The Wild & Free Talk Music and Starting Out in the Industry

The Wild & Free, an Indie/Pop band from Saint Louis, Missouri, all fell in love with music at young ages. Their upbeat music makes you want to get up and dance. With hooks so catchy you will be singing along after the first listen, this band is one to enjoy. Comprised of Rachel Lauren (vocals), Mike Henthorn (guitar), Dan Kerns (guitar), Zach Shaw (bass), and Marc Lyle (drums), this band has a perfect blend of guitar and dance synth. Henthorn and Kerns started the band as a studio project after their old band broke up. Each member brings a unique style to the band. With that comes different inspirations in music. This includes early 2000’s pop-punk to classic rock to EDM to “specifically, All Time Low, Mayday Parade, The All-American Rejects, Motley Crue, Hit the Lights, and Die Antwoord.”

Each member had different reasons for pursing a music career. For Henthorn, it was the rock band The All-American Rejects, particularly their video for “Swing Swing.” Kerns’ reason was seeing his first concert at a young age. Kerns commented, “From then on, [I] wanted to be a touring musician.” Lauren loved EDM and dancing. This led her to a career in music. For Lyle, he “got into music because of a lot of classic rock bands and the ‘lifestyle’ of a touring musician.” As for Shaw, he got into music during the early 2000’s pop-punk craze.

The members of The Wild & Free have quite the mix of favorite artists and albums. Lauren’s are Die Antwoord, Billie Eilish, and any kind of EDM. Kerns’ are All Time Low and Mayday Parade. Kerns especially likes their albums “Nothing Personal” and “A Lesson in Romantics.” Henthorn’s favorite album by The All-American Rejects’ is “Move Along”. Blink-182’s “Enema of the State” album is Lyle’s favorite. As for Shaw’s favorite artists and albums, All Time Low’s “Nothing Personal” and Hit the Light’s “Skip School, Start Fights” are his favorites.

Photo By Ryan Phillips
The Wild & Free

As for song writing, “Most of the ideas start with Rachel and Mike.” They will bring the songs to the rest of the band and start writing together. They also co-write with their producers sometimes. Their favorite right now that the band plays would be their newest single, “Band-Aid,” that came out on September 18. The lyrics from their song “Papercut,” “shiny gowns and jewelry go together perfectly, but we do not, you’re my papercut,” are their favorite lyrics.

When it comes to performing, the band’s favorite aspect is “the energy of the crowd and hearing people scream back your lyrics”. Their favorite songs to perform live are “Band-Aid” and “Fire.” The Wild & Free would like to collaborate with Paramore, All Time Low, The All-American Rejects, Blink-182, and Mayday Parade.

The Wild & Free recently started a street team. Street teams are fans that are willing to help the band promote themselves. The band will send them promotional flyers so the street team can distribute them. The street team also gets exclusive merchandise. “We hope to expand that across the country, have people share our music with their friends and so on. We hope the street team has fun with it, gets exclusive merch and become part of the TWAF family,” the band commented. The band’s future goals include sustaining music as a career, touring the world, and putting out a lot of albums. This street team will help with those goals. The age group they are hoping to reach would be teenagers-30’s, but they would like to reach a wide demographic.

The group just reached 1,000 subscribers on YouTube and have 772 monthly listeners on Spotify. “It was a great milestone for us to hit 1k subscribers. It was a small goal ever since the band started. So, THANK YOU! Spotify as well. That has always been a hard one to crack. It’s building slowly but surely. Thank you again!”

The Wild & Free are a fun group of music lovers. They put so much energy into the music they create. For a small band, they have a big future ahead of them. The band commented, “We never thought this band would see the light of day, but the fans liked it, and we liked it so here we are! Thank you to everyone who comes to a show, buys merch, shares a song, or send us a message. Nothing would be possible without you!”
Find more information about The Wild & Free on Twitter
@thewildfreeband, Instagram @thewildandfreeband, Spotify, The Wild & Free, and their website, thewildandfreeband.com.

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