Winters are one of the latest additions to Lee Dorrian of Cathedral/Napalm Death fame Rise Above Records. This London based band is
bringing people the bands on take on doom, taking the Black Sabbath blue print and combining it with some more alternative influences. With an E.P.
and an album now under their belts the band is set to make their mark on the music scene.
Metal Mayhem: First could you say a little bit about each member of the band?
Andrew Prestidge: The Winters line up is; Paul Fyfe - Vocals/Guitar, Nigel Ingram - Bass, and myself Andrew Prestidge - Drums. Both Paul and Nigel originally hail from Aberdeen in Scotland, they are now both based in North London. I was born in Edgware and grew up in North London.
MM: So how did the band get together in the first place?
AP: After the dissolution of Paul's previous band ‘Pablo', he took some time off playing in bands to concentrate on live sound work, in this period he continued to write material, this would have been in the period between 2003-2006, and in early 2006, Paul met the vocalist from my other project based band ‘Suns Of The Tundra' and got my contact details, this was also in a weird period when my old band ‘Cortizone' had come to an abrupt end, & my studio band rarely gigged, frustrating times! As I just wanted to get out and play live. Paul and I then met up & he gave me a CD of about 15 songs and we discussed putting a 3 piece power trio playing really slow doom based music crossed with 60s pop/psychedelia. The bassist Paul had in mind was an old friend from Aberdeen, Nigel Ingram, whose previous band had split up, and he had all but given up playing, so Paul had to coax him out of retirement, thus Winters were born!
MM: So how was the name of the band decided on?
AP: The original idea was to call the band ‘My Winter', that name was then changed to Winters, we collectively thought it suited our sound rather nicely! Only after, did we become aware at the amount of metal-based bands that were using that theme ‘Winter'.
MM: The lyrics are one of the great strengths of your songs. How do the band write the songs. Is it just one person or is it a joint effort?
AP: The band work together on arrangements and dynamics, Paul comes up with the lyrics and basic demo arrangements, (single guitar, double track vocals set against a straight 4/4 drum machine rhythm track).
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The ideas are then fleshed out in our rehearsal space, working on sections. The songs are then demoed again with live drums and minor synth parts before we go into a studio. All the song writing is split 3 ways between the band members.
MM: There seems to be a feeling of isolation about a lot of your songs. Tracks like feel nothing seem to play on that sense despair.
So what themes are you trying to cover in your songs?
AP: Paul's lyrics are very personal and he is inclined not to give too much away when asked about the subject matter. I do know that a lot of his lyrics cover failed relationships, isolation and despair and coping with life day to day, general doom and gloom stuff!
MM: Your music seems to have a varied spread of influences with Black Sabbath coming through as a major influence, but then mixed with some more
alternative influences. Which other bands have influenced your music?
AP: Black Sabbath are very important! The first six albums are all essential, Paul Fyfe is a big Ace Frehley/Kiss fan, he is also influenced by singer/songwriter Elliot Smith & 60s groups like the kinks & The Creation & Cult Doom band Witchfinder General. Nigel is influenced by Mod groups, The Action, The Creation etc…. he also loves ‘The Beatles' and his all time favourite album is the ‘Robinson Crusoe Soundtrack. My Influences are 70s Progressive Rock, King Crimson, Gentle giant, Rush, Van der graaf, Gracious! Captain Beyond, Sir Lord Baltimore, November etc…. To Punk, The Damned, Dead Kennedys, Crass, Rudimentary Peni, to post Punk, Killing Joke, Devo to Doom, St.Vitus, Trouble, Cathedral. Collectively Winters influences are, The Creation, The Kinks, The Damned, Rush, Syd era Floyd, & Yes (90125) even though I like ‘Fragile'! (Ha, Ha!).
MM: Is there anything else that influences your music apart from other bands, literature, your own life's, etc?
AP: I am influenced by writers like Howard P. Lovecraft and Arthur Machen, I am also very influenced by comic writer/artists such as Alan Moore, Mike Mignola, Chris Ware & Tony Millionaire. 2000AD had the biggest impact on me; the artists/writers in the 80s continue to inspire me as an artist to this day.
MM: Your signed to Lee Dorians rise above records now. That's a respectable doom label to end up on. How did that come about?
AP: A good friend of ours gave our demo tape to Rise Above; the funny thing is from the inception of the band I said to Paul, "Rise Above is the label for us!" The positive thing about Paul and Nigel is that they were unaware about the doom/stoner scene and the whole genre, and this in my opinion gives ‘Winters' a fresh perspective by not referencing groups like St Vitus, & Trouble to filter through into the song-writing, maybe that's why Lee warmed to our sound.
A lot of people find the vocals unconventional with this type of music, but I find it normal as we are just doing our own thing. After listening to the demo-tape Lee contacted us about coming down to see a live show, this would have been about March 2006 & was our second live gig, impressed by the demo & Live show we met up a few days later over a few beers to discuss doing an EP, and full length album for Rise Above.
MM: You initially recorded a short E.P. for rise above records before recording your full-length album. Did your learn anything from that EP
that you have brought across to make Twin Galaxies a better album?
AP: The EP was the demo tape we gave to Rise Above, It was recorded at our rehearsal space in Camden town on a laptop, for about £18 (3 hours rehearsal fee) and mixed by Paul at home. We had a lot more preparation in writing and demo-ing material for ‘Black Clouds, and from the spring all the way through to the summer to the autumn we continued to write material and gig the new songs in. We were in a position where we had enough material we could drop weaker songs prior to the album recording. Working with a producer really brought out the best performances in us, it was a very relaxed process, as everything was put down to tape live, no clicks, or pro tool edits, just the band playing live. Fried and the closing track Black Clouds were last minute additions to the album and I think they show a progression in the song writing from the EP.
MM: So what are the bands plans for the future? Any tours coming soon?
AP: We would love to tour, if we get a good offer!! Hopefully Rise Above will put a package together at some point, in the meantime we are writing album number 2, we have about 10 songs so far and Paul is demo-ing like crazy whilst on tour doing live sound for other bands
MM: Thank you for your time. Any final comments for Metal Mayhem readers?
Are there any websites connected to you that you'd like to mention?
AP: Been a pleasure! Thanks for reading this far and showing an interest in Winters. Please check out http://www.myspace.com/winterstheband
