Profile: Pollyman's George Carroll Wilson
There are a few ways that you can spot an old soul. George Carroll Wilson is certainly one. His taste in classic rock and charming personality prove this guy has something special. George is the frontman of Pollyman, a Melbourne based rock band. Sweet tunes like “Quokka” and “Japanese Rock and Roll” are among the many rockin’ songs off their latest release. The trio originated in Victoria a year ago, when they came out with their debut album, the self-titled Pollyman. George sings and plays all instruments on the record, but he is skilfully accompanied by brother Fenn Wilson on drums and Alister Hull on Bass, who perform with him live. Inspired by glam rock and music from the late 1960s and early 1970s, these blokes’ jams are guaranteed bops in the car or on headphones any time.
Melbourne is where George and Fenn were born, but the pair were raised in the small beach town of Clifton Springs. Their next stop would be back to their native Melbourne, arguably the best city in Australia. Alister Hull (pretty cool name I must mention, might become a future tattoo) is from Bourke in New South Wales. Alister met George when George was on the road with his mum’s band at age nine.
Although Pollyman have been making a name for themselves in Melbourne’s various pubs and clubs, this is not George’s first band. In year 7, he formed the Tiny Giants with a couple of coastal pals named Jasper and Etienne, at first playing rock covers of bands like Jet before writing and performing original psychedelic rock and pop. They were active from 2011 until 2018, and it was around 2015 that George started writing and performing his own songs solo. After a brief band experiment in 2016, George’s last year of high school, he remained solo until late 2017, when his brother Fenn joined him on drums. About a year later, after many gigs and the recording of George’s debut album, George and Alister reconnected at a show in Melbourne, and Alister was quickly made the new bassist of Pollyman.
When asked how it felt to have Pollyman’s debut album out, George replied, “it felt great. I recorded the album when the band was still only me and my brother...I’d been recording demos the whole time.” George recorded four tracks on tape machines in rounds of two weeks at a time. Yes, tape. It’s making a comeback in Melbourne’s music scene. George is particularly a fan of its “warmth and unique clarity.”
“Fret about it as much as you like but at the end of the day if you think it’s good and honest, then that’s good enough. ”
George’s advice to new artists and songwriters is pretty straightforward. He suggests that you can “fret about it as much as you like but at the end of the day if you think it’s good and honest, then that’s good enough. Don’t worry about doing things to please people. Be yourself when you’re performing and writing. Just keep trying and it will all be okay.” Couldn’t have said it better myself.
The old soul also released some pretty groovy music videos for the songs “Japanese Rock and Roll” and “Inhibitions” with his co-director Willem Kingma. Channeling Bowie and Jagger, “Japanese Rock and Roll” looks like an ode to glam rock and the Japanese flag. Something you wish you saw on Top of the Pops in England on the telly. “Inhibitions” looks like Wes Anderson finally started to listen to cool music and made a video for it. Filmed at locations significant to the artist’s past, the video is a great way to take a flashback into the band’s memories.
Keep a lookout for their new single called “Dyin’ Alone,” a funky political song on Bonsai Records which will be out sometime in the near future.
For fans of Blur, Teenage Fanclub, Jeff Buckley, Small Faces, The Beach Boys, Led Zeppelin, Big Star, Raspberries and Cheap Trick: check out Pollyman on all streaming platforms now!