A debut album worth waiting for

By Finnian Cox

‘Good things come with time’ seems to be the philosophy of punk/folk outfit Wasps vs Humans, who have announced that their long-long awaited debut album 'Scratchcard Empires’ is out on 4 October.

Comprising couple Linda and Carl Plover, the band boasts a 20 year long career, one that has seen them garner a reputation for an energetic sound and high-octane performances. Gearing up to play a launch party in the Crane Lane Theatre tonight on 26 September, Linda Plover sat down with the Cork Independent to reflect on the band’s journey, the album’s themes, and more.

They plan to have a sense of spontaneity for the launch party. “We’ll be doing a live performance, with a few guest support acts, as well as some joining us on some tracks,” she says. While the gig will be structured, she explains that it’s “nice to indulge yourself with the album while performing, and to get some fellow musicians onstage with us”.

“20 years since our first release, yeah!” she exclaims enthusiastically. Released under their first name, Chunky Planet, Linda points out that they had a slightly different sound back then. We were more described as alternative indie folk, something which we haven’t moved too far away from,” she says.

Though their more recent tracks are very much punk-influenced, Linda’s point still stands - sounds of the bodhrán, tin whistle and other folk instruments hold an important place in each track.

“Wasps vs Humans was a solo project of Carl’s then,” she says, explaining the current setup’s origins. “He went into spoken word punk poetry, sort of John Cooper Clark influenced stuff.”

It’s natural that their sound has changed in the 20 years since their debut single ‘Pensioners Watch TV’ - it’s a standard occurrence for any band. However, in the case of Wasps vs Humans, stagnation was never a threat. Their sound is constantly transforming with each track, something that leads Linda to describe it as “a whole melting pot of stuff”.

“It’s kinda evolved into what you could describe as punk folk,” says Linda. “We’ve got electronics, we’ve got beats, folk sounds, spoken word - lots!”

While the mixture of instruments makes for a unique sound, it also displays Linda’s talent as multidisciplinary musician, as she plays the tin whistle, bodhrán, guitar as well as providing vocals.

“My background is folk, so I moved over here in 2002 and studied music in UCC,” she explains.

This contrasts Carl’s musical background - he hails from the alternative and punk scenes. Though a difficult spectrum to summarise, Carl chimes in and simply puts it as “hard edge stuff”.

There’s some difficulty in describing their genre - but it’s not something that Linda is concerned about. The album’s theme is just as varied - ranging from cheap meat to a fame-obsessed culture, each song is rife with social commentary, evidently influenced by the band’s spoken word origins.

However, this variation doesn’t take away from the lyrics’ impact. Even the album’s title ‘Scratchcard Empires’ has real, human depth to it, one that Linda is happy to explain. “We were in a shop one day, and there was a person in front of us who looked like they were going through tough times,” says Linda.

She describes how “they bought a whole wad of scratchcards and then moved to the side and started frantically scratching them - it seemed like it was kinda their last hope.”

This moment inspired the theme of the album, something that Linda summarises as a sense of desperation in the world.

“It’s that whole idea of scratchcard empires, building false hope on something that isn’t really obtainable - kidding yourself that fortune will fall into your lap.”

I’m curious about what effect moments like these have on writing punk lyrics and ask Linda if the current climate has made writing more difficult.

“I don’t think so. I think everything that we write, was just as relevant 20 years ago, and the climate’s very much the same,” she says after a moment of thought.

“We are tending to get a bit more external in our writing,” she continues. “I guess that’s where we draw inspiration from – we try and find a positive thread in that,” she says.

“I think that it’s a kind of release. The ethos of punk was all about fighting against oppression and releasing a lot of angst so a lot of what we do is in that vein.”

As Linda puts it, they aren’t in this for fame. The creative aspect is what fuels their desire to perform, something that is apparent from the enthusiasm that they both radiate.

‘Scratchcard Empires’ will be available to download from Wasps Vs Humans’ Bandcamp page, as well as other online platforms from 4 October. The launch party was tonight at the Crane Lane Theatre.