Rock Showcase 2016: Wilder

Born out of bell tower jam sessions during their freshman year, Charlie Greene and Ben Booth began laying the groundwork for folk/rock band Wilder in 2014.

At the time Greene was an aspiring singer-songwriter from Bowling Green, Kentucky with a few songs in his back pocket, but it wasn’t until he began collaborating with Booth, a guitarist from Baton Rouge that his songs began to fully take form.

Soon the two wrote their first song together, “The Fire,” and began performing and recording under the name Wilder.

Wilder’s music draws from the same musical vein as Kings of Leon, Mumford and Sons and early 2000s Coldplay, but the sound is something new, impassioned and full of grit.

“It’s really just about going out there and chasing things unseen or unknown with belief that they will turn out for the good,” Greene said of the group’s first song.

The duo’s live performances in their early stages were already garnering praise for their rawness and energy, and soon Greene and Booth decided to enlist the help of more musicians.

Taylor Dubray joined the band in 2015 as a native of St. Louis who previously only played guitar and drums before picking up bass for Wilder.

Chase Wofford joined the band as its full time drummer earlier this year in 2016. Currently Wilder is hard at work recording its debut EP and touring college campuses throughout the Southeast.

Catch Wilder at the 2016 Rock Showcase Saturday at 7 p.m.

This article was written by Forrest Brown. Image courtesy of CEMB Showcase Facebook page.