Openly Enjoying Taylor Swift

Paul Wolinski, guitarist for 65daysofstatic, is in Manchester composing the soundtrack for much anticipated video game No Man’s Sky.

Having previously undertaken scoring work, Wolinski says writing the “soundtrack to a universe” is proving satisfying. “It’s a different approach to music-making, so that can only be a good thing. We’ve always been fond of the idea that bands shouldn’t have to just stick to either making records or touring. Because those two things are great and I want to keep doing them…  Just over the years (we) realised there’s more than just those two ways music can be really effective, and be effective in unique ways in each form.”

In some respects, it can be just as arduous a process as creating a fully-fledged album. “One of the big differences for us is that we’re working to somebody else’s timelines. Normally we’ve always been pretty good at staying out of the ‘record an album, tour the record’, that cycle that a lot of bands can get trapped in, because we never want to release a record just for the sake of going on tour. When it’s our own projects we take as long as we need to make something worthwhile. But obviously when we’re working and collaborating with other people… We have to be a bit more organised,” he chuckles.

"One day we could end up having to kind of scale back 65 and find other ways of paying the bills."

Commerce and art are unfortunately inextricably linked, and given the industry’s bleak outlook many musicians seek additional sources of income. “If it’s all about revenue streams, then you’re probably best off trying to get loads of advertising work! The music industry has collapsed, and we’re very lucky to just about make a living off being in the band. There’s no kind of security there, one day we could end up having to kind of scale back 65 and find other ways of paying the bills.

“But if we started compromising our music too much in order to increase all of our revenue streams, then I think we lose the passion for it. This soundtrack project, it’s really exciting, it’s like a genuinely pioneering technique in the game... But I wouldn’t want to be writing a soundtrack to a 20-minute supermarket advert, even if it paid five times as much as this computer game.”

"People see us as a kind of, like a gateway band."

Their broad audience helps them remain viable. For instance, a few years ago, they performed at metal-friendly Sonisphere and live-soundtracked interpretive dance at Edinburgh Festival within days. Wolinski seems gratified to not be considered particularly trendy. “We’ve never strived to be some avant-garde, experimental, noisy band. It’s just that we love bands like Atari Teenage Riot… and I enjoy listening to the new Taylor Swift single. They’re obviously different ends of the spectrum. We don’t try to be obscure; in fact, it’s really nice when people see us as a kind of, like a gateway band,” he laughs.