Get to know Wallows before their show at Cat's Cradle on March 6

Wallows is a new band with an alternative vibe, made up of members Dylan Minnette (vocals/guitar), Cole Preston (drums) and Braeden Lemasters (vocals/guitar). Minnette recently starred in the Netflix Original Series, "13 Reasons Why." The band will be coming to Cat's Cradle in Carrboro on March 6. Staff writer Skyler Taggart talked with the members about themselves and their experiences as a band. 

The Daily Tar Heel: Tell me a little bit about the Wallows.

Braeden Lemasters: Yeah, I mean we’re a band. We met when we were younger. We kinda grew up playing music together for a long time. This band Wallows has been this name and these songs since everything came about like last year in April. And it’s been fun, you know? Things happened kind of fast in terms of things happening, but it’s been great. It’s been so fun and so awesome, and we’re just writing music as much as we can and working on stuff, planning on releasing more music and videos. We’re going in — we’re just going for it.

DTH: The band used to be called The Narwhals. Why the name change? 

Cole Preston: The Narwhals — we had that name for a long time. After a while we ditched that name because we thought it was a little too funny, and it’s really hard to say. The way it rolls off the tongue — it’s like "naaaar-whaaaals." Our music has evolved over time, and we might make a "Kid A" in our career like Radiohead, but can you picture the Narwhals making "Kid A"?

DTH: What kind of themes do you focus on in your music?

CP: There is no real theme. Usually when it comes to writing, it is more like random inspiration, I think. One song could be inspired by a random movie we see or a random feeling. So there’s no theme, but I think our album might have some sort of underlying theme, but we’re trying to flush that out. 

DTH: Can you tell me about the writing and recording process?

Dylan Minnette: I feel like an idea for our songs usually starts with one person, and then we introduce the idea to the other guys, and then we’ll all just kind of take it from there and build an entire song on top of it. It’s always super collaborative. One of us could have an idea, and another one could turn it into something completely different. We just use the best parts of some songs and make one big, better song. 

DTH: You just released a new single called "Pictures of Girls." Tell me about it.

DM: That is the first song off of our upcoming EP. It’s called "Spring." It’s probably the closest to the songs we’ve put out before, like last year. We thought it was appropriate to follow those, but I think the rest of the songs on the EP kind of stand on their own. They’re kind of different from each other, which I’m kind of excited about. We’ve actually had the majority of that song for a couple of years, but we finally figured out what we wanted it to be. We thought the song was old, but had potential. 

DTH: The single cover for the song has a picture of Cole getting his hair shaved off. Can you tell me about that?

BL: Basically, we were trying to come up with the art design for the first single of our new EP with our first release with a label, and we were like, 'What’s the first cover gonna be? It’s kind of a big deal.' We were getting art sent from people, and it was good. But one day — it was the day before we had to finalize it — I was looking through my phone, and I just saw that picture of Cole that I took from when he got his hair shaved for the “Pictures of Girls" video. And then I made a joke of it, like I put it in an app. But then after I saw it, I thought, "This has to be it." I was so worried the other guys wouldn’t think so, but I thought it was so funny, so that’s how that came about. 

DTH: What's it like going on tour? 

CP: You get to be in all these new cities, like 24 hours at a time. We get to kick it in a van, eat Nature Valley granola bars, drink water. It’s really fun. We get to be a band, which is so important. All the fans are very, very special. They are the reason why this is possible. Touring has been our dream since we were little 13-year-olds covering Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix.

DTH: Do you guys have a favorite song to perform?

BL: I like playing "Pleaser" because that was the first song to come out, and part of me loves it because it was what started the ball rolling. It was the only song people knew at our shows, so I knew that was a big part of the reason why people were at the shows. 

DM: My favorite ones are the ones that people know. Simply because they know them, people jump and scream, and it makes us really excited to have an album where people know our whole set. Those shows will be even better than they are now, which will be great. 

DTH: Do you have any pre-show or after-show rituals?

DM: Stay hydrated. That is key to survival out here. 

BL: We don’t really do anything super weird. We just take deep breaths and chill. We learned some new vocal warm-ups where you "bubble." 

DTH: What are you most excited about coming to Carrboro?

BL: Honestly, I’m just stoked to see what it is. It’s just a city we’ve never been to. I’ve heard great things, and I’m super excited to come and hang out. 

@skylertaggart

arts@dailytarheel.com