Indiana’s Wishy have steadily been on the rise in the indie rock world since their debut EP Mana dropped in 2023. Blending shoegaze with catchy power-pop hooks, the quintet released their latest EP, entitled Planet Popstar, in April — a collection of songs left off Wishy’s 2024 debut studio album Triple Seven.
Vocalist and guitarist Nina Pitchkites spoke to Ferndale Radio about Wishy’s journey ahead of their Detroit debut at the Lager House in Corktown earlier this month.
Listen: Wishy’s Nina Pitchkites talks band’s new EP, ’90s culture, Nintendo + more
The origins of Wishy can be traced back to Pitchkites reconnecting with high school friend and former Hoops member Kevin Krauter in 2021. Initially, the two formed a band called Mana and had about ten songs written. Pitchkites and Krauter then started writing for Wishy, a separate project that wasn’t meant to have a live band at the time. Due to several circumstances — including a brief mix up by fans of the Grammy-winning Mexican rock band Maná — the duo decided to merge their two projects into the current Wishy, joined by guitarist Dimitri Morris, bassist Mitch Collins and drummer Conner Host.
Since Wishy were inheriting songs from two different entities, adjustments had to be made, resulting in the release of Triple Seven and Planet Popstar within a span of eight months.
“We just kind of had to roll with the punches in terms of like, ‘Okay, well, how do we release all of these songs now?’ Because now it came to be maybe like 16 songs, and we didn’t want to have a 16-song album,” Pitchkites said. “So that’s when the idea having an EP came into the mix after the fact…because we were like, ‘Alright, well, it kind of makes a little more sense to have an EP…not such a long album.’ And then we can have a different spin on it.”
“So I think a lot of the songs that are on the EP are more kindred to each other than the other songs on the album, if that makes sense,” continued Pitchkites. “I think the ones on the EP kind of can stand on their own, whereas I think on our album, it’s a little more heavy, even though we have some poppier songs. I guess it was a multitude of things, but yeah, it was kind of like retroactively like, ‘Okay, how do we make all this work when it didn’t initially go together?'”
Listen to the entire interview with Nina Pitchkites using the media player above.
After supporting fellow indie rock darlings Momma during their spring tour, Wishy are currently resting at home as they prepare to write songs for their next album. They’re also scheduled to perform at Summerfest in Milwaukee on June 27 and Riot Fest on Sept. 20 in Chicago.
Wishy’s Planet Popstar EP is available now.
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