Wild Adriatic is a four piece rock band with heavy soul and blues influences. Based in Saratoga Springs, NY, the band spent 2011 playing shows in support of their debut EP “The Lion.” After sharing stages across the Northeast with bands like MuteMath, Company of Thieves, Third Eye Blind, Asteroids Galaxy Tour, Saving Abel, and many more, the band was chosen as the Best Band in the Capital Region by regional independent radio heavyweight 102.7 WEQX and the Magic Hat Brewing Company.

Early 2012 saw the band head back to the studio with producer John Naclerio (Steel Train, Brand New, the Ataris) to work on a batch of 6 new songs. The band went in to the studio determined to add more of a soulful, vintage vibe to their repertoire, and the resulting EP “Lock & Key” is just that – soulful, vintage feeling rock and roll with bluesy riffs and catchy vocals abound. “Lock & Key” released on April 27th and the band plans to continue their relentless performance schedule and video releases through the end of the year.

Eco-LOCAL caught up with drummer Mateo Vosganian to find out what Wild Adriatic is all about.

It sounds like this is becoming a full time gig for you guys now, is that right?
Yes, were very rapidly reaching that splitting point between jobs and no jobs. 

All bands dream for that moment when they can rely on their music career as a full time affair - that shift from playing as a side job to playing music as your main job.

Exactly, it's definitely a place to be, but we've been very careful to not change much, because we feel like having fun.  It has to remain the priority.  And the money will hopefully come to support us because we are having fun doing it.

Of course that was the reason why you got together in the first place, right, to have fun?

Absolutely.  And we do that in spades!

That's probably the reason for the viral characteristic of the music of Wild Adriatic.  It hasn't been because of radio play necessarily.
We done some youtube videos and we have grown a pretty loyal fan base from the live shows.  We make a big effort to know that everybody knows are name so we put it out there as much as we can.

Speaking of the name, what is a Wild Adriatic?

That name came from our singer, Travis, when he and his wife were on their honeymoon in Italy, where they were on the beach of the Adriatic Sea.  That name kind of stuck with him, and a couple of weeks later the "wild" part came to him and it stuck.  SO it doesn't really mean too much, but it does capture the vibe of our energy - not really wild per se, but just a lot of fun!

I think that is the element that people look for in a show, especially when it comes to local music. It's not much fun to be back up in the bleachers at a mega concert, but it is a lot of fun to be up close and personal with the band at a small club, where you can talk to the guys on set breaks and maybe even buy them a beer.  I am sure is all part of what you guys do, right?

Yes, in fact it's the best part! In fact, we were talking about this the other day - that our job is to go out to clubs as many nights a week as we can, which on the surface sounds like a bad idea but it's where we meet a lot of people and are able to say yes to a lot of situations, and just doing everything to see where it lands us.  It's been a like a super social job, which we are happy about because we are all very social people.

Who is it then, that makes up Wild Adriatic?

Richie Derbyshire  -  Bass
Shane Gilman  -  Guitar
Travis Gray  -  Vocals/Guitar
Mateo Vosganian  -  Drums


How long have you been together as a band?

We started around February of last year (2011)  I joined the band a couple of months later.

You guys have seen some pretty good success in that short period of time. And you getting recognition outside the Capital Region as well, right?
We're all pretty much lifelong musicians - me and Travis have been playing since we were 15 years old in Queensbury, so a lot of people know our names, and they'll at least check us out. Every project gets a little easier, and when everybody is on the same page, like what we have now, it's really awesome. 

It's part of maturity of the journey as well.  People of like mind are attracted to each other, so that a synergy is almost natural.  Is that the essence of Wild Adriatic?
Definitely! And it's great that we're all in the same age range; we've grown up together, we're not young but we definitely not old!  We're able to communicate together better than any others bands we've been in before.  it really helps with the business side of the band. 

What is your age group?
We're between 25 and 27

You guys are in the prime of your life!  To be able to play music to adoring fans, isn't that the dream of any 20 something guy?
Yes,, and we are very luck we get to do it so often. 

And to have a financial reward that goes with it...it's one thing to play music as weekend warrior, but to be able to make a career of it, that's a big step forward, isn't it?
Yes, it's kind  of funny because most of us are finding things to do outside the band to bring in money, but it doesn't require working 40 hours a week or staying in one place for very long.  So that's nice, but working in a band actually costs a lot. We just put out an EP in April, but right now we are working on the next record, and we know that's going to cost us at least $10,000. So back to saving and rubbing pennies together.  We're back to being poor!  We've had some fun and foolish times, but now it's time to be frugal and smart.

I suppose that you don't have a big beer budget, because the fans probably help out with that!
We try to arrange a few drinks at the shows, and usually it's met with smiles!

You guys have been getting a lot of radio play on WEQX and WEXT.  That's got to be pretty sweet to have these stations embracing your sound and sharing it with there large listening audience, right?
Those two stations have really stepped up in support of local music in general, and for the band, we've been very welcomed by both stations and that's very encouraging.  People are actually requesting our songs, and that's nice. 

What inspires you in the writing end of the music?
We all work together on that.  Travis often comes up with a new riff, and we kind of build around that.  We spend a couple of hours tearing it apart and rebuilding it to create something that we all like.

What about lyrics - is there any theme or stories that you try to bring forward in the songs?
That first EP was somewhat about heartbreak, and the second was about moving on. Picking yourself back up and not letting anything hold you down. Travis is married but he has a lot of material to work with watching me and Rich and Shane and our love lives, which have an ironic way of showing up in these songs!

You guys are doing a show at the Pearl-palooza in downtown Albany on September 22.  Will that be kind of a home crowd for you?
Since we've been doing this, our home town has sort of shifted to Albany, in that Albany has rally rallied around the band. We love playing in Albany so it’s definitely like a home coming for us!

So folks still have a chance to see Wild Adriatic in a small town environment, but we could find that next year you guys are headlining in the big shows. We'd like to build in smart way, where we can sustain ourselves and the music, and we'll see where that goes.  We look forward to sharing the music with as many people as we can!

For gigs, music and information, go to wildariatic.com