What's it like being the teenage star of Stranger Things, last year's It remake, and the frontman of an indie rock band, all before the age of 15?
... just some of the questions we had floating when Finn Wolfhard dialled in from Albuquerque, New Mexico where he’s “shooting another acting job” before jetting to Atlanta to begin Stranger Things 3.
As if the Canadian boy wonder doesn't have enough on his plate, he's also the singer-guitarist for a new band called Calpurnia, fulfilling his (not very long) life dream of a career in music.
“Yeah, ever since I was super-young,” the 15-year-old tells Gen & Lewis on triple j Drive. “I had a lot of dreams - I wanted to be a musician, I wanted to be a skateboarder. Now I’m in a position where I can do a bunch of these things…”
Finn got his start acting in a music video
Before he was known to the wider world as Mike from Stranger Things, Wolfhard kickstarted his career in a clip from Canadian punk band PUP. He plays a younger version of PUP frontman Stefan Babcock in the coming-of-age music video for ‘Guilt Trip’, and reprises the role in the clip for PUP's spiritual sequel, ‘Sleep In The Heat’.
The PUP shoot was also where an 11-year-old Finn met future friend and current Calpurnia drummer Malcom Craig.
“He plays the drummer in the [‘Guilt Trip’]video, I played bass at the time. We started jamming and there was a camp where you could learn how to write songs, become a band and play live and stuff. That’s where we met Ayla.”
That’s Ayla Tesler-Mabe, Calpurnia’s lead guitarist whose good friend was bassist Jack Anderson. And voila, the band was born.
Calpurnia’s music is totally worth your time
Don’t dismiss the Vancouver four-piece as simply an actor’s vanity project. They’ve already signed to Royal Mountain records for the release of their debut EP Scout (out 15 June) and their first two singles show a lot of promise.
‘City Boy’ has a slacker rock feel, partly due to Finn’s drawling vocal delivery and warm, laidback guitars that give way to a glowing, harmony-laden chorus. The song also takes a surprise final twist into pure rock wig-out. Likewise, ‘Louie’ builds into a blurred sing-along of slide guitar and Rolling Stones' brand of wasted energy. It's impressive stuff.
Let's put it this way: if Calpurnia were Australian, they'd make for some pretty hot Unearthed High contenders. We're also gonna go ahead and credit some of Calpurnia's sharp sense of indie rock style to Wolfhard himself: kid's got great taste - just check out his vinyl picks for Amoeba Records...
He's already worked with some of his heroes
Producing the band's first recordings is Cadien Lake James, frontman of Chicago rock band Twin Peaks, who reached out to collaborate after being impressed by Calpurnia's live cover of Twin Peaks' own 'Wanted You'.
Similarly, Mac DeMarco invited Finn to perform onstage with him after seeing his online covers and live performances. The two first got in contact over Instagram ("He had an idea to put me in a music video but it didn’t end up working out...") but caught Mac live in Atlanta with the cast of Stranger Things 2, where he ended up on DeMarco's shoulders. ("I didn’t expect it, I had no idea that he would bring me up… such a fun concert!")
Finn loves live music but wishes there were more underage shows
“Any chance I get to see a band that I like, I take it,” he says. “I’ve seen PUP two or three times, they’ve always been incredible. Saw the Pixies recently in Vancouver with my band and that was really cool. Saw a band called Foxygen out of Atlanta.”
In a bid to overcome the “ridiculous laws” imposed against underage fans, Finn hopes he can make a difference. “One day I’m going to open up a club or a concert venue where it’s all ages and really fun. That’d be awesome.”
As for Calpurnia’s own live shows, it’s been difficult to gig around Finn’s shooting schedule but they’ve got a handful of dates and festival appearances in the pipeline, including a Royal Mountain event featuring Mac DeMarco, U.S. Girls and more.
“I’ve only played a handful of [shows] but they’re usually super energetic and really fun. The biggest thing for me, I hate going to concerts where no-one’s moving. Everyone should be dancing and having a good time."
“Hopefully in the next few years we’ll make our way down to Australia, which’d be amazing."
He's looking forward to Stranger Things 3 as much as you are
Despite having a primary source from the smash Netflix series on the airwaves, 'Mike' isn't able to give us the spoilers we wanted. Finn insists he's "genuinely, honestly" going to be kept in the UpsideDown dark until shooting of season three begins.
"They write it as we shoot, so we genuinely don’t know anything until we’re shooting. But I think it’s set a year later again; [so it's] 1985 now, and I think that’s all I know."
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