[Editor’s note: Sydney Rae White co-formed the British rock band The Wild Things alongside her brother, Cameron White, her husband, Rob Kendrick, and drummer Pete Wheeler. The Wild Things released the album Afterglow on September 13. According to the band’s press release, Afterglow, “tells the story of the residents of the fictional town of Valentine amidst a paranormal phenomenon. Co-produced by the band’s mentor and champion Pete Townshend, Afterglow is an exhilarating reinvention of the concept album and the fullest glimpse yet of the group’s unique creative outlook and seemingly limitless potential.” The press release further elaborates that, “The album is accompanied by a retro-style choose-your-path text game that brings to life the narrative of the album and will tickle the nostalgia of 80s/90s gaming fans.”]
I think one of the greatest accomplishments as a musician is getting to say I bullied Pete Townshend.
Myself and our guitarist (also my husband), Rob, had met him whilst working on the touring production of Quadrophenia. We were both basically kids at that time, but I stole his email address as I had always wanted to ‘get into music properly’ and figured it may come in handy. I was right.
We were finding our feet as a band in 2019, and although we had a self-produced first record out in the world, we wanted to work with someone special. I, being the ever-so-pushy-and-overconfident front woman, decided to send Townshend demos. He was… kind, in his own way, which mostly entailed replies such as “this is shit, you’re not there yet. Try harder.” We were determined to get his blessing, so we kept going. And eventually he took the bait. I emailed him a demo of a song that would later become ‘Only Attraction’, and he called me pretty much immediately (insert Michael Scott ‘omg it’s happening’ gif here). He invited us to come stay at his studio in the country, to bring all the demos we had, and to start work on an album. Yikes.
We were terrified – this is a musical God – but elated. I remember sitting in the front of the rental van on the way, trying to hide the fact that my hands were shaking from the other band members (I didn’t know it, but they felt the same). It didn’t help that the entrance to this mythical studio was a 10-minute driveway with literal deer bouncing across the road, like some sort of Disney movie.
We got straight to work, setting up with his engineer and playing the songs through live. Pete was late. He is allowed to be. He rocked up at 10pm, sat in front of the biggest sound desk I’ve ever seen, and said “Ok. What’s first?” And our album Afterglow started to come alive.
The next few days are a blur – his studio has no windows, instead giant light boxes that simulate sunlight, so we didn’t know what time of day it was until his assistant brought in meals. We worked for 5 days, finishing 5 songs, before he told us to go home, and we’ll reconvene on his studio boat.
Afterglow started because of a cheeky email but evolved to be much more than a group of songs put together. You don’t work with Pete Townshend – the king of concept records – for simplicity. And we realised as we wrote, sang and played instruments with him, that a story had started to form. We conceptualised a fictional American town called Valentine, where all of its residents were affected by a mysterious other-worldly event called The Afterglow. It heightens emotions and feelings, much like Townshend did whenever he’d pick up a guitar, or sing next to me whilst we were making it.
We sat on the record for 2 years before releasing, honing our live shows with The Who, who had us support them during their world tour (including at MSG, which, shockingly, was our first ever US show). It’s out in the world now (finally), but every time we play the songs from the record, we get to relive the most bizarre, and wonderful album making experience of our career so far. The Afterglow has touched us in the same way it does its fictional characters. I think I’m gonna email him our next demos as well, just for a giggle.
Sydney Rae White
Sydney Rae White is an English singer, musician and actress, best known as the front woman of UK rock band The Wild Things and also her role on series 3 and 4 of the CBBC drama series Young Dracula.
