A few weeks after the launch of their debut album, Eve Lonergan sat down with Linda and Carl Atony Plover of Wasps Vs Humans to discuss the release of an album twenty years in the making.
The launch night of Carrigaline-based duo Wasps Vs Humans album Scratchcard Empires took place in the Crane Lane in Cork this September. Supported by Stan Notte, Eoin Jordan and Alan Daniel Tobin, the gig was a mismatch of sound and movement. With rousing lyrics, thrumming Bodhrán rhythm, and haunting vocals, Wasps Vs Humans showcased the depth of their unique sound.
“It feels like we can move forward now this has been put out,” Carl tells The Carrigdhoun. “That's the story so far. We've released some old songs, some brand new ones from this year.”
“It's a time capsule,” Linda reflects. “Choosing snapshots of music from certain times in the last 20 years and then bringing this album out as a debut.”
Wasps Vs Humans originally started as a solo project for Carl, but Linda and Carl’s relationship has always held music at its core. Both originally from Lincoln, in the UK, they first met playing the same music festival. When Linda moved to Cork to study music in UCC, Carl came with her.
“I suppose our love of music brought us together,” Linda laughs.
Though brought together through music, the pair have individually emerged from different musical backgrounds.
“I'd be very drawn to very strong female vocals, warriors and yet vulnerable as well,” Linda comments. “So I could cite people like Patti Smith, PJ Harvey and Sinead O'Connor, of course.
“They wouldn't have affected how I sing, definitely, but I would just admire that. They have that sort of fragility there, but also that real strength.”
While studying music, it wasn’t the laws of music theory that caught Linda’s intrigue, but the many nuances of music culture.
“A lot of the areas that I studied were performance and ethnomusicology,” Linda explains. “If there's anything from the degree, it would be cultural music that would impact what I do today. I stay away from theory as much as I can.”
This is evident throughout the album, as she pulls from varied influences to create a symbiosis of sound, alongside Carl’s edgier approach.
For Carl, the punk movement was instrumental in sparking his love of music.
“Punk seemed to be something you could do,” he recalls. “It was easy enough to play and you could play it.”
“I was in a band when I was sixteen, a little punk band and we rehearsed in my dad’s garage,” he continues. “We just learned a couple of chords and we were off. It was that spirit, that DIY feel of punk.”
Originally performing together as Chunky Planet, Carl continued with solo punk poetry projects. As their children grew older, Linda began working within Wasps Vs Humans, writing and performing as a duo.
“I think we come from different churches of music,” Carl reflects. “But in some ways that sort of makes it good. You've got my punky roots and you've got Linda's folky roots. And then in between that, we've got rhythms and drums and slam poetry and electronics.
“There's a big mishmash of styles and genres, but we see that as an advantage not a negative. Some people like to box everything up. We're not that bothered about boxing things.”
“We’re not clinical in how we approach it,” Linda agrees. “We’re married, living together, the instruments are around the house. So it’s really organic.”
Less of a balancing act and more of an intentional jumble of sound, Wasps Vs Humans throw all the ingredients directly onto the sizzling pan, and artfully produce an explosion of taste and colour. This organic approach is prominently echoed in their live performances.
“What I love about live music is there’s always that feeling that it could all just fall apart,” Linda admits.
“It sometimes does,” Carl laughs.
“But it’s real, it’s raw, and that’s what we’re about,” Linda continues. “What’s important for the audience and the performance is that you feed off each other, so one gig is never the same as another.”
When it comes to writing lyrics or finding inspiration for a song, Carl draws from the world around him.
“As a writer I love the blank page. You can go anywhere with the blank page,” Carl remarks.
It’s social commentary,” Linda explains. “It's what’s going on in the world and the underbelly of society and the ugly side of it.”
“It’s quite dark actually, because I’m quite a happy person generally,” Carl laughs.
Songs such as 20 Million Andrew Tates and Money and Sex were inspired by the growing misogyny, homophobia and greed they saw online and in society. With two young sons, they felt inspired to criticise these dangerous ideals.
“It was really quite disturbing,” Linda recalls, “when we saw what some young boys were aspiring to.”
“So we decided to write a song about it.”
Music is their chosen medium for their message. The lyricism of Wasps Vs Humans is full of defiance, outrage and irony, but the tracks on Scratchcard Empires are underscored by a potent humanness, a recognition of our desperation for something better, something more.
“We just write music, songs and stories that make sense to us,” Linda reflects.
“We don’t have any love songs in it [Scratchcard Empires] at all, do we?” she laughs.
When it comes to balancing their life as a family and their life in the music world, the latter becomes a passion, a chance to do something beyond the daily habits and routines.
“In some ways you can look at it and say we're both very busy with our other careers and practical things in life,” Carl admits. “But it’s a bit of us time.”
“It's our downtime really,” Linda explains.
“When it's New Year's Eve, I'll be looking back and they'll be the memories,” Carl reflects. “You know, the family moments, the family holiday and those beautiful moments.
“They’re the memories that we'll chat about and smile about. You gotta work hard to make those memories in life.”
Releasing this album has been like opening a buried time capsule, allowing the duo to look towards the future.
“We can kind of move on now, I suppose,” Linda remarks. “We're not gonna wait another 20 years, let's put it that way.”
With tour dates for spring 2025, Wasps Vs Humans have plans to release an EP later in the summer, right in time for festival season.
Whatever they do next, this duo have spent twenty years building a legacy of innovative music, energetic sound, and spontaneous live gigs, and their upcoming EP is sure to be just as truth-telling and original as their debut album.
“I don’t care what people think,” Carl says. “You gotta have that attitude. If we’re gonna release something, then we’ve got to accept some people won’t like it.
“You can’t be worried about what other people think, and we don’t.”
You can now stream Scratchcard Empires on any streaming platform.
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