Wildstreet began in 2006 and released their self-titled debut album on Retrospect Records in 2009. The band spent the next 4 years touring nonstop & performing at US festivals including: Rocklahoma (5 consecutive years), SXSW & M3 Rock Festival. Wildstreet rocked alongside Black Veil Brides, Vains of Jenna, The Bouncing Souls, The Last Vegas, Twisted Sister, Michael Monroe, Crashdiet, Diemonds, Kix, LA Guns and more. The band won the Best Buy/Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands for Rockstar Energy’s Uproar Festival, and opened for Avenged Sevenfold, Sevendust and Three Days Grace in Camden, NJ.
In 2011, the band released Wildstreet II..Faster..Louder! to widespread critical acclaim. They made an appearance on “The Jimmy Fallon show” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT2Wpp7NkK8) and their songs were licensed to TV shows on E!, MTV, VH1, Oxygen, TBS & in a THQ Video game. Later that year, the band released the official music video for “Poison Kiss,” which included a cameo by Don Jameson of “The Metal Show.” Wildstreet now had the attention of rock fans worldwide. In 2012, the band released the single “Easy Does It,” and it’s official music video. The video went viral on YouTube. (Wildstreet has well-over 4 million views and nearly 8,000 subscribers on that platform).
After taking a 2 1/2 year break off & dodging rumors of a band breakup, Wildstreet exploded back onto the NYC scene in 2016, headlining Gramercy Theatre with new lineup. In early 2017, the band rocked NYC with Faster Pussycat and The Biters and headed to Rocklahoma for the 6th time.
The band began work on their single “Raise Hell” after Rocklahoma. Released in December 2017, it ushered in a new period for the band. They headlined Irving Plaza for the single’s release party, and was handpicked by Dorothy to open for her New York City tour date at The Bowery Ballroom. In February 2018, the band released a lyric/concert video for “Raise Hell.” Wildstreet spent the remainder of 2018 in the studio recording, Wildstreet III. They performed regional tour dates/festival dates. Highlights include: opening for Sebastian Bach & Escape The Fate. In March, the band sold out The Knitting Factory Brooklyn and then headed out on their first tour in Europe, playing 10 shows in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany, including Sleaze Fest 2019 in Bochum, Germany. Upon returning to NYC, Wildstreet filmed the official music video for “Tennessee Cocaine.” In July, they headlined a sold out NYC show at Saint Vitus and headed out for a short West Coast tour which included stops at The Whisky-agogo & Great American Music Hall. The official music video and single for ‘Tennessee Cocaine’ was released on all major digital & streaming platforms August 23, 2019. They released Three Way Ride & Born To Be before signing to their label, Golden Robot Records. Since signing, Wildstreet released ‘Still Love You’ single and official music video, and ‘Set It Off,’ which is currently on Spotify’s ‘Hard Rock’ playlist. Both songs have reached #1 on 97underground.com. They recently completed a two and a half week tour in the USA, the first of 2021, and will co-headline ‘Rock N Roll Weekend’ on Swiss Rock Cruise in late-June. Their new single ‘Mother’ will be released may 17th via Golden Robot Records, as well as their long awaited full length album ‘III’ on June 25th. They have tour plans throughout the year in the USA, and confirmed Rockfest 2021 in July.
We had a chance to grab frontman Eric Jayk during a soundcheck at a stop on their current Kings of the World Tour. We talked to him about the new album, the tour and more!
I’m Music Magazine: Hey man! Thanks for ducking out of soundcheck for a few minutes to talk to me. So, you’re a few shows into the tour?
Eric Jayk: Yeah man; we’re in Jacksonville on Wednesday, then Savannah and tonight we’re in Valdosta, Georgia.
So I’m guessing for a lot of these people, it’s their first show in a year and a half. I bet the crowds are kind of crazy, aren’t they?
Yeah, yeah, definitely. Everybody’s in a good mood. Everybody is happy, happy to be out. We knew from the beginning in April when we mapped the mid-west, it would be smaller crowds than usual and it would just be different. Down here’s the same thing but it seems like people are a little more relaxed and a little adjusted. Our merch girl at the first show in Asheville said this was the first show she’d seen in a year and whatever amount of months which is insane.
I’m in North Carolina and I know they’ve loosened restrictions and everything. Shows are booming now here in Raleigh. Every time we turn around there’s another one being announced. It’s good to hear that live music’s back. I know you guys have been wanting to get out to the people. So, you guys are dropping a new album on June 25!
Yeah, on June 25th we release the album. It was recorded and has been done since 2019. It took a long time to release because of the pandemic and I was also just dead set on finding the right record label. We signed with Golden Robots and that just seemed to make sense.
So you guys released a lot of singles off of it so far. How many have you released now?
We’ve released seven songs.
How many songs on the album total?
There’s eight on the album. From the beginning we knew we would do a lot of singles. It creates momentum and especially because we’re trying to reconnect with our old fan base, but also make some new fans. New artwork, new images, new singles, new things to talk about. It’s really important.
Nice. I’m guessing it’s you, but who oversees your social media?
Yeah, that’s me. I do it all.
Dude, you’re a beast!
It’s been a really important thing to me because I knew absolutely nothing about social media. I was a typical musician and just whatever, I’ve got an Instagram page, I’ve got a Facebook page. But it serves as a really good place to connect with your fans, and helps to understand what your fans want. So our social media presence has been astounding in the past two years.
You’ve got to see it pay off on your end. I see the interaction, and I was just thinking of you and me growing up as kids. If I could have had interaction with one of my favorite bands like that? It would have just blew my mind, you know? You and I had nothing even remotely close to that. So I tip my hat to you on that, I’m surprised you sleep at all! You stay busy man!
(Laughs) I try!
Also, the merch bundles; do you also have a big hand in that? Being a fan, those are some really impressive bundles that you’ve got to choose from
I think that your artwork has to be great, your merch has to be great, and your photos have to be great. It’s not just your music. Your music is great, but you’ve got to give the fans something else in order to stand out. I think Wildstreet does that to be honest. People love our t-shirts. The first tour of the year we sold out of t-shirts. And we’re also including free stuff with our pre-order CD’s and LP’s. I wanted to figure out a way for fans to save money and get the stuff that they want.
Very nice. There are some bands, new and old, who don’t do anything remotely like this. They just put out a CD and maybe a vinyl and that’s it. Earlier, you said you were looking for the right label. Was there anything in particular that drew you to Golden Robot?
I’ll tell you. Last summer, I spent the summer writing some songs and biking around Brooklyn. I do yoga and then I go biking for like an hour and a half. I just have to get out. I listen to hard rock all the time and then I heard a band called Shotgun Mistress and I thought they were awesome. I looked at their page and it said Golden Robot.
Then Brandon Fields of Minefield, he’d asked me to sing on the Minefield record. It was a friend of a friend and he’d heard “Tennessee Cocaine.” Little did I know that Minefield was going to be like Todd Kerns and Matt Starr and this super band that he created. But Brandon was signed to Golden Robot and when 2 things say Golden Robot and they’re right in front of you, I thought maybe I’ll just write to Mark and see what he thinks of the record. I sent it to him and he said “Let’s set up a call on Monday.” and he told us basically like what he could do. The contract was the easiest contract ever to negotiate. They’re a great label with a ton of really good artists. It seemed like the right play for us. They have a really great reputation and just seemed right for us.
I know you said part of the releasing of this took awhile because of searching for the label, but there’s about a 10 year gap between your 2nd record and this one. That’s a long time. It’s risky in this day & age where everyone’s attention span seems to be super short. With the internet, you’re fighting for so many people’s limited attention. Did that ever worry you?
It was really hard. “Raise Hell” was the first single, then it was “Tennessee Cocaine.” What I did was I dm’d everybody on my Facebook, which was like thousands of people and told everybody we had a new record. Between that and of course Shauna and everybody else who was involved, we were able to reconnect with our audience a bit. Some of the songs are really old. They were first demo’d out in 2010, 2011, 2012. And the arrangements were pretty similar on the recording. Then other songs like “Mother” and “Set It Off,” they were the last songs we did for the record. So it kind of shows who we were and who we are, you know?
So you’ve got some more dates left on this tour and the album’s coming out the 25th. What else are you planning?
Well we’ve got Swissrock Cruise on June 27th, and we have a few other shows. We have one at the Hard Rock in Switzerland and we have two concerts that are pretty much set that’ll be in more countries in Europe, so that’s pretty cool. Then we have a full month-long U.S. tour around Rockfest. We’re gonna be playing a ton. Next year, we have Mexico and places in South America and more. There’s a lot more.
Getting back to the grind. I like to wrap this up with something I call “3 for the road” which are three (hopefully) different questions that you don’t hear everyday. Question one; if you could have any actor, cartoon character, anyone at all be your inner voice, who would you want it to be?
Oh man. Uh, Superman? (laughing)
Do you remember the first alb or Alice In Chains maybe. I can’t remember. I can tell you what my first three records are. Thriller, Purple Rain, and Appetite For Destruction.
Man. All classics right there! Last one. If music was over today and you had to go into professional wrestling, what would your wrestling name be?
Um. What would it be? It would be – Tennessee Cocaine! (laughing)
Dude, I know you have to get back to soundcheck, so I will cut this one short. We’ll have a longer, more in-depth conversation somewhere down the road. Safe travels, be safe and keep rockin’ my friend!
Always Johnny, always! Thanks so much for all of your support!
Interview by I’m Music Magazine Owner/Editor Johnny Price
Pre-order your copy of Wildstreet’s highly anticipated new album III HERE
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