In the surrealist soup with WOOZE

Written by Jamie Finn (@jamiefinn2209)

Cock rock villains WOOZE have struck gold with their unique recipe for musical custard. The London-based tandem produce a pungent blend of art-chic style, a confrontational glam-rock sound, and a tongue so firmly in the cheek that it's causing lacerations. Since forming in 2018 at Brixton's iconic Muddy Yard, the duo of Theo Spark and Jamie She have put out three EPs of sizzling psychedelic absurdity and have played shows basically everywhere.

Often draped in their iconic custard yellow, WOOZE's visual style exists at the crossroads between the glam of Bowie, the artiness of Sparks and the New Romanticism of Roxy Music. Like deranged dandies, their words and aesthetic see them channel a type of brute English properness while simultaneously poking fun at it. There's a kind of "have your Battenberg and eat it, too" approach to everything they do. "I constantly confuse myself with our lyrics," Jamie explains, "and that's a good feeling to have. I think by touching on cultural signs like Englishness, you inevitably examine where you come from and whether or not that is a good thing. So organically, WOOZE has both celebrated and lambasted the cultures that Theo and I have come from."

"There's also something appealing about that kind of caricature. A niceness to it," adds Theo. "We like to be horrible on stage sometimes, but we both value kindness. It's nice to be nice."

The duo invokes that same contradictory attitude toward the role of masculinity in what they do. The use of He-Man imagery, the ruggedness of their photos, and the ladykiller lyrics all evoke a certain kind of manly energy. Yet, it's all done with a sense of cartoonish irony and arty detachment that their work satirises masculinity as much as it salutes it. "We've never really been the macho boys. Clearly," jokes Theo, "but we definitely wanted to have some of that cock rock swagger. It's more fun to do it that way, especially when you're not the real thing. When that happens, you kind of make a completely new thing. That's why we wanna get swoll and show off our bods."

"I find lots of elements of masculinity very funny and worth celebrating," adds Jamie. "I like to think we do that. At the same time, songs like Huge Axeman more explicitly pick holes in classical male beauty images. But, if you want it to be, it could just be about having a small willy."

As well as the glam-art style that WOOZE slather over everything they do, the band also incorporate elements of hard rock and even dance punk into their music. They have always tried to offer more than the typical "meat and two veg band," though they concede that, to an extent, that's what they are. "Quite a lot of our riffs are very heavy, and in that way, we want to fuck with the big boys," says Theo. "We do like chunky riffs. But the way we approach it, it's not just rock 'n' roll. We align ourselves with duos like MGMT or Sparks. So superficially, it might be like a band, and for all intents and purposes, when we play live, it is a band, but that's a very different side to when we create."

Yet, despite these influences, one source remains everpresent in their work. "The Beatles will always be at the heart of everything I ever do," explains Theo. "Not just as The Beatles but all their solo stuff, too."

“I find elements of masculinity very funny and worth celebrating. I think we do that.”

One of the reasons that The Beatles have remained a strong presence in the work of WOOZE is their ever-evolving relationship with the band and their different members. "Recently," says Jamie, "I realised for the very first time the obvious truth; that it's impossible to have a favourite member. They were a four-piece, and that's how they should be viewed. As Paul once said, The Beatles were a square, and if you took out one corner, it wouldn't be a square anymore."

Theo, too, has a developing perspective on The Beatles. "I used to think Paul erred on the side of being a bit naff. And that's true; he does. But now I think that's something to be celebrated. There's something avant-garde about Paul. He wasn't afraid of embracing every aspect of cheesiness which I think is quite avant-garde in itself."

While The Beatles will always be a core influence on WOOZE, the band also takes inspiration from Korean sources. "We love Balming Tiger and got to play with them in Slovakia."

More traditional Korean music, in particular pansori, has also had an indirect impact on them. "When we started, we were limited by being a duo and being just drums and guitar. The skeletons of our songs were trying to carry on that pansori tradition. We see a connection between pansori and punk, this cool wailing mixed with tribal drumming. It's so full of character. We love the attitude of pansori, and I guess that's the part we're trying to channel."

As well as their bombastic live shows and cinematic music videos, the WOOZE Entended Universe has also produced a short 8-bit video game (of which I spent well too long trying to finish). The band plans to expand the WEU into a complete retrospective art exhibition collecting all vestiges of the band's time together. "I want to open a WOOZE-ium," says Jamie, "full of stuff that makes us look really important. WOOZE memorabilia and artifacts. I want to sell postcards and magnets."

Still, while the band may draw on bygone inspirations, their forward-thinking, balls-out methodology means that there should be plenty of time before their energetic trifle reaches relic status. 

Follow Wooze on Instagram @woozeband.