Wet Leg 

Sean: Okay. Welcome to Earshifter. He's Rene Rouleau, 

Rene: and he's Sean Capstick. And Sean, what are we doing here? 

Sean: Rene, we are here to talk about bands that we love. And somehow we feel that are underappreciated and we want more people to listen to. Or if you know the band. Yeah, maybe Rene, you'll tell us something about the band that we don't know.

So who are you going to be exposing today? Exposing, well, that is a weird word 

Rene: for this band in particular, because we are gonna be talking about wet leg and wet leg. Honestly, man, they got some bravado, they've got some sexiness, they've got some weirdness, and mostly. They do not take themselves seriously, so they got a lot of fun too, so, mm-hmm.

Yep. So that's who we're gonna be talking about today. And uh, for those of you who don't know, wet Leg is an English band. They're from the aisle of White. And now I didn't even know there was an aisle of white off the coast of England. I, I knew about the aisle of man. Mm-hmm. Did you, did you know about the Isle of White?

Sean: Well, the Isle of Man is smaller than the Isle of White. The Isle of White is the largest channel island, but. I don't know what you call an Isle of white-ish. But if you are from the Isle of Man, you are a max man. 

Rene: Okay. 

Sean: So they've got a much better origin story than the isle of white. 

Rene: Are they whiters?

Is that what they are? 

Sean: A Manx man and they have a, and they have a logo of like legs running too. Oh, interesting. They've, their, the manx have their own logo. I don't know. They, I feel sorry for the Isle of White. Maybe we need to do some more research. Stay tuned where we'll expose more issues about the Isle of White.

But go on about their bands. 

Rene: Yeah. Because we don't want to, we don't wanna open with dissing isle of white. Well, they're, they're 

Sean: a great island. They're 

Rene: great. 

Sean: They're the largest channel island. Did I mention that? 

Rene: No, you did not. But they do have a 147 square miles. It's a good size and they got 140,000 population, so, and 

Sean: they have a rock show every year.

Rene: And they have a rock show every year. Exactly. 

Sean: That Isle of Man doesn't have a rock show. 

Rene: There you go. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, the two founders of Wet Legg Rian Teasdale and Hester Chambers are both from Isle of White and uh, Han is the kind of lead vocals, rhythm guitar, and Hester is vocals and. Lead guitar.

Now the thing that is, before we even get into this, Sean, let's talk about the elephant in the room. The band name, wet leg. Now I gotta tell you, when I've told people, Hey, have you ever listened to Wet leg? You get reactions? That is a weird name. The only other weird name that I say to people is Mannequin pussy, which also gets weird reactions.

Mm-hmm. Kinda awkward reactions. Um, so. In terms of the origin of that band name, do you know anything about that? 

Sean: I think there are multiple origin stories depending on who you wanna listen to. 

Rene: Go buddy. 

Sean: I think it's a great name. I think it's nonsensical or, you know, whatever you want to put the illusion of the wet leg being.

But I have heard that the original boyfriend of Rhianne took credit for the name and she says no. Yeah, that's not it. 

Rene: Hashtag controversy. 

Yeah. So the, the two main theories, and that is a third theory if you will, but the two main theories are. One is that actually on the isle of white residents there, the 140,000, they refer to people that newly arrive on the isle of white as wet legs because they get off the boat and they have one wet leg.

That is one theory, and that was explained by Riann. 

Sean: That was before they invented docks on the olive white 

Rene: [00:04:00] perhaps. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Perhaps. Yeah. And the thing of it is, this is the killer part is. That was in a 2022 interview, but then in a 2021 interview they said that they just chose the name by picking different emoji combinations.

So literally, wetlock is just making fun of everything and just making fun of themselves and kind of just having a laugh really, and. Which I love 'cause that's kind of what they're all about. Okay. Sean, do you have any like, favorite band names versus bands? Like, you can love the band. You might not like the band name, but there might be some band names out there that you're like, that band name is kind of awesome.

I don't even like their music. 

Sean: British bands I think have better titles, better band names than others. But SP Ous Abounds was a good band name. Why 

Rene: is that a good band name? 

Sean: Because like a little bit of sp ness is never enough, so, okay. Alright. SP is everywhere. Okay. But it abounds then it just, you know, it gives you a fun image.

Rene: Right. Okay. Alright. Alright. [00:05:00] You got me there. See, I'm a little more basic. I really like some classics. Like the who, like what a brilliant band name the, the. Another. 

Sean: Brilliant. That's another two word name that is, yep. 

Rene: Brilliant, 

Sean: brilliant. As simple as you can get. 

Rene: Yeah, but also I, I actually think the Beatles were pretty original too, because back then, you know, you had the yard birds, you had the turtles a little bit later, and they were just like, oh, we're the Beatles.

But they spelled Beatles the way they spelled beetles, and you got the word beat in there. And I thought that was quite clever, actually, and didn't occur to me until I was older that that's what they did. 

Sean: I think they should have been called the Russ. 

Rene: Oh, the Rus? Yes. I remember the rattles. 

Sean: That would've been, yeah.

But maybe they wouldn't have been as famous 

Rene: maybe. And the rolling, even the Rolling Stones come on, that's a rock and roll. That's a pretty good name. 

Sean: Yeah. They ripped it off of a Dillard song. But yeah, it's a pretty good line. 

Rene: Rage against the Machine. 

Sean: That's a pretty good one. 

Rene: Yeah. Public Enemy.

Sean: Yo. 

Rene: But Public Image Limited too. 

Sean: Yeah's good one. Yeah, yeah. 

Rene: You know, and they all have [00:06:00] purpose. Yeah. Guided by voices. What a great name. 

Sean: That's a pretty good name. 

Clip: Yeah. 

Rene: And Dead Kennedy's just makes me laugh. I mean, I know it's about Dead Kennedy's, but it makes me laugh. It's like it draws your attention.

You're like, I'm paying attention. Dead Kennedy's wild. 

Sean: Yeah. Sex Pistols. 

Rene: Yeah. Sex Pistols pretty awesome too. And then, but see, like you and I are both huge Clash fans. Huge. But The Clash kind of just in your face. Okay. I get it. It's not, there's not super cleverness to it like some of these other ones. In my opinion, 

Sean: and I think you've named all British bands too, so there you go.

Rene: They are all British bands, actually. Well, they The 

Sean: Public Enemy. 

Rene: Well, yeah, yeah, yeah. And Rage Against the Machine. Yeah. But yeah, you're right. Most of them were British bands. Okay. So Ian and Hester first met at Platform One College Music on the Isle of White while studying they bonded over their love for.

Patrick Watson 

Sean: now. Who's Patrick Watson. 

Rene: Oh, for real. Sorry. Patrick Watson and Nordic [00:07:00] Music. But Patrick Watson, we are both proud Canadians. Patrick Watson is a Canadian band who had a couple of hits that he has a very falsetto voice very, pretty, very eerie, but I'm just amazed. Draw out a blank.

That's okay. I'm just amazed that they actually bonded over the, the band originally was a. Patrick Watson, the man. Then he formed the band Patrick Watson, and I think they're based outta Montreal. Hmm. They're okay. Quite nice. They also referenced as influences Bombay Bicycle Club. Do you remember them?

Like, a little bit. A little bit, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I, I listened to them again. I, I did, I do remember like 20 years ago kind of exploring them. 

Sean: Did they do the, the brim full of Asha? 

Rene: Ooh. I can't say, I don't know. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: But they were kind of like, I wrote down their cute, fun, playful PJ Harvey, which I personally could never get into, but I think you were a fan.

Sean: I really like PJ Harvey. Yeah. Yes. PJ Harvey. Yeah. Totally. Great. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Singer songwriter. 

Rene: I tried, I 

Sean: dar very a motive. [00:08:00] 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. Which you think I'd like. Also from England, by the way white Stripes, the Strokes, Kings of Leon, Bjork, and French disco as a category. But really they kept saying in all their interviews, they kept saying, but we love so much music.

They just love music. They just feel so. Authentic and fun and don't take themselves seriously and just kind of almost bumbled into this whole event. Like they are as surprised as everyone else that they are as popular as they are which is quaint. So after 10 years of being friends they formed Wet Legg in 2019 and later signed with Domino Recording Company.

Now I'm not, I don't wanna put you on the spot, but do you know? Okay, so Domino Recording Company other bands include Patrick Watson again, 

Sean: it's Patrick Watson. Is he gonna be a shifter band? Yeah, you can introduce that to me. 

Rene: Yeah. Oh, maybe, uh, the Kills Dan Deacon. Buzzcocks. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Fran [00:09:00] Ferdinand, my Bloody Valentine.

Sean: Oh my bloody Valentine's. Really? Okay, so 

Rene: Arctics 

Sean: goes back that long. Okay. 

Rene: Yeah. Some of them are reissues or whatever, but yeah. Arctic Monkeys Galaxy 500. So they're pretty. They're pretty like in it. Right. Uh, pavement, by the way, have you heard of them? 

Sean: Pavement. 

Rene: Yeah, 

Sean: I've heard of Pavement. 

Rene: Yeah.

Yeah. Real estate and then formally super Chunk Silver Jews. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Pavement Connection. Trail of the Dead. Trail of the Dead. Yeah. And you will know us by the Trail of the Dead, which is a pretty good brand name in itself. 

Sean: It doesn't have the two word thing, but 

Rene: Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But kind of an Alit Smith.

Sean: Okay. Sad music. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. Love it though. And the fall, which I think you were a fan of the fall, I can't remember. Right. 

Sean: See the fall were on so many records, so, yeah. So maybe it's reissue. I like the fall a lot. Yeah. Difficult. I thought you did. Listening. Difficult listening music, but worth the effort.

Rene: Yeah. I thought, I thought, I remember you did when we were teenagers basically. Yeah, I remember you being fond of them. Okay, so [00:10:00] Ian and Hester. You know, got together, started making music, and their first single was called Shay's Long in 2021. They appeared on later with Jules Holland on BBC two and in late 2021, and apparently Rian wrote it while sitting on Hester's.

Grandpa's Shay's Long. But honestly, like, who knows? 'cause I feel like this band, anything else, they just take the piss. Yeah. All the time. Which I, I absolutely love. Now at this point, maybe some of our North American listeners are thinking, oh, poor Rene, he can't pronounce Chase Lounge. He can't pronounce it.

But actually it is pronounced. Shas Long in England and it's actually from French shas Long. That is the way you pronounce it. I actually thought the band was mispronouncing it the first time I heard it, but I guess it was wrong. So fun facts. The lyric in the song itself is your muffin buttered?

Would you like us to assign someone to butcher your muffin? Do you know [00:11:00] what movie that is from? 

Sean: No, I do not. I don't really remember that line movie. Oh my God. 

Rene: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. No, it was, but you remember this line in the Oh, 

Sean: I never read the line. Yes. Yeah. It's 

Rene: because it's so distinctive and you're like, what are they talking about?

But it's really just a quote from mean girls. That's it. 

Sean: Like I remember this side, but I don't think I've saw it is Mean Girls a movie you should watch 

Rene: Mean Girls is absolutely a movie you should watch. It's funny. It's pretty awesome. Yeah. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Yeah. And so she watched it, or they both watched it when they were teens and they have fond memories of it and they just kind of like.

Did it as an homage, if you will. Right. 

Sean: Okay, 

Rene: so this starts taking off, right, like, Pearl Jam live in concert in Louisville Kentucky in 2022. So 2021, it's released 2022 while Eddie Vedder's singing daughter towards the end he actually tags Shay's long. At the end of the song, like purposely, you can tell it's definitely he knows the song and he's singing it the way they sing it.

And then in 2022 what they did is they released their self-titled [00:12:00] debut album and that. Album debuts at number one on the UK albums charts, and Australia's area albums chart. So number one in both of them. So I'm like, okay, what's up? What did it debut at in North America? In the US Billboard charts.

So it debuted at 14 in the US billboard charts. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: But honestly, like you'd never know it. To this day, most normal people that I talk to have never heard of Wet Legg, quite honestly. And so I'm kind of going, what is going on? Because they literally won Grammy Awards in 2023. They won they were nominated for four Grammys and they won in two categories, including Best Alternative Music album and best Alternative Music Performance for Shay's Long.

And I'm just like. Okay. How do people I'm talking to still not know who Wet Legg is 

Sean: and they won Brit awards. They were like very, yeah but [00:13:00] the Grammys I don't pay attention to the Grammys, but, 

Rene: well, you and I both don't, right? Because we're like, screw that. But normal people quotations, they do, and they kind of like follow them.

So I'm just shocked that. More people in North America don't know who Wet Legg is, and maybe by the time this episode airs, maybe they will because they, because 

Sean: we have normal people listening, because dear listeners. It doesn't matter whether you associate yourself with normal or not. We think you should listen to wet leg regardless.

Rene: Exactly. And maybe, normal isn't a compliment, so maybe wet leg will un-normal. You in a good way. 

Sean: Okay. If they're, I don't think they're that subversive. I think they just want to have fun. 

Rene: You're, you are right about that. But they are kind of subversive too. When you see 'em in interviews, you can see that they're kind of like up to no good, which is.

Uh, kind of adorable. So in terms of accolades, Sean, they're, they're [00:14:00] getting it right, especially in the UK and Australia. And for me it kind of reminds me of like so many kind of overlooked British bands or artists that you know, did really well in England, but we're almost unheard of here. I think of like.

More modern day I think of doves, which, you know, we might do an episode on down the road. 

Sean: Mm-hmm. You like them all way better than me. Yeah. 

Rene: I like them way. That'll be an interesting episode for us, for sure. 

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: But I do love doves. They, they're sad and melancholy and my jam or like old timey, you think of teardrop explodes.

Sean: Yeah. 

Rene: Most people in North America had no idea who they were. 

Sean: Oh, Julian Cope was so amazing, right? He was so like over the top. Right. And he tried so hard to be famous. 

Rene: I know. I know. So I think it's that kind of vibe is going on with Wet leg a little bit as well 

Sean: see when she's long. And I do have to challenge you on the pronunciation, the name of that record.

But when Shea's Long came out. [00:15:00] I thought it was a buzz song everywhere. Like, it, it, it definitely exploded in my circle. We listen to it a lot, 

Rene: but we've talked about this. Your circle is a good circle. Your circle are people that are musically connected musically exploring but normal quote, normal circles, not so much.

Honestly. 

Sean: Okay. I'll take your word for it. 'cause I thought they were so buzzy band when they first came out and liked the buzz around. 

Rene: I thought so too. Joe, our wonderful sound engineer obviously knew them too. But he's, he's into music just like you and me or you into, I, I should say. But, normal people, my normal friends.

They have no idea to this day, have no idea who they are. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Okay. So now in April, 2023, they do finally get some traction in the US and perform at Coachella where they were joined on stage by Dave Cruel. This guy just keeps coming up in our 

Clip: mm-hmm. [00:16:00] 

Rene: Podcast. During the performance of your mom they also toured Australia and New Zealand as the support band for Harry Styles.

Sean: Okay. Not a guy that I really like, but I know that he's popular. 

Rene: Yeah. I literally thought to myself, Sean's not gonna like Harry Styles, but I actually do like two songs of Harry Styles. I hate Watermelon. Lemonade. I do not like that song, but I do like two of his songs. I think one of 'em is called Sign of the Times, and the other one's called Falling.

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: They're really actually quite good. Okay, Sean, so let's play something off their debut album. Okay? I'm gonna give you a choice here, like we did in the Car Seat headrest episode, and I'm gonna give you three songs to choose from. One is Shay's Long and if you're basic, you can choose that one.

Sean: Well, I, it, it's keep me, keep me going. Maybe you'll give me a different option, but I want to hear is she saying long or lounge? 'cause in my mind, I think [00:17:00] she's saying lounge. 

Rene: That is wild, dude. No, she is definitely not. But we can, we can do that. And then the other choices were Angelica and your mom.

Oh, and by the way, your mom is about, uh, Ian's ex-boyfriend. Former drummer of Wet Leg. 

Sean: I thought that was piece of shit. 

Rene: That is also a song about her ex-boyfriend. 

Sean: She's very literal. Okay. So, uh, I do like Angelica, but I'm gonna just be basic. Basic. So can we hear the hit? Let's hear the hit. 

Speaker 4: Is your muffin battered?

Would you like us to someone to butter your muffin? Excuse me What? Excuse me. What? Hey, you over there from the shades long in your underwear? Whatcha doing? Sitting down. You should be horizontal now.[00:18:00] 

Your mother worried. Would you 

Sean: like us do a song? Okay, so that is a five minute song, but you are correct. She says Shea's long in her isle of white accent. Okay. In my mind, I hear what I want to hear for sure. And I'm bopping around to On the Chas Lounge. On the Chas Lounge. 

Rene: You're not alone, John. You're not alone, buddy.

Sean: Okay. Yeah. Listen, listeners, we are, we now have a new way of spelling that song. So when you ask for it in your local disco, make sure you ask for it [00:19:00] correctly in your French disco. Yes. 

Rene: Yeah. Say is long. Okay, so we're gonna do a quick rapid fire. We're gonna do another round of this. So I'm gonna give you three songs, buddy.

You ready? 

Sean: I hope I'm not totally predictable. 

Rene: I don't think you will be for this one. Okay, so you got Wet Dream, which is also about the ex-boyfriend, by the way. We got being in love and we got, I don't want to go out Control alt, delete. 

Sean: Control, alt, delete 

Rene: that's in the song. I don't wanna go out.

I just, I just love the way she goes. Control alt, delete. 

Sean: I like that song too. But the so let's hear. I don't want to go out, but if you're bored and want to see like. At this point, they were producing their own videos. So the video for Wet Dream is pretty funny because through the entire video, the band is wearing lobster hands for some inexplicable reason.[00:20:00] 

And the lobster hands are in, you know, the, the isle of white countryside. And then at one point they are eating lobster and the Rihanna looks aghast at what's actually happening and then it goes back into the salt. So it is a kind of a funny video, but let's hear the less predictable salt 'cause that was their second big hit.

Wet Dream. So let's hear here. What dream was their 

Rene: second 

Sean: big hit? Yeah, so let's hear. I don't want to go out. 

Rene: Alright, let's hear it. I don't.

Clip: Control.[00:21:00] 

Sean: Okay, so I haven't seen the video for, I don't want to go out. 

Rene: Neither have I. 

Sean: You mentioned it, they're provocative. The videos they did on the Isle of White, they were self-produced. 

Yeah, 

Sean: they were. They're cute. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Right. And the lead singer Riann is, a cottage core she is dressed up in, is white, finest, long dresses, peasant dresses, things like that.[00:22:00] 

And the guitarist you know she is Hester. Yeah. A Hect. Yeah, Hester, she's. You know, she's in any of the promotional photos, you know, they're two beautiful women, but she is not in any of those videos and always was hiding herself. Like even the cover of the, they were both hiding themselves on the, you know, in the first album debut album.

The debut album. Yeah. So, you know, like that's kind of an interesting image that they are portraying and it's purposeful. I don't think they do stuff. Not purposeful. So do you know why they do that? 

Rene: Well, I, I know that Hester does suffer from social anxiety and stage fright as well, as far as I know.

What they did was they kind of went, okay, look. And once that first album took off, which they didn't see coming as much as anybody else, they went, oh, we need to figure out how to, this is my guess. We need to figure out how to maybe shine a light more on me, Anne or Anne, and and maybe pull Hester back a bit for her [00:23:00] own, wellbeing, right? So that's why when we saw them live, you barely saw Hester. There was so much dry ice and so many strobes that you literally half the time couldn't see her. And I think they do did that part purposefully. But what that meant was, I think consciously the band said, okay, well we need to step up somebody, because if we're gonna put her kind of in the background let's shine a light on Rian.

And that's why she did this full. Torque, this full turnaround. And so long as we're talking about that, I'm gonna talk about a little controversy that occurred in England that was really quite interesting. So. Guys, just so you know. And by the way, Sean, good on ya. Cottage core. Somebody did some research.

Very good, very good. Alright. Yeah, so she was cottage core, meaning, uh, just like these long flowy dresses and, and then for moisturizer even on the cover, she is an entirely different looking woman. And by that I mean she's just kind of brought more of her sexuality out. [00:24:00] But still in.

England, when they were on tour, she purposefully kept her hairy armpits and she built up some muscle as well. So some men that went to her show complained about this on social and said, well, I don't like this new Ian, and 

Sean: I don't think anybody can complain about her. Like people who are shamed of body images, like I was, you know, so I'd seen some of the videos I'd seen, I was blown away by the new Rhianne when we saw her on the moisturizer tour.

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. I thought it was awesome too. But this is the best part is so of course she saw that, those posts and she responded and said, look, here's the deal. And it was the July summer where Oasis was on tour. Back on tour. Mm-hmm. So Oasis is Oasis. What is Oasis? Oasis is albums, Oasis's. Albums went shot to number one and moisturizer was number two.

And R said [00:25:00] if we can make moisturizer number one out on the charts, I will shave my hairy armpits for you. 

Sean: Oh. 

Rene: And later 

Sean: challenge to the Challenge band. Okay. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. So she's like totally milking it and playing it up. So it did in fact happened. So what Wet Legg did was the three men in Wet Legg shaved their hairy armpits instead.

Sean: And she kept hers. 

Rene: Yeah. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: As far as I know, yes. 

Sean: Okay. We were too far away from the stage to see that level of detail. But yeah, she's fit, she is really fit now. 

Rene: She's fit and, and also like, they, they do talk about this, uh, even the album cover, Sean, for moisturizer. Mm-hmm. It's weird, right? 

Sean: It's totally weird.

Rene: Yeah. Yes. She's got those long claws. And she's, she's crouching in a weird way, and it's kind of sex that 

Sean: Hester is crouching. Yes. It back to the Yes. 

Rene: No, Han is crouching. Actually, 

Sean: no, but the long claws are on Hester. I've noticed the, she's hugging herself with these huge nails. Oh, all I, all I [00:26:00] see when in Riann is her crazy.

The facial image and those socks. So I've never really looked in hands on cover a moisturizer. 

Rene: That's a great point. 'cause the socks too is like, socks aren't totally sexual in, in most people's opinions, so, 

Sean: and they're not matching either. 

Rene: And they're not matching either. And I think, I think maybe I'm wrong, but Anne I think also has the long claw, so their whole point is.

It's like sexual but also weird. And they love doing that like kind of sexual and kind of awkward and, and they love juxtaposing those and they talk about that. And so that's what they do in that album. That's maybe what, what Anne was going for with the hairy armpits. Who knows? But hopefully does that answer your question?

Sean: And I think they do whatever they want 'cause they're kind of punk rock. But yeah, it is kind of an interesting, thing that they've, that they'll keep up until they decide to change. 

Rene: Yeah. Or 

Sean: not. Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. And I just don't think they really give up too much. Fuck about anything. Yeah. But not in a mean way.

'cause they're really actually very sweet. Okay. So at this point it does [00:27:00] feel like a good time to talk, talk about moisturizer. Yeah. Yeah. Let's talk about, we're going to moisturizer. They only have two albums, folks. So here we are in album two. And the other thing I wanna say about this is moisturizer is where they officially.

Brought in the other band members. So officially the other band members participated in making the album, and they're listed officially as band members for album two. And those members are Josh Moki, who is on guitar keyboards and Hester's boyfriend, current boyfriend, fun fact Ellis Durand, who's on bass, and Henry Holmes, who's on drums.

So for that second album, they all spent four weeks in an Airbnb in South Walt in England on the east coast of England. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that right, but South Walt and they wrote the songs by day. They watched horror movies that night. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: So what they did the album was produced by Dan Carey and Alan Mulder.[00:28:00] 

Ringing any bells? Ellen Moger kind of rang a bell for me, but I'm not sure. But Dan Carey produced Bat for Lashes. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Block party, tame Impala. Oh 

Sean: yeah. Block party bat. Right. That was a fun, that was a fun, dance band. 

Rene: Yeah. Tame Impala. Mm-hmm. Also great. Also produced Sia who, who's like a pop star basically.

And a little band called Black Country New Road. 

Sean: Hmm. Okay. 

Rene: Uh oh. And then some band called Geese. I 

dunno. 

Sean: Okay. Yeah, so, so great bands. Yeah, 

Rene: great bands. Yeah. Yeah. He produced the projector. 2021. Alan Molder on their hands. That was Dan Carey, Alan Molder on their hand produced beach house.

One of my, yeah, all time faves. Ride the Joy Formidable. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Interpol Two-Door Cinema Club. Another band I love. Arctic Monkeys. Blonde Redhead, which I know you like. 

Sean: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Back in the day. Yeah. They were great and still going. 

Rene: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Smashing Pumpkins, which I love. My Bloody Valentine, which I think we both love.

Mm-hmm. [00:29:00] And a little band called Jesus Mary Chain.

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: So when their sophomore album was released it debuted. Number one on the UK album's chart. Rian said some of the lyrics were influenced by falling in love since she is in love for the first time with a non-binary partner. She's kind of, she was kind of convinced in one interview.

She's like, I think this is really the first time I've ever been in love. Truly. So now in April, 2025, they released the first single catch these fists. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: And it's about Ian getting unwanted attention from men. During a night out with friends, this is after a Chappelle Rowan gig that they did or saw.

Unclear. But that's what that song's all about. Mm-hmm. Cast's fist. Yeah. It makes sense. Right? Yeah, it 

Sean: does make sense. Yeah. 

Rene: Another song, Davina McCall. She is actually most famous for hosting Big Brother uk, the Reality show. 

Sean: Okay. I'm not familiar with any of the Big Brother series, so 

Rene: Fair enough.

But you know what it's about. Yeah. Basically it's about, yeah. And [00:30:00] so she, she kind of in her teenage years, watched this host host this, and so that song is all about her. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Right. Uh, and then Jennifer's body. So remember I mentioned they watched horror movies at night? Yep. So they rewatched Jennifer's Body, which is a, a horror movie.

And, uh, Rian talked about seeing it as a teenager and then rewatching it again when they were, you know, doing the second album and appreciating it more as there's a lesbian storyline, but it's not the storyline in the movie. And she just saw it from a new perspective and kind of liked that.

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: Okay, Sean, so between these three songs, which one is it gonna be Catch These Fists, Davina McCall, or Jennifer's Body? 

Sean: So I like the first two. I can't remember the third on the album. So let's hear the third. 

Rene: Whoa. Okay. But then we're gonna have to here catch these fists 'cause it's such a banger.

So why did you give me the choice? 

Sean: And then, and then say, oh, are [00:31:00] you gonna go with the obvious ones the first time? And then if I say catch these fists, 'cause it's a really good song. I almost wanted to like visually give you clues, 

Rene: but no. Alright. We'll hear a little bit of both. Like what the heck?

They only have two albums for pizza. And 

Sean: what about CPR? They have to listen to our best of 2025. 

Rene: Well, yes. Well, no, we got another choice coming up buddy. Spoiler alert. Yeah. Okay, so let's hear Jennifer's body and then quickly after that we'll hear, catch these Fisk. 'cause you just gotta.[00:32:00] 

Okay. I actually do love that song as well. And I just kinda wanna say I was, dude, I was super nervous about this sophomore album for Wet Legg, because. As you know, I love that first album. Mm-hmm. I'm like, 

Sean: you did. 

Rene: I'm like, oh my God. They can't do any better than that first album. And they did. They did better than their first album and I was blown away and relieved.

So with that, we are gonna hear a little bit of catch these fists. 'cause we gotta, we gotta, 

Sean: yep. 

Rene: Let's go.[00:33:00] 

Speaker 4: Can you catch medicine ball? Can you catch yourself? Fall. Fall. You should be careful. You catch my drift because what I really.

Sean: I like when she says, man down, level up. 

Rene: So great. Just [00:34:00] playful in words and kind of attitudey and, yeah. And you totally get what the song's about. Yeah. Especially when I kind of gave you the background on that. Okay. So this album, I'm Not Alone in my opinion. Amy Cliff of Pitchfork said it was a near reinvention of the band's image, which something you were talking about Sean earlier.

And features a meteor more expansive sound. She also said, and I think quite rightly, uh, it has the staying power of a band that will outlast a sense of novelty. And I love that quote because, prove me wrong, but I, I actually think that this band will just keep going and, uh, there influences.

Already being felt. We've got Dave Grohl, got Eddie Vetter, these old school guys picking up on this music. I think it's kind of awesome. So, uh, Pitchfork gave it a 7.8 out of 10. Metacritic, 84 out of a hundred Metacritic is an aggregator of a bunch of critics, so that's a pretty high score. And on the awards front.

This album [00:35:00] also has been nominated for three Grammys including Best Alternative Music Album, best Alternative Music Performance for, uh, M two or Mange Tout if You're American, I suppose. And best album cover, which is talked about the album cover, so that's, that's kind of funny as well. It's also been nominated for two Braid Awards Group of the Year and Best Alternative Rock Act, and probably the most important credit.

Would have to be making it on ear shifters. Best of 2025 list. That's probably the most important one. Wet leg. 

Sean: Yep. 

Rene: Oh yeah, for sure. Okay. In December of 2025, their song Mon two was featured in the opening of episode two of the television series. Did rivalry and. The streaming of the song increased by 61% in the days after the episode's release.

Sean: I think a lot of normal people watch heated rivalry. I think so too. Everybody, like, like [00:36:00] everybody's talking about that. I mean, you didn't realize that they were on heated rivalry too. 

Rene: I also didn't realize, because as you know, I'm not a huge fan of hockey, so. 

Sean: Old school hockey. 

Rene: I like old school hockey, but not new school hockey.

Okay, so Monish two in French, what does it actually mean in English? 

Sean: Monish is eat and two is us Everybody. Yeah. All 

Rene: So, uh, it's a person who concerns everything. Without awareness. Basically selfishly consuming everything. But what I thought was really cool is the way it's spelt and you know, you'd have to actually spell it, but if you divide it into three words, it actually says, man, get out.

And I thought that was kinda awesome too. So, alright, Sean, I'm leaving the horse to water here, but. Here are your next three choices, okay? CPR minus two. Minus two, by the way, is the most played song on the album with [00:37:00] 28 million listens and Pokemon. Okay? So, uh. 

I 

Sean: think you want me to say mosh 

Rene: too?

Sean: Yes. Excellent. So I, except for, but we have a whole bunch of people who like Pokemon a lot. You know, that's, I know. A solid listening fraction of our ear shifty 

Rene: Pokemon lovers or Pokemon, the song lovers. 

Sean: Uh, I think Quinche like Pokemon. You like the whole universe? Like the song, the. The anime, the stuff, the animals, the games.

Yeah. 

Rene: Yeah. And even the song itself by wet, like Pokemon is an outlier. It's like very, it's very kind of light and poppy, almost disco. It's a little different from say a catch these fists or A CPR or a Mon two, which we're gonna listen to. Right? 

Sean: Yeah. I don't get a choice. I'm not gonna convince you to play that one 

Rene: Mon two.

It is. Let's go.

Speaker 4: Good job. Give you an a, a golden star. You [00:38:00] think 

Clip: clever? She took break, made a mistake 

Speaker 4: when 

Clip: she.

Rene: Okay, Sean, so you know what I said? I said literally if Sean picks CPR, then we're playing mul two afterwards no matter what [00:39:00] and vice versa. Okay? So we're playing CPR as well because we can't give that one up. There's just too many bangers on these, on both these albums, quite frankly. So we're gonna hear a little bit of CPR, and let's not forget, we only have two albums.

Let's go for it.

Speaker 4: Hello. Nine. Nine. What's your emergency room? The thing is, I, I, I, I, 

Clip: I.[00:40:00] 

Rene: Okay. CPR. I got a couple things to say on this one. One is I freaking love when she says I'm in love and she kinda like gives into it. And then this really cheesy sort of comes in almost like making fun of her being in love. That's what it felt like. And the other thing I wanna say is, uh. Regarding this song this song is about being in love and she was very almost oversensitive or self-conscious about writing a love song.

'cause she didn't ever want to write a love song 'cause she always felt they were sappy. So she kept having, [00:41:00] asking the bands like, are these sappy lyrics? Or, and she kept like checking to make sure that they weren't sappy. And I don't think they are. I think she actually described love in a very different and interesting way.

Yeah. 

Sean: And I'm glad she's moved on from songs about pieces of shit and ex-boyfriends. Ex-boyfriends. Yeah. So 

Rene: I agree. I agree. Okay 

Sean: so is free Will a real thing. Rene. 

Rene: Oh, is free Will a real thing. Whoa, that is a crazy question. Isn't that a whole other podcast? An existential podcast maybe. 

Sean: I'm just wondering why you give me these choices and then take them.

Rene: Well, yeah, I mean there is an illusion there isn't there, but maybe we're all under an illusion. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: For you Will, and I'm just kind of highlighting it for you. 

Sean: Thank you. 

Rene: You're welcome. Okay. So big question. Why are Wet Legg and. Ear shifter band. 

Sean: Okay. If we're not going to answer the free will questions?

Rene: [00:42:00] Yeah. 

Sean: Then, okay. Tell me why. Wet Leg is an ear shifter band. 

Rene: I actually just think they're, they are just jam packed, full of hooks every single song. They're already inspiring. Like I said before, they're already inspiring. They're predecessors like Dave Grohl. Pearl Jam live. We haven't even talked about seeing the show live.

I thought they were amazing. I haven't experienced so many strobes in a long time, and I actually thought. That they used those strobes judiciously. They didn't always put 'em on. They put 'em on in the highlight parts. Now online, I saw online people felt there were too many strobes. Some of them others felt like me, which was just the right amount of strobe and bring the strobe back, man, I love that strobe.

I thought it was awesome. 

Sean: And it was a lot of back backlit. Strobe as well. Yeah. Right. Like it was Yeah, that, that she was. Rhiannon was center, but she was still, [00:43:00] could have been more upfront. It was a lot of backlit, strobes and the band. I was surprised at how that they were a band, not just two people on stage.

Yeah. It was, the band was fun to watch as well. 

Rene: Yeah. Yeah. I thought so too. And then it was just one more thing that I really loved is you know, in the song Your mom mm-hmm. Where she goes, she screams. Remember that one part where I love that she turned that back to the crowd and had them scream for her for two reasons.

For one, audience participation and two voice saver. Like, so smart. Mm-hmm. So calculating and so smart. So that's kind of a side note. But I'd just say overall they're just smart. Funny, love that they don't take themselves too seriously and it almost feels effortless in terms of, I'm sure it's not, but it almost like they just keep cranking 'em out.

And there are different songs. They're not, I don't mix up songs. I know exactly what hooks belong to what songs. So for all those reasons, I [00:44:00] think they, they're a near shift demand because I think they have a lot more to do. 

Sean: Okay. But you've already said that. People don't know them, but they have a lot of streams.

Rene: Oh, actually, great point, Sean. I wanted to bring this up. Thank you. Here's the thing, man. Like I looked at the breakdown of number of monthly listeners and the breakdown. Three quarters of the monthly listeners are in England and Australia, three quarters, big 

Sean: air shifter geographies for us. 

Rene: Yeah.

Yeah. So, so I guess my point is. They're new shift of band because North America is still a little bit dumb when it comes to wet leg. 

Sean: Okay. 

Rene: They're getting there inch by inch, maybe with the Grammy winds, which are coming up soon, I think and more on that later, I guess. Maybe they'll, they'll actually get there more, but.

You're right. They do have a lot of monthly listeners. A lot more than when I, do you remember Sean, three years ago we talked about doing this podcast. 

Sean: We set rules and [00:45:00] said that we had to live by them. 

Rene: Yeah. We're not gonna get into those rules 'cause those can remain offline. But I wanna say that when, remember when we did our band list?

Yeah. Like, here's the list. So I had Wet Legg in there. Okay. And at the time, wet Legg had 2.1 mil. Yeah, still a lot, but still a 

Sean: lot. 

Rene: Now 

Sean: double that in, you know, one album. Okay. Yeah. 

Rene: Insane. So yeah, now they're like way up there. But my argument still stands North America get smart, like wet led for Christ's sake and 

Sean: thank you Australia, the UK for just being smarter.

Rene: Yeah, exactly. And you've 

Sean: also said they're not normal, you're 

Rene: backhandedly. Oh, no, no, no. Hang on. I've always said normal is not, is boring. Uh, normal is best. So long as you're good on normal. Not bad on normal. I used to tell Chloe that too. My daughter there's good on normal and there's bad on normal.

Okay, good on normal is interesting. 

Sean: So Ireland, uk Australia, Brene's got your back. 

Rene: [00:46:00] Oh, a hundred percent. The last thing I wanna say, and this is just so kind of wet leg, is when I went to their bio. And, you know, and Spotify, their bio, you can have a long description about all your accolades, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Mm-hmm. All they have in their bio is let weg, that's it. Nothing 

Sean: else. 

Rene: Let Weg, 

Sean: that's, they're kind of punk rock. 

Rene: They're kind of punk rock and pretty goddamn funny. 

Sean: Okay, well I agree with you. 

Rene: Alright, so Sean, what are we gonna do next time? 

Sean: One of the controversies about Wet Legg is they became so popular so quickly.

That they were called an industry plant bullshit. No, that's true. Some people called them an industry plant. 

Rene: No, no. I know that, but I call bullshit. But yeah, 

Sean: I am going to talk about a man who's also been called an industry plant that seems to be everywhere all of a sudden. 

Rene: Ooh. Okay. Alright, intrigue.

All 

Sean: right. 

Rene: Until next time. 

Sean: Until next time. Okay. Hey, we did it. See up. All [00:47:00] right. Bye. 

Rene: We hope you enjoyed this episode of Your Shifter. Tune in next time where we'll cover another band that deserves more. You can find Air shifter on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. Friend us or listen to our playlist on Spotify and visit air shifter.com for more information.

Special thanks. Go to our logo designer Stuart Thorsby, and our intro outro music by Joe Novak. You can find him as Bye-bye. Badman, one word on SoundCloud and a big shout out to Joe for being our awesome sound engineer slash editor. Until next time.