Live Stream: Wife Patrol on PUNK BLACK

On Saturday, July 18, 2020 PUNK BLACK hosted a night of performances on their Facebook Live. The live stream featured five bands from across the U.S., including Wife Patrol, Nelsen Pi, Blaqrock, Trash Heap, and LIFEFIRE9. Check out the Wife Patrol set below, the band’s first live stream and first show in six months.

New Song + Process Video: "How To Lose"

On Friday, May 8, the Arts Council of Indianapolis premiered our new song, "How To Lose,” along with an accompanying video that documents our remote-recording process.

Recording remotely, using only the resources available to us in our homes, is a process that’s new to us, so we wanted to share how things came together.

Here are six tools we used to help us through the process:

DIY Vocal Booth

I made a makeshift vocal booth out of bed comforters and pillows to help isolate the sound for the recordings.
– Nicole

Metronome 

While a metronome may seem like an obvious tool for recording, we don’t always use one, preferring instead to record our rhythm tracks (bass, rhythm guitar, drums) all together in one room, live, with no click. Then we’ll overdub vocals, guitar, keys, ukulele, sax, aux percussion, etc. What we like about this approach is how it results in a feel that mimics our live shows, with the energy and the natural locking in we do together as a band.

For this recording, however, a metronome was a vital tool that kept us together as we recorded each individual track from afar.
– Natasha

Spire Studio Mobile App

I have zero studio gear in my home so when this project came along, I started thinking about what I could use at my disposal and/or upgrade. I'd heard of a portable recording device called the Spire Studio, but it was not budget-friendly. However, I realized it had a free mobile app that could be used without the device to record on your phone. It had features that allowed me to set mic levels, record multi-track, and even a few mixing options so it seemed perfect for me. I used the Spire app to record my vocals and bass on my phone, then sent the files to Greg for final mixing.
– Nicole

 “Modern Recording Techniques, 7th Edition” by David Miles Huber and Robert E. Runstein

Purchased at good old Half-Price Books about a year ago. Most of it goes WAY over my head and refers to gear none of us will ever own (A $10,000 microphone? Does it come with Celine Dion? Get real!), but what little of this manual DOES make sense definitely came in handy.
– Greg

Cell Phone As Room Mic

Also coming in handy is a good trick we learned last year while recording with David Hazel (Bullet Points, Beta Male, Extra Blue Kind) for our upcoming album, i.e., putting a mic in the unfinished half of our basement while recording drums in the other half. That's where the scuzzy drum sound came from (using a cell phone to record since we were out of mic inputs).
– Greg

HandBrake: Open Source Video Transcoder

When I went to edit together all of our video clips, I noticed that some of the footage was drifting out of sync from the audio track. Upon further research, I realized this was happening because of the way mobile devices capture video – with variable, rather than constant, framerates. 

The fix was quick and simple. Using the free, open-source tool HandBrake, I pulled in the footage that was giving me trouble, selected the “Constant Framerate” option, and then exported the new clips, ready to be cut together in Premiere Pro.
– Natasha

Wife Patrol featured on PBS: Small Studio Sessions Special

Wife Patrol has been featured in the WFYI / PBS Small Studio Sessions Special, which premiered on January 31, 2019 on the WFYI television station, as well as Facebook Live. Scenes include the band’s 2017 Small Studio Session and performance and interviews from at November 2018 concert at Healer in Indianapolis, Indiana.

It's been over three years since we transformed a tiny performance studio in our radio production department into the WFYI Small Studio. Since then, we've had the pleasure of recording more than 40 musical acts from Indianapolis and across the world.

Wife Patrol’s Orange EP Named "Best Local Release" by The Ryder Magazine

Wife Patrol’s Orange EP was included in The Ryder Magazine’s year-end wrap up for Best Local Releases of 2018. The Ryder is published in Bloomington, Indiana.

This mini release from Indianapolis band Wife Patrol has three feel-good pop rock songs. Each song has a unique style emphasized by the small things that they add to their songs like bells saxophone, and Nicole and Greg's vocal harmonies. Switching between 70s punk, 80s pop, and 90s grunge, there is something for everyone. My favorite song on this release is H.A. because it sums up my year rather well. The EP was produced and mastered by Paul Mahern at White Arc.

Author: Jessie Grubb

Wife Patrol member co-creates Woo Grl Fest

Wife Patrol founding member Nicole O’Neal has co-founded an upcoming music festival in Indianapolis called Woo Grl Fest. Woo Grl Fest is all about creating space and dialogue for women and underrepresented performers in Indiana. It’s co-founders include Nicole, musician Kristin Newborn (KO), and writer/promoter Ariana Beedie. The first festival will take place Saturday, August 20, 2019 at Square Cat Vinyl and Pioneer in Indianapolis.

Wife Patrol performed in the Woo Grl Fest pre-party event, which was a collaboration between Woo Grl Fest and That’s What She Said on Friday, April 19, 2019. Nicole also hosted and moderated a panel discussion at the event.

Learn more about Woo Grl Fest in these features and at woogrlfest.com.

• Indy Star: New Indianapolis music fest, WOO GRL, takes cue from Ladyfest (Dec. 2018)

• WFYI No Limits: Women Musicians in Central Indiana (Mar. 2019)

• NUVO: Woo Grl Fest Pre-Party Photo Slideshow (Apr. 2019)

• NUVO: Woo Grl Fest Addresses Gender Inequality in Music (Apr. 2019)

• Pattern: Woo Grl Fest (Apr. 2019)

• FAF Collective: Why Woo Grl Fest Matters (May 2019)

NUVO Feature: Wife Patrol is Three Voices United

Check out this Wife Patrol feature in NUVO Newsweekly by Seth Johnson.

Known for their crunchy, ‘90s-leaning sound, Wife Patrol has repeatedly impressed audiences in Indy and beyond since releasing their first batch of demos in 2016. With a knack for writing simple, harmony-infused rock songs, the trio has several shows on the near horizon, including one at State Street Pub on Friday, Aug. 10 and another at The Spot Tavern in Lafayette on Saturday, Aug. 11. The band is also one of the many featured music acts on this year’s final Oranje event happening at the Coca Cola Bottling Plant on Saturday, Sept. 22.

Full article available here.