Jonny Woods from Belfast Alt rockers Wynona Bleach speaks with About The Rock Q&A – new single ‘Swim In The Bay’
19th March 2024Hi there Wynona Bleach – such a kooky name must mean something! Tell us all
about it
Pretty simple really! We had been touring under a different
name and hated it. We always loved the idea of a band name that people sorta
thought was Mel’s name. Veruca Salt, Blondie, etc. Jonny was having his hair
bleached and Stranger things was all the rage. We are fans of Winona Ryder
and Nirvana’s Bleach album and the two were combined!
What brought you all together?
Music! We all played in various bands in our scene and all came together to
do this style we all liked!
What fires your creativity as a band?
Usually, it’s being around people, touring, playing live. We love making lots
of noise and coming up with big hooky melodies.
Your single ‘Swim In The Bay’ is out now – what inspired the track?The song is about giving head. We thought It would be funny to try to do it
subtly but once you know that the lyrics should make some sense 🙂
You’ve toured with some amazing music legends like Alice in Chains and Ash.
Do you have any cool memories or anecdotes to share?
Waiting to go on stage at the Olympia Theatre with Alice in Chains, Sean
Kinney appeared out of nowhere and gave us all big hugs and said hello. We
said we were nervous and he said “We were nervous as shit when we were asked
to support Slayer when we just started out! Just go out there and be good,
but don’t be too good or you’ll make us look bad!”
Midway through our set, we look over and he and Jerry is
standing watching us, for most of our show. It was incredible and weird and
scary. The next night, Jerry asked Jonny what the stage was like. “Cold,
Jerry!” he said, “You can see your breath!!” (This was in the Belfast
Telegraph building, a massive concrete cube.) He asked if his hands were
warm enough and put them out and Jonny held his hands and said “Jesus Jerry,
not warm enough at all!!!” and he went in to put them on a radiator.
So, any new music /tour dates in the pipeline?
We are recording our sophomore album, with Andy Bradfield and Avril
Mackintosh (Manic St Preachers, Bjork, The XX, Bryan Adams, you name it,
they’ve done it!) “Swim in the Bay” will be on it and we plan to release
another single from it in June!
Tell us something we don’t already know about you!
When she was a kid, Melyssa always wanted to become a qualified Forklift
driver. She does not have a driver’s license at all.
Have you anything else you’d like to say to your fans/followers?
We love every one of you!!! Every band says it but we legit have the best
fans, who are incredibly kind and are massively important to our world. We
are honored to be part of yours!
