The power of the album according to Wolf Alice: “Act on what’s inside you”

Wolf Alice drummer Joel Amey spoke with NME about the group taking on the role of ambassadors for this year’s National Album Day, their standing as the most nominated act in Mercury Prize history, the strength of the album format, and the value of expression in a divided world.

The band, who recently became the most nominated group in the history of the Mercury Prize after receiving a shortlist nod for their fourth record The Clearing, joined Nova Twins, Architects and Iron Maiden as ambassadors for National Album Day 2025, which this year is centred around rock music.

“We have never hidden the fact that we are passionate about albums,” Amey told NME while speaking about their involvement. “I am not sure if it is a generational thing but I remember going out to buy them, and there is something romantic about how much they mean. I also know how fortunate I am to be able to spend months in the studio making one. I love that process and feel very lucky to experience it.

“I have no issue with the ‘singles’ culture, and mixtapes are hugely important, but for me records carry real weight. That is why I probably selfishly believe they matter so much. They capture exactly where an artist is mentally and emotionally at a specific point in time. In an age when music is often treated as disposable by corporations that will remain nameless, albums still need to be championed because they are your foundation and your true connection to listeners. They are the proof of your existence as an artist.”

He went on to add, “We are fortunate to stand on stage and perform, but the only reason we ever got there is because of the albums we have made.”

Wolf Alice. CREDIT: Press

Check out the rest of our interview with Amey below, where he explained why albums remain vital as complete works, why speaking out matters, his advice for rising artists, and the records both new and timeless that mean the most to him.

NME: Hello Joel. You recently received your fourth Mercury Prize nomination – making you the most shortlisted artist ever, as well as having won it already. How does that feel?

Joey Amey: “That’s what someone told me the other day. I was like, ‘That can’t be right? What about Arctic Monkeys?’ I Googled it, and apparently we are. That’s cool! I didn’t realise it. The Mercury Prize has a history with it, and it’s still hard to believe we won it [in 2018 for ‘Visions Of A Life’]. It puts the spotlight on a lot of different genres and some underground stuff alongside the mainstream. It’s cool to see all of that presented together.”

What do you make of your chances of winning this year?

“I reckon I’d put £500 on CMAT. I love that album [‘Euro-Country’]. I think she’s awesome. When I listened to that album, it just really connected to me. Ellie [Rowsell, singer] was telling me about the title track, and it’s such a brilliant song. The way she approaches sonics on that record is so fucking brilliant. I wouldn’t be putting money on us.”

What would you spend the prize money on if you won again?

“We still haven’t spent the last lot! We have plans on what to do with it and what it should be invested in. We want to make sure that we don’t spend it frivolously. Can it help somebody else make an album? It would be nice. If we won again, not that we should, it would be great to put it with the last lot and use it to help people that maybe aren’t at that stage of their career but could be.”

It’s hard to keep people’s attention in playlist culture. How do you respond to that? How do you break through the noise?

“I’m part of playlist culture; I’ve discovered some of my favourite new albums from playlists. It’s really hard. It’s a push and pull. We’ve just got to keep supporting new artists and outlets for them to express themselves and create a career. There will be a certain song that becomes massive because it was playlisted in a certain way, but making an album is how you evolve as a writer, a lyricist, a poet, a drummer, whatever. It’s so important to culture and the evolution of the artists we have today.”

A good album is a world you can jump into. How would you describe the world of ‘The Clearing’? Did that reveal itself as you were making it?

“We had more conversations about it than we’d ever done before. It felt like an experiment to me because we chose to write differently to how we’d done in the past. Our previous records are all quite different, but it’s quite ‘Wolf Alice’ to go away, everyone writes, then we pull together what we think is exciting. That has really benefitted the band before. But with your fourth album, you ask, ‘What’s going to be exciting for us?’ It was this idea of making a cohesive body of work where the songs come together more coherently than before. That was a challenge for us. It really made us focus on our songwriting and every single chord change. ‘Do we need to stack 85 guitar tracks to get the same point and emotion across? Joff [Oddie] is an incredible guitar player, why don’t we just challenge him to do that?’

“We wanted all the parts to be chosen and more bespoke to the song. It was about honing in on what was important. It was a really fun thing, but we evolved out of our limitations. ‘The Clearing’ is our most experimental album in that sense, because we’ve never made one like it.”

As you said, albums are a capsule of a time and a very important mode of expression. That becomes a more important vehicle when the world is on fire. Wolf Alice have been vocal supporters of Palestine and said that doing so should allow others to feel less afraid and alone. Do you feel like the backlash is lessening through so much artist solidarity, and that the focus is shifting from the culture war to the atrocities themselves?

“I don’t know, because I’ve seen certain people use their platform and gone to see what kind of response they’ve had, and it can be volatile and violent. There are artists who screenshot DMs they’ve received just for speaking out. I don’t know. I just know that I’ve learned a lot from seeing people use their platform. It doesn’t mean that you have to agree exactly with what they say, but it’s about having a conversation. That conversation matters. We need to remind ourselves that it’s OK to have a conversation with someone with different opinions to yours. It’s OK to use your platform if you feel comfortable to do that and you see a moral cause. You learn that privilege as an artist.

“I applaud anyone who’s using their platform in today’s day and age to try and get a resolution to what people are experiencing.”

Wolf Alice have also been staunch in fighting for artist rights and the grassroots. Do you feel as if some good may come about now that the industry seems more open to that conversation?

“It will only get better with action. Everything seems to fall on the responsibility of the artist sometimes, which can be quite overwhelming. It’s got to pan out on so many different levels: from labels to government to music being taught in schools more, so people can find a love and respect for it. We’re gonna do our bit, I hope more people do theirs, and that’s where the hope comes from.”

What advice would you give to a young artist who might think that ever making an album is a pipe dream?

“You can make an album, fine! Don’t wait for the world to give you the thumbs up to be creative. Don’t wait for the world to give you the green light to do what is inside you. I applaud anyone who has time to make something any way they can. What is a conventional method these days? They’ve all been completely chewed up and spat out and rightly so. Good art always finds a way. Just have fun with it. Make a band with your friend. Make art on your own. There’s no right or wrong way to do it. I used to sit in my teenage bedroom and dream about what I’m doing now.”

Is there an album that gets played on the Wolf Alice tour bus without any skips or arguments?

“My favourite record that’s just come out is that new Die Spitz album [‘Something To Consume’]. I think they fucking rock. ‘Throw Yourself To The Sword’ is my favourite song at the moment. We’re also touring with a songwriter called Willy Mason who we’ve all been fans of forever and ever. We just reached out to him and he agreed to do it. That made me rediscover his record from 2007, ‘If The Ocean Gets Rough’. Everyone in the band listens to that record. There’s a track called ‘Save Myself’ and it’s incredibly poignant. People should go listen to that.”

What three albums would you take to a desert island?

“Oh shit. I’m gonna take ‘Surf’s Up’ by The Beach Boys, the first self-titled album by The Bronx, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s ‘Déjà Vu’.”

National Album Day 2025 is on Friday October 18. Visit here for more information. 

‘The Clearing’ by Wolf Alice is out now, with the band currently on tour in North America before returning to the UK and Europe for an arena run in the winter and Australia and New Zealand in the new year.