Just a week or so after releasing their first album, they started rehearsing material for the next one. The Wanda Band’s debut, which dropped in late 2020, was winkingly titled “One-Hit,” a play on the music-biz pejorative “one-hit wonder.” The songs singer/guitarist Wanda Wesolowski, then just 25, came up with for “One-Hit,” including indie-rock gems like “Lazy Susan,” “Virginia is for Lovers!” and “Talking to Yourself,” made it the most accomplished release by a Huntsville-based act in ages.
Still, Wesolowski couldn’t wait to get on a follow-up. “I heard that a lot of people can put out one album, but it’s hard for a band to put out two albums,” she says of her headspace at the time. Then she adds with a laugh, “So, I was like, ‘We’re gonna put out two albums if it kills me.’”
Now, almost three years later, The Wanda Band, also featuring bassist Andrew Sharpe and drummer Nick Recio, are releasing that second album, “Only Feeling,” out Aug. 11.
Whereas “One-Hit” was polished in its soulfulness, “Only Feeling” is more raw and real. The new album’s many key tracks include gorgeous swayer “Fade Out” and pop-savvy stomp “I Try.” Wesolowski’s thrift-store goddess vocals go right to your heart. She sings to the listener not at them. And her personal and adhesive lyrics -- more on those later -- prove once again Wesolowski, now 28, is Huntsville’s best young songwriter.
“Only Feeling” sounds like a moment as much as an album. That’s because its 12 tracks were mostly cut live in the studio, including lead vocals, in just two days. It’s a statement of musicality Wesolowski is rightfully proud of. Sharpe says, “For her to come in and be able to play guitar and sing the song live [in the studio at the same time bass and drums are being cut] and that’s what gets kept? It’s pretty amazing to me.”
Then there’s Wesolowski’s deft, unshowy rhythm guitar playing. On “Only Feeling” she used her dad’s vintage Rickenbacker guitar and a Supro amp to help conjure crystal arpeggios, Curtis Mayfield chordal embellishments and liquid strum.
Of course, it takes many gigs cumulative and together for a singer and band to make a live-in-the-studio recording sound more studio than live. Shortly after “One-Hit” was released, The Wanda Band went from a quintet to a trio. Although the now-departed band-members helped make the debut special, Wesolowski’s decision to downsize made the sound bigger. And better.
That doesn’t mean there’s wasn’t some apprehension initially. Wesolowski recalls, “We thought maybe there would be some stuff missing or feel not as full as the five-piece band. But it was actually quite the opposite. The first time we ever got together as a trio, we played through the album, and we looked at each other like, ‘Holy crap, that sounds amazing!’”
Wesolowski is quick to credit Sharpe and Recio for Wanda Band’s seaworthiness as a three-piece. “They’re obviously an amazing rhythm section.” A seasoned one, too. Sharpe is a founding member of locally legendary ‘90s band Toy Shop. Recio has toured with the likes of Nashville folk-rockers Great Peacock and Birmingham classic-rock-album recitalists Black Jacket Symphony.
Together, The Wanda Band have logged plenty of miles, too. They’ve headlined Huntsville’s popular Panoply Arts Festival, won over the crowd at Jason Isbell’s Shoals Fest and wowed at local underground music cavalcade Sluice Fest. Wesolowski, who is gay, has given Wanda Band the excellent tagline of “queer power trio.”
As a live act, Wanda Band’s stripped-down chassis has allowed Wesolowski’s voice and words to connect deeper with her strong local following. Sharpe says, “I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a band where people sing along as much to original songs as they do with Wanda Band. Her songs are catchy, but they’re also pretty soulful and deceptively thoughtful. It’s hard to write love songs and keep them interesting and she does that really well.”
Asked about her lyric writing, Wesolowski says “Only Feeling” in an album about death and rebirth. “People dying, relationships dying, eras of your life dying,” she says. “And with any sort of grief there comes lots of change and realizations. My first album was me complaining about how I do toxic things and toxic things happen to me. And this album is more looking in the mirror, seeing myself for who I am and reconciling that, and trying to come to terms with how I see the world and how I cope with grief and pain and stuff like that.”
A clear example can be heard on the song “I Said Nothing.” It’s a hauntingly beautiful ode to a fallen friend: Stone Anderson, the talented bassist of local rockers Rob Aldridge & The Proponents. Wesolowski and Anderson were close. They were making plans to relocate to Florence together. She made it. Unfortunately, he never did. Anderson died of an accidental drug overdose in 2021.
Wesolowski, who’s since moved back to Huntsville, came up with a vocal melody and some initial chords for “I Said Nothing,” but she thought it sounded too sad. “And I didn’t want to give people this craziest bummer of a song,” she says. She gave the lyrics to Sharpe without telling him who or what they were about and asked him to write music for them. He composed a shimmering arrangement on guitar and made a demo.
“The first time I heard it I just bawled my eyes out, but not in a sad way,” Wesolowski says. “And I thought, ‘OK, this is the version of the song that we need to put out, because it’s kind of crazy that you can groove to that song because it is so sad.”
Wesolowski returned the favor by covering “Maze,” a song from a Sharpe solo album he wrote back in 1995, the same year she was born. Amid dramatic jangle, Wesolowski gives Sharpe’s lyrics of unrequited love new blue. “She kills it,” Sharpe says proudly. “It sounds like she wrote it.” The results were stunning enough they decided on Wanda Band’s version of “Maze” as the opening track on “Only Feeling.”
The album was produced by Jay Burgess of standout Shoals band The Pollies at his Studio 144 in Green Hill. As a producer, Burgess, who also overdubbed a pinch of guitar, is like a visual designer who knows how to use white space. On “Only Feeling,” Wesolowski’s vocals and guitar, Recio’s tasteful pop and Sharpe’s hooky bass all have room to resonate. Sharpe lauds Recio’s feel and the ability to come up with impeccable drum hooks for each section of a song, like having an extra record-producer behind the kit.
They mixed “Only Feeling” at Sun Drop Sound -- the house studio of Single Lock Records, the Florence-based label cofounded by John Paul White, The Civil Wars songsmith and Grammy-winning Taylor Swift collaborator.
Alabama Shakes keyboardist Ben Tanner, also a Single Lock cofounder, heard the mixes and asked if Burgess and Wesolowski if they’d be interested in him adding some keys. Easy decision. Tanner’s blacklight organ and electric piano deepen the jazzy allure on the “Playing Fair” and silken the tapestry of arthouse ballad “On The Fence.” Single Lock Records is also helping with digital distribution of “Only Feeling.”
Dancing is just as much of an appeal of a Wanda Band live show as singing along to the lyrics. No accident, Wesolowski says, “My favorite kind of song is the kind where the lyrics hurt but the music makes you want to dance uncontrollably and the melodies catchy enough where they get stuck in your head. When I’m writing songs, I’m always searching for that trifecta.”
Huntsville, Alabama musician Wanda Wesolowski, of The Wanda Band. (Courtesy Malachi Byrd)
By her early teens, Wesolowski was playing solo sets at coffeehouses and early slots at local festivals. She started out as a quieter folk style performer, but in Wanda Band she’s grown exponentially into a magnetic and relatable frontwoman. The Wanda Band sounds nothing like classic new-wave group Talking Heads and Wesolowski doesn’t ape Talking Heads frontman David Byrne. But there’s a similar unselfconscious art-nerd energy going on here.
“I want to move people and make them feel not so alone, but also bring them out of their shell,” Wesolowski says. “Hopefully you will dance at a Wanda Band show because you feel safe. Which is another reason why I kind of move my body in awkward ways onstage, to give permission to the crowd to be ridiculous with me.”
One of Wesolowski’s most endearing qualities is she’s a serious artist who doesn’t take herself too seriously. Hence, “Only Feeling” cuts like the accurately titled lark “Two Chords.” On the sultry “Reggae Song” she longs for a woman skilled at, among things, oral endearment. The exterior of the “Wanda Van” the band travels to gigs at together is inscribed with fanciful script, including the slogan, “It’s just a lot of FUN!”
Huntsville, Alabama indie-rockers The Wanda Band. From left, Andrew Sharpe, Wanda Wesolowsk and Nick Recio. (Courtesy Andrea Lee Belk)
The “Only Feeling” album cover art depicts a surreal menagerie of seal life, a chessboard, lipstick, a sleeping infant and a Granny Smith apple. The cover is from a section of a painting by Gaby Wolodarski, who is also Wesolowski’s tattoo artist and was her art history professor at University of Montevallo. “Gaby is a very inspirational woman to me,” Wesolowski say, “so I wanted her involved in the album release.”
Another thing about Wesolowski is she has incredible instincts. She knows when a song she’s writing is fully formed without overstuffing -- how to sequence an album’s tracks so there are mountains and valleys, tension and release. As a live performer, she knows how to engage a crowd without “working the stage” or peacocking. She even comes up with fun band merch ideas, including bandanas imprinted with that trippy “Only Feeling” cover art.
Then there’s the album’s title track which also closes “Only Feeling.” The song opens with chiming guitar, travelogue lyrics and birdsong melody. Then about a minute in Wesolowski sings a series of ooh-ooh-oohs and whoa-whoa-whoas echoed by backing vocals. It’s a simple pop-songcraft move. But extremely effective.
The first time Wanda Band performed the song “Only Feeling” live, long before the album’s release, the crowd, even though they’d never heard the song before, instinctively followed along and whoa-whoa-whoa-ed in unison back to the musicians onstage. “It was built in, a fun thing for the crowd to do,” Sharpe says. “She knew what she was doing.”
The Wanda Band celebrate “Only Feeling” with two album release shows this weekend. Tonight, they’re at Huntsville’s Electric Belle, address 3414 Governors Drive S.W. Huntsville band Jayne & The Huntsman are the opening act. Start time is listed as 7 p.m. and tickets are $15 at the door. Friday, The Wanda Band performs at Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Brewing Company. Showtime’s 10 p.m. and Atlanta combo Okay Kenedi is the opener. More info at wandaband.com
MORE ON HUNTSVILLE MUSIC:
Huntsville’s coolest music festival returns at new location
The greatest Huntsville concert that never happened
Millions of YouTube views, but still unknowns in their hometown
Is Huntsville finally ready to support local music in a big way?
25 years in, Huntsville band’s new album proves they’re an essential local act
Who are Huntsville’s best live bands? Local insiders weigh in
From Huntsville’s Oakwood University to ‘Saturday Night Live’
5 Huntsville bands with the best shot of becoming city’s first ever famous band
The future of Huntsville’s guitars might be in this guy’s hands