Why Paul McCartney Says Wings’ Formation Was Similar to The Beatles

A few years after The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney formed his second band, Wings. While McCartney had more experience going into his second band, the “Jet” singer said the formation of Wings was similar to the early days of The Beatles. 

Paul McCartney wasn’t sure what to do after The Beatles broke up

The world was shocked when The Beatles split in 1970, but the members themselves were even more shell-shocked. Each member now had to figure out their own way, no longer able to rely on the immense success of the band. McCartney had already begun his solo career with his first solo album, McCartney. Still, he was unsure about the direction he wanted to take until he ultimately decided to form another band. 

In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, McCartney explained what his mindset was like in the years following the end of The Beatles. 

“It’s like any catastrophe,” McCartney shared. “You’ve gotta get through it, or you’ve gotta go under. And so it was like, ‘Ok, let’s try to pull this together. Here we go. It’s a new venture.’ With Linda, and with the family growing, that was like, ‘Well, this is my direction now. And with music to help me through it. I can do this. I’m gonna be able to manage this.’ 

“So, it was difficult for quite a while, but I kind of eventually got the idea of where I wanted to go,” McCartney added. “I thought, ‘Well, ok, I’ll get a new band.’ Because I like being in bands. I like bands. I like making music. I like writing. I like recording. So, that’s what I’ll do. That’s easier said than done.”

Paul compares the formation of Wings to the formation of The Beatles

Wings was formed in 1971 with Paul McCartney on bass, Linda McCartney on keyboards, Denny Seiwell on drums, and Denny Laine on guitar. While the band never reached the levels of success as The Beatles, McCartney said that the band’s early days were similar to the early days of The Beatles. 

“It was a weird decision to just decide to go back to the absolute square one. My thinking was, ‘Well, The Beatles were just these four guys.’ We didn’t know anything when we started. We knew a couple of chords. We knew a couple of songs. We hadn’t written much, but we thought, ‘We’ll figure it out. We’ll work it out.’ And we did. So, I thought with the new band, we’ll do that. I said to Linda, ‘Do you want to be keyboard?’ She said, ‘Uhh…yeah,’ So, I said, ‘Great. You’re in.’ And it was like that. We just formed it from the ground up, and it took a few years, but we gradually had Wings and became a successful band.”

Wings still had a tremendous amount of success

Similar to The Beatles, Wings didn’t last for too long, but McCartney’s second outing still experienced plenty of success during its run. The band had several hit songs, including “Band on the Run,” “Jet,” “Silly Love Songs,” and “With a Little Luck.” Several of their albums dominated the Billboard charts, including Band on the Run, Wings Over America, and Venus and Mars.