Wesley Gonzalez & Wild Garlic – in session for Marc Riley – BBC 6 Music – May 18, 2023 – BBC Radio –
Wesley Gonzalez in session for Marc Riley tonight – backed by Wild Garlic and broadcast live hours ago via BBC 6 Music.
Bekki Bemrose over at Allmusic offers this slice of information to get you acquainted:
“British singer/songwriter Wesley Gonzalez first made a name for himself as the enigmatic leader of Let’s Wrestle, a sharp-witted London trio whose tuneful and eccentric punk earned critical accolades and a small but devoted audience with three full-lengths, including 2011’s Steve Albini-produced Nursing Home. After disbanding the group, Gonzalez refashioned himself as a wry power pop solo act and beginning in the latter half of the 2010s released a pair of albums bearing the distinctive titles Excellent Musician and Appalling Human. Following a well-received collaboration with Rose Elinor Dougall, he issued his third LP, the dark-hued but strident Wax Limousine.
Gonzalez, along with bassist Mike Lightning and drummer Darkus Bishop, formed Let’s Wrestle in 2005 when he was 15 years old. The group went on to release their debut single, “Song for ABBA Tribute Band,” in 2007. They earned a somewhat fiery reputation both as a wily live band and for their three LPs, In the Court of the Wrestling Let’s (2009), Nursing Home (2011), and Let’s Wrestle (2014). Over the course of their ten-year run, the band achieved moderate commercial success, but earned the distinction as a reliable critic’s fave. Ultimately, Let’s Wrestle decided to call it a day, playing a final show at London’s The 100 Club in 2015.
Gonzalez wasted little time forging a solo career for himself in the wake of his former band’s demise. He assembled a live band for his solo work that included Euan Hinshelwood from Younghusband and Meilyr Jones. Expanding from the guitar-driven music of his former group, he fielded an interesting concoction of classic ’70s-influenced pop, soul, and indie rock, which he described as being influenced by Donny Hathaway and Sly & the Family Stone. Gonzalez released his debut solo record, Excellent Musician, in 2017. A follow-up LP, Appalling Human, arrived three years later in June 2020, bearing a similarly eclectic tone. 2021 saw Gonzalez collaborating with Rose Elinor Dougall on the vibrant “Greater Expectations,” a song that later appeared on his third solo record. Released in March 2022, Wax Limousine paired the singer’s increasingly nimble pop song structures with deeply personal lyrics themed around loss and heartache”.
An album rumored to be coming out in July of this year and an ep currently making the rounds. You would do yourself a huge favor by dropping by Wesley’s Bandcamp site and grabbing a copy.
You absolutely know you want to.
In the meantime. . .
