Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Wilson Getchell
What is your earliest memory connected to music?
I remember my older brother playing vinyl records in our basement when I was a really little kid. I particularly remember him playing Thriller a lot.
I also sang in a boys’ choir when I was like aged 8-12 or so. I tried out a few times to be the featured soloist on various songs. I never got any of those spots though.
How did your passion for creating music begin?
I got super into The Beatles when I was in middle school. That was followed by getting into punk rock. My love for those two things really got the ball rolling. My brother had a big role in facilitating that, as he gave me a bunch of albums over a series of birthdays and Christmases from 1950s-1990s, which gave me a rock music education.
What’s the story behind your current music project?
I started Thirsty Curses in 2017 to serve as a vehicle for a backlog of songs I’d written over the preceding years. I bounced around for a while (Virginia-> Arizona-> Texas-> D.C.-> Arizona-> New Hampshire) before ultimately landing in Raleigh. I’ve kind of always written songs just out of habit, or at least since I was 15 years old or so. But because I’d been moving around a lot and focusing on other things, I’d not put together a band to flesh out the material for several years. Then I found some people at local open mics. The original lineup lasted two albums. Since then, Thirsty Curses has gone through lots of turnover. Over our five albums, there have been four drummers, two bass players, and three lead guitarists. I’m the one member who’s been here the whole time. It’s become my baby over the last eight or so years. And I keep writing songs. So I keep on rolling.
How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?
Eclectic rock ‘n roll. Thirsty Curses’ songs are all over the place as far as subgenres, but generally falls under the large umbrella of rock ‘n roll. It’s a blend of 60s & 90s rock with undercurrents of punk & country.
What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music? I’ve picked up a lot more music theory via osmosis since I took up the piano in earnest 13
years ago. It’s just changed my understanding of what I’m doing. Whereas previously, half
the time I didn’t know what I was doing from a technical standpoint with music. I was mostly going by ear beforehand.
What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process? A piano and/or a guitar are really all I need. That and time and space to work. The time
and space part can actually be a challenge. I do my best work when I can really get away from everything else and focus.
I use pro-tools for recording. By the time I get to recording, I’ve typically already got most of the structure of a given song complete, but will experiment with overdubs, harmonies, etc.
Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?
I’ve gotten pretty into a band called The Ugly Cowboys – they’re based out of Oklahoma. They write great, fun songs. Some of my favorites are “Nancy”, “Hometown Vampire”, “Amerijuana”, “CEO Song”, and “Walmart parking lot”
How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision? My personal experiences are the well from which I draw to write. They don’t merely
influence my music and artistic vision, they inform it. Songwriting is a big part of how I process the world. My personal experiences, books, other music, my feelings surrounding contemporary events, etc. are all things I draw on when writing.
What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work? I hope that they enjoy it and that it provides them with some comfort and helps them get
through life on this little blue planet..
What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?
Life, like music, is about the journey, not the destination.
What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?
KEXP Live – to get to play on that would be tantamount to “making it” as far as I’m concerned.
If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?
I’d love to collaborate with John McCauley from Deer Tick. I’ve always felt like we wrote similar type songs and I think our voices could potentially harmonize well with each other.
If space and time weren’t a factor, I’d go with Brian Wilson. I went through a huge post-Pet Sounds Brian Wilson/Beach Boys thing in recent years. I got pretty obsessed. He allegedly once said “someday people will pray to my music”. There’s been times in recent years when I’ve felt close. He’s already taught me a lot. It would have been incredible to get to work with him on something and tap his Brian around approaches to composition.
Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website,Spotify, IG, links) We’ve got two vinyls for sale on thirsty curses dot come: Music is a Scam, which is our
2025 album, produced by John Agnello and Through the Daze, which is a best-of compilation of our first four albums.
We’ve also got our discography for sale via Bandcamp: thirstycurses.bandcamp.com
We’re also on all the streaming sites:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3H2SNIWzM4KVAuKBC5i5f0?si=fxyWjBr6R52VC_3_wIxcQw https://music.apple.com/us/artist/thirsty-curses/1218553824
Also, we’ve got a lot of cool music videos on YouTube and are always posting new stuff there too. www.youtube.com/c/thirstycurses
IG, TikTok, – we’re everywhere. If you’ve got a preferred medium, we’re most likely there.
Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?
We’re working through recording a new LP, which we’re tentatively calling Frank-N-Stein. I’m pretty excited about that material. I think it consists of the best songs I’ve written, both musically and lyrically. I’m really excited to see that through and put it out there. We’re going to release it in at some point in 2026.
After that we’ll see, but on my music bucket list is writing a musical. I hope to accomplish that at some point.
I’ve got a solo project I’ve been working on intermittently for years called Wilson Sings Nilsson, which as the name suggests is a record of me covering Harry Nilsson songs. It was inspired by
Nilsson Sings Newman. I’ve got about half the songs done for that, and will hopefully get back to it soon.
What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way? The Thirsty Cursers backcatalog. We’ve put out a lot of music. I hope it doesn’t get lost in
shuffle.
