Nicholas Long, the mind behind Wavewulf, has been tinkering with music since middle school, absorbing everything from his father’s record collection to late-night jam sessions in a home full of guitars, pianos, and pedals. The official start of Wavewulf came in 2017, though Long often traces its roots back to a fifth-grade T-shirt featuring a wolf on a surfboard.
Since then, Long has been involved in a project that strikes a balance between emotional honesty and electronic precision. From albums born of personal loss to collaborations with vocalists and musicians around the world, Long’s music blends heart, mind, and a touch of wizardry behind the boards.
In this interview, he reflects on the origins of Wavewulf, the role of collaboration, and how he transforms life’s ups and downs into music that feels both cathartic and adventurous.
You’ve been playing synthesizers since middle school. Looking back, what moment do you consider the true beginning of your journey as Wavewulf?
Well, it’s an interesting question. Wavewulf was technically started in the summer of 2017, as that’s when I came up with the name and started recording my first (studio) album, but Wavewulf’s spirit actually goes back much further. My love of music started when I was really quite small, perhaps 4 or 5 years old, when I started listening to my father’s records and singing/playing along with them. The name “Wavewulf” actually came from a T-shirt I had when I was in about 5th or 6th grade; I think it was maybe an Ocean Pacific shirt (or something like that). Anyway, the shirt had a picture of a wolf on a surfboard riding a wave and said “Wavewolf,” and I remember at the time, in middle school, thinking it would be a good name for a band. So, when I decided to start recording commercially and was thinking of a name for my project, that middle school memory came to my mind. I decided to spell my name with a “u” in wulf instead of an “o” because I thought it would make the name look ancient, like old Germanic or Anglo-Saxon (i.e., “Beowulf”), which also reflects my interest in medieval history.
Your early exposure to music came from your father’s record collection and his work as a sound engineer. How did those influences shape the way you approach production today?
Yes, my father was a sound and recording engineer (as well as a musician himself), had lots of records, and most of my dad’s friends were also musicians, so music was always around our house (we had a piano and lots of guitars/basses, amplifiers, and effects pedals lying around). I remember my dad jamming with his friends in our house on his Gibson Les Paul. So just hanging around with him and his friends when they were playing music had a big influence on me as a child. I also learned about multitrack recording, equipment, and recording techniques from my dad when he had his recording studio (he opened it when I was about 16). He also did live sound for our church and some community functions (my town, Siloam Springs, in Northwest Arkansas, had a yearly music festival called “Siloampalooza” put on by local college students, and my dad did sound for it as well). As far as how being around my dad’s studio reflects my production today, it’s mostly through just learning how to do multi-track recording at a young age (which got me recording on my own synths, sequencers, and a Tascam 4-track at a pretty young age). I also learned about how to mix my tracks, as well as how to use equalizers, amplifiers, compressors, reverbs, other effects, and so forth. I also learned how the proper reverbs/effects and microphone placements can make a sound so much bigger and fuller.
Wavewulf officially began after a very personal and difficult period in your life. How did channeling that loss into your first album, “Oscillation,” change your relationship with music?
Yes, that’s true. I was really grieving after the deaths of my parents and nephew (my father in 2014, my 3-year-old nephew in 2015, and my mother in 2017—all from different forms of cancer), so I needed something to do to help move past that grief. This all led me to pick up making music again (I’ve always made music off and on throughout my life, but I decided to get serious about it and start making albums then). I found that making music not only gave me something to do, it also really helped with the grief itself by opening me up to express myself. “Oscillation” really came out of my expression of that emotion through the next year and a half (after my mother’s passing), and I decided to release it as an album at the start of 2019. It’s funny looking back because that album was almost all instrumental (just a couple of tracks with vocals), but just the sound of the music and synthesizers was really soothing and cathartic for me.
You’ve mentioned that seeing Depeche Mode live in 1991 was a turning point. What do you remember from that experience, and how did it influence your relationship with synthesizers?
It certainly was! I had always been into music, but that concert (and my Depeche Mode albums) really spoke to me. I think it was the combination of the technology (the synthesizers, effects, drum machines, and so forth) and the emotion of Depeche Mode’s music. It just really moved me, and I decided from that point on that I wanted to make “electronic” music and play synthesizers! After that, I started getting into loads of electronic music of that period (the electronic music of the early 90s, as well as the 70s and 80s), and it really influenced the way I hear and approach music even to this day.
Albums like “Space Art and Angels,” “The North and the Sea,” and “Unbreakable Soul” showcase an expanding network of collaborators. What do you look for in a creative partner, and how do you integrate multiple artistic voices into a cohesive sound?
As I continued to make music and release albums after “Oscillation,” and especially after “Green Decay,” I began to write lyrics for my songs and really wanted to be able to put words into my music. As I’m not a singer to the level that I felt my music demanded, I started to look around for collaborators who could sing my songs in the way I was hearing them in my head. I also wanted to step up the rhythm and percussive aspects of my music and felt that just always programming drum machines wasn’t quite enough. That’s when I asked my old friend (from my college days), Christopher John Donato (who is a “real” drummer), to start doing the drums for a lot of my music. Through the process of working with Chris and with vocalists (whom I’ve actually met from all over the world), I’ve also started to enjoy the collaborative process of writing songs and lyrics together with them. Writing with other people, I’ve found, can really expand one’s horizons and ways of approaching music. The talented Polish/Peruvian artist, Nala Spark, and I have, for instance, really become songwriting partners in a lot of Wavewulf’s music, starting with “The North and the Sea.” The two of us met, actually, in a songwriting for sync class.
In addition, I’ve really enjoyed collaborating with other talented vocalists and songwriters from all over the world, such as Monica Young, LiAura, Pulse Lab, Emily Fraser (EmmaLay), Veronika Jokel, Martin James, Maxx Silver, Matt Jensen, etc. I still mostly “write” the music for Wavewulf, but I’ve come to collaborate quite a lot on the lyrical side of things. For my most recent couple of albums, “The North and the Sea” and the most recent, “Unbreakable Soul,” I’ve also started adding some guitars to my music. In this, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with some fantastic guitarists, such as Chase Walker (from the Chase Walker Band) and Bryan Brown (from The Good Fear). In addition, my long-time collaborator, Chris Donato (who is not only a superb drummer but also a great guitarist and singer/songwriter), has done some wonderful guitar work on a number of Wavewulf songs. While mentioning all of these collaborators, I want to take a moment to also mention my wonderful wife, Katarina, who has been such a foundation to me throughout my musical career of the last several years. Her intellectual and spiritual influence is really all over these records (and her good ears have been a great help to me in writing and producing my songs). I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without her and her constant love and encouragement. It’s often difficult to be an independent artist, and her love and encouragement have enabled me to continue my journey and to grow as an artist through the years.
As far as what I look for in a music partner, it really comes down to chemistry, both musical chemistry (similar influences and/or ways of approaching and making music) as well as personal chemistry. Nala Spark and I, for instance, really have this great connection musically in that we are interested in a lot of the same themes: life, death, science, love, the spiritual world, etc. And the two of us have also recently lost close family members, which influences our writing. The cohesion in sound through working with different collaborators really comes about, as new-agey as this may sound, by the alignment in our hearts and spirits in thought, intention, and purpose.
Your newest album, “Unbreakable Soul,” explores the concept of transcendence and the human spirit. What sparked the idea, and what do you hope listeners take from it?
Yes, those concepts are very important to me (and my collaborators), and I think the world, especially lately, has become so topsy-turvy and unpredictable (especially with the bad politics here in the U.S. at the moment, as well as in many parts of the world) that the concept of the human spirit not only surviving all of it but also thriving through it is of utmost importance. The idea really came about as I was just reading the news: wars, strife, and all of it. I wished (and wish) to live and express myself musically in a way that transcends it all. All of this was compounded by the recent deaths of so many loved ones in my family, as well as in Nala’s and Christopher’s. So death and life and spiritual matters (and the concept of the soul) became really important in the midst of so much uncertainty in life. Much of our culture seems to be focused on the wrong things… money, fame, and power, and not enough on peace, love, the well-being of other humans, and the understanding between humans (and cultures). I wanted to write an album that challenges, changes, and ultimately transcends these dark cultural and spiritual values of late.
You later revived the name “Passing Note Studio” in honor of your father. What does working under that legacy mean to you today?
My current recording studio, Passing Note Studio, really is the spiritual successor to my Father’s studio, and that’s why I reused the name. I even inherited some of my current recording equipment from my dad’s studio. Yes, my musical journey is also, in some ways, a continuation of my father’s musical journey. Since he is no longer of the earth, I continue his (our) musical legacy here. In a sense, I think we are all continuing the legacies of our forbearers; we should endeavor to continue the good in their legacies (their peace, their curiosity, their love) and not the bad (their wars, environmental degradation, and pain).
What can fans expect from you next? Are there upcoming projects, collaborations, or new sonic directions you’re excited to explore?
I’m working on a new Wavewulf record right now. I’m not sure when it will be finished and released, but I really like the direction it’s going in. Furthermore, I’m continuing to collaborate with a lot of the musicians and artists I collaborated with on “Unbreakable Soul,” and I’ve also got a couple of new vocalists I’m collaborating with. So, I’m really excited to see how this next project turns out. I’ll keep you posted when I have more updates.
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