Naples alt-rock band Wilder Sons signs national record deal

The band Wilder Sons is finding its stride.

Formed in 2013, the Naples-based group is a mishmash of local musicians who all wanted the same thing: to make cool music in a town that lacked a local music scene. Wilder Sons has gone through some growing pains since then, but a year ago it landed on its current four-member lineup: Brian Blount as lead vocalist and guitarist, Jake Rubinton as vocalist and guitarist, Dan Spring on bass and Nic Viens as drummer.

And it seems to be working.

In November the alternative-rock group signed with a national label, Legend Recordings, and is preparing to release a new, four-track EP in August. The first single, "Keeps Me Up," will release Friday.

"For us to get together now and come up with these four songs, which are the best we’ve ever written, we all believe, that means there’s obviously good chemistry between all of us," Blount said.

And it's been a long time coming.

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Wilder Sons was born out of other touring bands that eventually went separate ways.

"We started to realize that the four of us were on the same page and that we loved what we were doing so we started playing as Wilder Sons," Blount said.

But as early as middle and high school, Blount, Rubinton and Spring have been playing in bands in the Naples area at house parties and local gigs. They met each other at shows and would spend hours each night jamming in basements, bedrooms and garages, listening to The Used, Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Hoobastank and other pop-punk-emo bands of the '90s.

Their dreams of being professional musicians started early. It was either that or professional skateboarders, Blount dead-panned.

Viens, who moved to Southwest Florida five years ago, learned to play the drums when he was 4.

"I saw the drum kit and I was like 'That’s it,' I was drawn to it," he remembered.

But back then they played music for different reasons, Viens said. Being in a band as a kid was cool. And it was fun.

But then the crowds got bigger and bigger, and now they have a platform to share their original songwriting and composition.

And now it's much more fulfilling, Blount said.

"We’ll sit in this room and jam for hours and you’ll kind of forget time is going by," he said. "You know you love what you do when that happens, whether it’s painting or writing or building something. You start to just get in the zone and we do that. And we’re in love with doing that."

Wilder Sons released their first, self-titled EP in 2014, and gained a strong local following, helping the group land opening gigs with bands like The Story So Far, Copeland, Turnover, Further Seems Forever, and Mewithoutyou. Two years later they followed up with a successful Kickstarter campaign to fund the release of their second EP, "Scatterbrain." 

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In the last year they've performed at Jannus Live, an outdoor music venue in St. Petersburg — a "bucket list" concert for Wilder Sons. And on Aug. 5 they'll perform in West Palm Beach on the last day of the 2018 Vans Warped Tour (and the final cross-country tour for the long-running music festival).

"We're really excited about that," Blount said.

For the upcoming EP, Wilder Sons collaborated with a producer from the record label, Will Kubley, bassist for the band Passafire, who the guys from Wilder Sons remember listening to when they were young.

Each of the four songs on the EP have a slightly different sound, Rubinton said, and they're the first songs Wilder Sons will release with this current four-piece band.

This go around, Blount said the band has gained more confidence in the recording process, and have carved out a "more mature" sound.

"It’s like a more polished version of Wilder Sons," Viens said, "like more clean cut — less shredding and more just serving the song. Hopefully that’s what people want."

One of the songs on the EP was first composed in line at AT&T. While he was waiting to purchase a new phone, Blount started playing with an iPad Pro that was set-up in the store. He opened Garage Band, an audio editing application, and started laying down drum riffs in Garage Band.

"I was like, 'Oh, this actually really cool,'" he said, so he sent the clip to his phone and introduced it to the band. "We started playing the full band and having all the guys play real instruments to it. I wrote this song waiting in line at AT&T and it ended up being on the record."

The first single from the EP, "Keeps Me Up," will be released Friday, and Wilder Sons will celebrate with a performance at Johnny Malloy's Sports Pub in Bonita Springs. Doors will open at 8 p.m., with performances from Rich Kids and Mike Wassef, and DJ sets by Richie Sharp and Johnny Vegas.

Ultimately, Wilder Sons has a simple goal — to put out music that people enjoy, to tour the world and turn music into a professional career.

Blount said it's hard to tell how close they are to that goal, but the band is closer now than it's ever been.

"I think if we can just continue doing this and bringing happiness to people and getting this stuff off our chest," he said. "When we write music and start playing it live, we’re more or less putting a little piece of us out there and giving it to the world. And I think that’s something really special and if we can just do that the rest of our lives.

"And continue to get our houses paid for," he joked. 

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Wilder Sons single release party

• When: 8 p.m. Friday, June 22
• Where: Johnny Malloy's Sports Pub, 10347 Bonita Beach Road SE, Suite 101, Bonita Springs
• What else: No cover; 21 years and older
• More information:  wildersonsband.com