Image Credit: Ryan Gay

Locals Lounge: The Wildlings are winning over audiences across Central Victoria

Each month we spotlight a local regional Victorian musician, songwriter or band killing it in our scene.

In the Local’s Lounge this month is The Wildlings. The Wildlings are a Northern Victorian based indie-folk duo. Some of our major influences would be The Civil Wars, Lake Street Dive, & Angus & Julia Stone. Fresh off the back of their Riverboats Music Festival appearance, The Wildlings have some big plans for 2026.

Say welcome to The Wildlings.

Explore more incredible music makers from our Locals Lounge series here.

 

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How long have you been playing music and give us the history of your current act?

Drew and I (Ryan Gay} have been playing solo gigs for at least a decade each, but The Wildlings began back in 2023. I initially produced a song for Drew called ‘Nature’, we agreed to play a show together, and the rest as they say is history.

How did you discover your passion for music making and performing?

I’ll speak on Drew’s behalf here and say she’s been performing and singing from a very young age, I spend time with Drew’s family and they’re the most supportive and beautiful people ever – it’s no wonder she loves music so much. 

My story was far different, I lived in a small town and didn’t really play or sing at all until I was about 18, so I was pretty ordinary when I started. It just hit me like a truck how much I enjoyed it so I basically just said yes to everything imaginable to get stage time and played tons of gigs and eventually got a little bit better haha.

What have been the biggest milestones in your music career to date?

Playing Riverboats Music Festival is pretty massive for us, we’re both absolutely stoked to be involved. We also played Tumbafest and GROUNDED festivals recently and they were all absolutely amazing. Hopefully many more yet to come.

 

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Take us inside your catalogue!

We’ve released three singles officially, but we have at least an album’s worth of songs that we play regularly but are still unreleased. Life just gets in the way sometimes so it’s all about finding the balance and getting the music onto tape so to speak. I think both Drew and I would agree that we’re in a good spot to get some new material out in 2026. Our latest effort was ‘Feel of Fire’, a really moody song with some quite dark themes. Drew came to me with the initial song idea and we worked on it until we both loved it. We also ended up filming and directing our own video clip to it with some awesome local musos starring in it that is available on YouTube.

What is the story behind your new material?

Drew and I are fairly eclectic writers. We write about anything and everything. Sometimes we’re writing about our lives and things that we’ve experienced, but sometimes we’re riffing on an idea or a metaphor and seeing how far we can push it. I did a bit of producing prior to meeting Drew, so I usually have some ideas about sounds and colours so to speak, but sometimes we’ll just let the song evolve and see where it takes us.

Who did you work with on your latest release?

We try to do as much as humanly possible ourselves including tracking at our home studio. We do work with the absolute legend that is Isaac Barter for some remote production/mixing/mastering, but every song has been a slightly different process to date. But it’s basically just Isaac and us – as indie as it gets!

Give us a gear rundown. What are you currently playing both live and in the studio?

Live Drew rocks a Nord Electro 6HP, I use a Cole Clark Angel, mics are just Shure SM58 and Beta 58A, I use a few guitar pedals but nothing too special (we keep it pretty subtle for effects), for kick we use a Wazinator Dropkick and that’s basically it. 

In the studio we’ve got access to a fair bit of gear, but once again we’re pretty earthy in the sound we’re aiming for so it’s mainly just our live kit with Isaac’s masterful drumming and a few nice condenser mics thrown in including a Neumann TLM103.

What does a typical day of creating music look like for you in the studio, in rehearsals and on the stage?

Studio days are the best, ideally we’d get stuck in pretty early (after a coffee preferably). We’ll just treat it like a normal work day, 9-5pm basically and try to get as much tracking done as humanly possible. We both get distracted pretty easily so sometimes we’re half way through tracking and then we’ll write a song idea, save it, then come back and finish the original track. Whatever goes basically.

What is the gateway song for new fans to listen to to introduce your sound?

I really love ‘Garden of Eden’, I think it sums up our style pretty nicely, and as a bonus it’s quite fun to perform live. We’ve got some unreleased songs that we’re chomping at the bit to release as well.

What has been the biggest challenge you face as an artist and how are you pushing through that barrier?

It’s probably balance. Music is a tough gig sometimes (and absolutely amazing at other times). But between work, commitments, gigs, rehearsals, songwriting, promo, filming, etc. It can be pretty taxing sometimes to find time to write/record/rehearse/promote, etc. I think Drew and myself are probably in a good spot now, but admittedly it has been a learning process to get here (so hopefully that means lots more music in 2026!).

 

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How would you characterise the music ecosystem in regional Victoria?

Living in regional Vic is not without its challenges. There are fewer venues and committing to originals can be pretty tricky, but we love house shows and small festivals. I think the recent GROUNDED festival at the Dookie Quarry was an exceptional event for regional Vic and the artists that live in the region. We’re hoping to see lots more festivals and events locally like that.

How has being based in regional Victoria elevated your music practice?

I think living regionally if you want to be a musician you’ve absolutely just got to dig in and make it happen. There are lots of long drives home after shows, and lots of travel to get to your weekly gigs. It is pretty cool though, you’re in a different town every weekend, and you meet lots of fantastic venue owners and people doing cool stuff. The music scene up here is pretty cool too, absolutely everyone knows each other, and almost everyone will try and help each other out. We love it.

What does 2026 look like for you? 

Well definitely some festival appearances beginning with Riverboats is a fantastic way to kick off 2026. We’re also planning on playing some ticketed shows with a few close friends and awesome local artists so keep your eyes peeled for that. I think our main focus in 2026 will be in the studio, so that’s quite exciting for both of us.

Who is your biggest music crush of 2026?

Right now for me it’s probably RAYE – what a voice, great arrangements, great production, great attitude, what’s not to love honestly?! Her live album blew me away.

Keep up to date with The Wildlings here.