2007 saw the release of Russell Wickwars’ first cd on the mighty Fence Records, and national airplay courtesy of Rob Da Bank. Two years on and wiQwar are double the size and self-releasing their new album of instrumental acoustic-electronica.
With the help of brother Lewis, wiQwar has become a live act of Laptop/Guitar/Ukulele that has had the privilege to play with the likes of King Creosote, David Thomas Broughton, This is the Kit, Kaki King, The Owl Service and Nancy Wallace around the country, including appearances at Fence’s legendary Homegame Festival in Fife in 2008 and 2009.
Recent radio exposure has come from Tom Robinson, Stuart Maconie, Future Dario, BBC Norfolk Introducing and the 'Sideways Through Sound Radio' show broadcast in Australia.
The sound of wiQwar is rooted in the diverse musical influences the Wickwar brothers feed each other and a love of picking up and playing instruments, irrespective of whether they can or not.
All their sounds come from home-made recordings of acoustic instruments (beaten guitars, melodica, bits of percussion, that little blue “Angel” glockenspiel most bands own) which have been processed and sequenced and built into beats and soundscapes, accompanying finger-picked guitar melodies.
Some people have said:
"...wiQwar’s blissed-out-summer-sun-kissed acoustic buzzings became the soundtrack for most of the autumn and winter - saving us from having to use the fan-heater. Now the summer is almost upon us, and wiQwar has cobbled together a picket fence entitled “village hall” - best accompanied by watching the sun’s glow through closed eyelids." - FENCE RECORDS
"...wiQwar are making the most beguiling acoustic instrumental music you could wish to hear. They encompass guitars, ukuleles and laptops live, with sampled kalimbas and melodicas, and a whole host of other instruments. Their blend of haunting, atmospheric Autumnal tunes such as 'The Barn', through to soundtracks for a perfect summer's day as in the evocative 'Sun & Wine' are quite simply stunning. A hint of 70s Ambient, mixed with a pinch of 60s acoustic finger picking guitar, and modern technology given the wiQwar treatment equals bliss. Superb" Richard Penguin's Musical Triangle in TRIANGLE magazine.
"...In attempting to avoid phrases like 'blissed out' or 'multi-instrumentalist', I discover that I am at a loss to describe this noise, indeed, I do not want to write about it. I just want to listen. And pass it on. At the end of the evening, at the beginning of the day, in the heat of the afternoon, in the cold of my room. Guitar fed to laptop, laptop sings out, everyone shivers..." - THE REVOLUTION WILL NOT BE AMPLIFIED review (thanks Roz!!)
"I really like this Russ, it makes me want to go to sleep" – GRANDMA DAPHNE
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