad Horns’ and playing with Little Angels throughout their most successful period; the ‘JAM’ album era. Toby and Dave have been co-songwriting partners for several years and so it was a no-brainer to ask Dave to take part.
Phil Martini was the only drummer Toby considered for the job, having seen him play for Joe Elliot’s ‘Down and Outz’ at the ‘High Voltage’ festival a year or so before. An email, a couple of phone calls and a coffee meeting secured Phil for the position.
The final piece of the jigsaw was finding the right guitarist. This was crucial and from the very start Toby had his eyes set on a young, exceptionally gifted player whom he had met whilst producing Leeds based band ‘Treason Kings’. Sam Wood is a unique musician, being possessed of a fearless approach to his instrument that is drenched in the glory days of classic rock but also adheres to the modern-day concepts and attitudes.
The first time the band all met each other was a rehearsal at Peter Gabriel’s Real World studios near Bath Somerset in the early summer of 2016. From the first moment they played together it worked. Toby admitted later that it had been a ‘heart in the mouth’ moment when they began working on material but thankfully his instincts had proven to be correct.
Over the course of three days of initial rehearsals, the band worked on ideas that Toby had presented as well as a co-write he had done with Nic ahead of the meeting. Nine songs were worked on and seven made the grade for the first record, which is pretty remarkable.
The recording of ‘Ghosts Of Yet To Come’ took place at Vale Studios in Worcestershire in the winter of 2016. It took approximately 2 weeks to track the band, a further 2 weeks of vocals at Toby’s home studio ‘Strangeplace’ and around 10 days to mix, again at Vale. The album was co-produced with the band and Chris D’Adda who also mixed the record with Toby.
Making records is always about taking a chance. Nobody really knows what the results will be and even the most experienced artists can misstep and convince themselves that the music works when it doesn’t. The studio It’s a weird world of doubt, euphoria, success and failure where second-guessing is commonplace and the wood really does get in the way of the trees, but it’s also a place where creativity is the key and if you can hit the sweet spot where everyone is pulling in the same direction, the results can be beyond expectation.
The good thing about the recording of the album was that there was no huge expectation from either the fans or the band, it was recorded in an atmosphere of joy, where the band genuinely had nothing to lose and so had fun.
Once released, ‘Ghosts Of Yet To Come’ was met with an instant chorus of approval from critics and fans alike. The first single ‘Until The End’ had an immediate reaction at radio with Planet Rock putting it on their A list which in turn drove many internet radio stations and terrestrial rock show to take notice.
The album was very much a statement of protest, with much of the songs’ narrative direction talking about the fears and suspicions of the modern world and the human condition. themes.
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