Good time with Winterhours

   Friday the 11^th, we interviewed the talented alternative rock band, Winterhours. They were playing at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch... such a great pleasure to see them performing on stage! They really differentiate themself from the other bands thanks to their own style of music.. they have a violonist, which is quite unusual!

From left to right : Andy (Guitar/Vocals), Alex (Vocals/Guitar), Krys (Bass/Vocals), Jon (Drums/Percussion)

Here is our interview of this promising rock band :

How did you met each other?

Andy (Guitarist) : A few years ago, Alex and I met when I was playing in different bands and he was solo artist and he was supported the band I was in, and I asked him if he wanted to make some music together and he said 'sure'.. So he did and it was beautiful! We've recruted one of the guys from my old band, and then found John somewhere.

Why did you call the band Winterhours?

Alex (Singer/Guitarist) : There is an amazing beautiful story behind this ! (laughs) We tried out about 300 different names I think, then we tried Winterhours and we liked two words together. We thought it was suited with the music.

Krys (Bassist) : I guess it comed up in winter! (laughs)

Who compose the most in the band?

Alex : Andy writes most of the music. Me and Andy work together, like lyrically, like melodies and stuff like that.. Then we do as a band, all together.

Can you tell us more about your new single « Ocean heart »? What is it about?

Alex : It's a love story, it's fictional, a little bit of violin...

Jon (Drummer) : The director of the video has obviously hit a certain thing that means to him and that's why you see a couple in the video. But you can make whaterver you like.

How do you find inspiration to write your music?

Alex : Most of different ways.. We listen to a lot of different music.

Andy : For me it always comes at these convinient moments : if I try to sit down with a guitar and write something, nothing would come, but if I'm walking around, working or shopping, it would come in... and after, get my phone out and try to sing it to the voice recorder.

Alex : Or like the other day, it was mignight or something, I was half way home and these lyrics and sounds coming into my head.. I was writing and writing! You never really know, there is no real format to write a song, it comes out of nowhere sometimes.... And sometimes you can be creating a song for months an months, years and years.

You are playing as a band for 3 years and this is your first album. Are you planning to record another one?

Alex : We've just kind of release small EPs, singles, stuff like that. We are starting to find album ideas.. So hopefully in the near futur.

Andy : They should be another EP this year. We're going to release a few singles and hopefully put them on an EP with some others new stuff.. And an album later.

It's not commun to have a violin in a band. How comes?

Alex : We always wanted to have a big band. We came with this idea at the beginning of last year. A friend of us played violin for us on the recordings.. and we thought maybe we could find someone who can play in the band full-time, and we've come across Alex. He's also playing in his own band as well, he's multi-instrumental and available. We like him and he likes to play with us. Hopefully, we can carry on to do that.

Do you try to convince something special in your songs?

Alex : For me, we try to give something to think about.. and we all try to bring as much passion into the songs as we can. It's very dreamy, we trying to create that sort of scene, create thoughts in people's mind.

What is your best or worst memory as a band?

Alex : The best one is when we played a beach break student festival. We played on that main stage, it was incredible! ...Worst memory? I don't remind one.. before years! (laughs). We played a gig in Brighton once, it was one of the only gigs we've played in Brighton. So we got there and there was hardly anyone there, but we didn't really want to play anyway.. I think we got on the stage, played one song, then a second one.. and a break string on my guitar! Likely I had a spare... So we had to stop that song almost immediately, and then we start to play another song, and another break string on that as well! (laughs) I got so frustrated, I just said we have to end the set. We've played like one and a half song.. That was pretty s***!

Have you ever played in another country than England?

Alex : In Wales, we've done there several times. We would like to do an America tour, maybe a German tour, and in France.

When will be your next gig?

Alex : Our next gig is on 2^nd of February at The Borderline.. It should be a good show!

Check their website and Facebook page... and download their songs on itunes.  

When Walk on the B-side meet Men's Adventures...

Last Tuesday we have met Men's Adventures at The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch for a lively gig! We really travel through Mens Adventure's music style, and as Alfie, the singer of the band said: "the kind of music that we play is quite different from the other bands, (...) we sometimes wonder what the other bands think of us!". And it is true! We were pretty amazed by the singer Alfie, who has a really unique voice! They really share their passion with the audience and that is exactly what you are looking for when you go to a gig!

 At their live at Old Blue Last, from left to the right: Pascal (Bass), Alfie (Vocals), 

Jimmy (Guitar / Vocals), Chris (Guitar)

More about them here in our interview:

Walk on the B-side: Usually you are more than two, why there is only two of you for the interview?

Alfie: There are 5 of us live, but me and Jimmy started the band and writing tunes together probably about a year ago now. We just recruited 3 more to play live with, they are probably getting drunk as we speak (laughs). But yeah Jimmy and I wrote the songs. Jimmy writes all the music and some of the words, but I mainly write the words.

Why did you call the band Men's Adventures?

Alfie: I guess because of the stories we are inspired by, I mean I don't know if you are familiar with Men's Adventure magazines but I have been collecting them for quite a while. It is a lot of short stories.

What is it about?

Alfie: It is about men having adventures (laughs) 

Jimmy: Men's Adventure magazines are a lot of short stories, kind of like men's entertainment magazines from the 50's/60's. They have pictures of pretty girls kind of pin up girls but with these really cool, interesting short stories.

Alfie: An older version of FHM (laughs) We just find it entertaining to write the songs.

How did you meet each other?

Jimmy: We used to play in different bands, we played together sometimes and thats how we met each other. When both our bands split up, we got together and started playing music together.
Alfie: Yeah thats pretty much it in a nutshell. It is all about 3 or 4 years ago so there has been quite a gap between those two and the sounds are very different.

Alfie: Yeah thats pretty much it in a nutshell. It is all about 3 or 4 years ago so there has been quite a gap between those two and the sounds are very different.

Jimmy: But we only started about a year and a half ago.

How would you qualify your style of music?

Alfie:  It is hard for us to say we prefer for everyone else to make up their own minds. We always had this strong country and western influence in it but it is mainly because a lot of the stories we are writing about are of that era you know... 

Jimmy: But I guess it is kind of pop music really in it's simpliest form but we like a lot of different kinds of music, but yeah it's pop music really if you have to define it...

What are your influences?

Jimmy: We listen to lot of world music, but also country music, rock'n'roll records but then a lot of contemporary stuff too... like dance music, hip hop music. But to be honest I think the biggest influence to both of us is each other, we kind of work on everything together. Our biggest influences will be like what Alfie and I discuss about films, books, music and stories, that is probably our biggest influence.

Alfie: The stories are the biggest influence and then the song comes naturally.

Where does the idea of the "Hawaiian style" song Deep freeze virgins come from?

Alfie: Yeah Deep freeze virgins it is a funny one because it is a whole mixture of sounds, a mixture of stories as well, I mean kind of sounds like a country and western song, it's like the first example of a song mixing it up. 
Jimmy:  We have got a song set in the Alpes, then another one about Hawaii set on a beach and then you'll have another set in the desert.

Alfie: We are also working on a song with an Italian but the song is delivered with a Spanish accent. (laughs)
Jimmy: But Again that is part of that Mens Adventure world, non descript places but just imagery really, I think we are a great band to close your eyes and listen to.

How long have you been playing together?

Jimmy: About a year and a half.

Alfie: Yeah like we first started meeting up then we got together like a year and half ago, we did our fist couple of shows together live, so just over year or so I guess.

 Where did you have your first gig?

Alfie:  I run a bar in Mile End called the Victoria and we did it in the basement there. So it is nicely intimate and create as much control as we possibly could. Our first proper show was upstairs in the Haggerston. We tried to keep the shows quite intimate because there was only two of us, we had guest drummers and things like that, it was much more acoustic. We have been 5 from 6 months or so.

Jimmy: All the recordings we do is just me and Alfie then when we play live we have James Christie on drums, Pascal Chea on bass and James Foreman on guitar, we all hang out together and stuff, we are friends now.

What is your best memory as a band?

Jimmy: That is a good question! I think one of my favourite ones ever was when we played birthdays in Dalston that was like one of my favourite things we ever did together, that was like a really good gig, really good fun...

Alfie: That was one of the first examples of a venue being fucking tired and empty then when we came on it became really busy so I guess that kind of like marked a decent point.

Jimmy:We have worked our way slowly. We took our time and feel ready and confident in what we are doing and where we are going...

Alfie: We have never left London yet so you know for us little venues that we previously play with other bands before, it is not that much new so... yeah I think there are plenty more best times to come.

Any plans for the future?

Alfie: Yeah we are hopefully getting someone to put a record out for us. We haven't released anything officially yet.

Jimmy: The ideal would be to just have someone to facilitate us make some proper records, singles...

Alfie: an EP or something... 

Jimmy:  That would be good. That's probably our only real objective at the moment apart fom playing live.

Will You make an Album?

Jimmy: Yeah we will do...

Alfie: make an album... 
Jimmy: We have been doing this for like about 12 months so I think me and Alfie we've got pretty fast minds, we don't really want to be doing what we are doing right now for like a lot longer so we record what we are doing. Put it out and kind of end there and then start the next wave, that would be the idea for this year, the plan.
Alfie: Yeah there is more things in life than cowboys to sing about, we want to start to talk about some other more manly adventures.

Next gig : 19th January at XOYO in Old street stay tuned! 

Follow them on Facebook  and listen to their music on Soundcloud there is a new demo up !

Interview with The Baron Von Marlon at Nambucca!

Last week we met The Baron Von Marlon at Nambucca in London before their gig. We really spent a good time with these really nice and talented guys who show us that music is also a great adventure that you can live and share with friends on stage! 

From the left to the right: Andrew, James, Shaun, Tom and Robert.

Sitting on benches with few drinks we get to know more about this cool band, through this interview:

Walk on the B-side: Could you introduce each one of you?

Shaun: Hi, I'm Shaun, I'm the singer and somewhat the guitarist of the Baron Von Marlon.

Tom: I'm Tom, I'm bass.

Andrew: Andrew, I play violin.

Robert: I'm Rob I play drums.

James: I'm James I play guitar.

How did you meet each other?

Shaun: Years ago, I met Tom since I was like 2 and then we all met at school through friends of friends really. So through school and primary school.

Why did you call the band the Baron Von Marlon?

Shaun: It's from the Streets do you know the Streets? It was an over joke and we thought it's sound cool, that's it, it's from a silly Street's lyrics.

How long have you been playing together?

Shaun: A year and a half? It's June last year is it?

James:  All the rest of the band has been playing for a year, I've been playing for like 6 months maybe.

Shaun: We were 4 peers... and then..

Robert: No we were 5 peers then a 4 then a 5 again, and then briefly a 4...

Shaun: Somewhere around a 4 or 5 so now we are 5 and we have been playing for about a year and a half.

 How would you qualify your style of music ?

Robert: We've got violin which probably makes it a little bit folk. I guess it's kind of rocky poppy alternative.

Shaun: Someone calls us folk core, how do we just go for pop folk?

James: Folk with electric guitars...

Andrew: Yeah and tight jeans and folk... (laughs)

James: We would do pretty well with the tight jeans. (laughs)

James to Shaun: Why don't you tell the story? What the story?

Shaun: I shrank my jeans twice in the wash they are now too small. I don't like skinny jeans these are normal jeans but they shrank now they are tight. Anyway! (laughs)

Could you tell us more about your album?

Shaun: The EP? It came out a while ago now, we recorded it at James', our guitarist's studio, in Leeds, just spent a week at the studio and got 5 songs that we are pretty happy with. We just released a video for one of them last week (end of November*) which is set in a local church and it's all like really gothic... It's a kind of bouncy, it's very depressing lyrics but with happy melodies.

Andrew: So now people will know that our music is depressing... (laughs)

Who compose the most in the band?

James: Shaun composes most of it..

Shaun: A part from the drum.. I suppose I write the songs and then everyone fills in the gaps and we just play out constantly about the same song over and over again.

Do you try to transmit something special in your music?

Shaun: I suppose so... I'm quite in to literature so I like to convey or have quite sort of points, lyrics to the point. I don't know...

James: What literature are you in to?

Shaun: Ernest Hemingway...

James: Ernest Hemingway, what's your favourite Ernest Hemingway?

Shaun: Fiesta but the American change the title by the Sun which also arises.Yeah Ernest Hemingway is a good author.

Is it difficult to be 5 on stage?

James: It's pretty difficult... I have too much stuff...

Shaun: Yeah Jame has way too much equipment.

James: But you have 2 guitars, you're just going worst...

Shaun: We play stages like we can't even move, I fit like Andy's violin with my guitar... but the stage here (Nambucca*) is very nice, quite spacious.

What is your best or worst memory as a band? 

Shaun: Just gigs that seem pointless when like no one really interested in... yeah, that's probably the worst time... when you're just feeling empty of playing music for people who just doesn't care.

Thomas: Good is being in the studio and buy the 12-pack of doughnuts for a pound.. (laughs)

James: Yeah that's pretty amazing... the 12-pack of doughnuts wa good.

Shaun: Yeah when we were recorded our CD we just bought a lot of food... (laughs) a big pack of doughnuts for one pound.

James: That's the north of England (laughs)

Shaun: That's on the same level as actually creating music, we quite enjoy that..

Have you ever performed in an other country than the UK?

All of them: No we haven't

Robert: First the UK then progress into the rest of Europe..

James: And France... it could be fun...

Shaun to James: You've played in Paris?

James: Couple of times...

Shaun: James have played in lot of bands.

What are your favourite songs, if we have to recommend it to our readers, which song would you recommend?

James and Thomas: Probably Conrad's Daily Rose or Bedbugs.

Shaun: Our main popular song is... (laughs) the pop, the one which is like really cheesy is one called Bedbugs.

Robert: If you listen on Conrad's Daily Rose song there is also a video for that, then you get both songs.

Andrew: Yeah the video and the audio which is lovely.

Robert: And there is a link to our website.

Shaun: We've got a new song we are playing tonight or 2 new songs I don't know... at least one new song which we really want to see where that goes and hopefully recorded it soon... Really excited!

Would you like to play music for a living and become famous?

James: It's pretty much fun right now...

Andrew: I think we're not chasing fame or fortune right now, just play for fun...

James: But if it happens that's cool...

Thank you guys for the interview and for this great gig!

Follow them and listen to their music on Facebook, Twitter, their website and their blog !

Tall Tales this Friday @ Workshop

Hey ! Here we go again ! Tall Tales is going to play at Workshop this Friday, November 23rd at 7.45 PM.Check their Facebook page if you want to be on the guest list !

They even have now a Twitter page on which you can check news on their upcoming gigs.

You can also follow them on Facebook, Myspace, Soundcloud and Youtube

Be ready to have fun and spend a good time with them !

Birdy Hunt interview

        One week ago, we told you about a French rock band, Birdy Hunt. We were lucky to go to their gig and we also had the huge privilege of getting in their truck to do an interview.

Firstly the gig, the band lived up to its reputation. Indeed, it was very dynamic and lively! The fans and the band jumped about and danced a lot, and we should give a special mention to Manu, who really got the crowd going! Birdy Hunt finished the gig with the traditional punchy rendition of Outkast “Hey Yah”, which actually sounds better than the original.

the famous truck

Walk on the B-side: Could you quickly introduce us to the band's members who are present here?

Marc: There are three of us; I'm Marc, the singer, Marius is the drummer and Manu plays Keyboard. The other musicians are Luc and Nicolas, the guitarists, and Thomas who plays bass.

Manu: The band was created in 2007. At the beginning there were only 5 members, and I wasn't one of them. They were together for two years and the style was more Garage rock. Then, two years later I joined the band, and it's only really been two and a half years that we've been doing tours and gigs. 

Why did you choose the name Birdy Hunt for the band? In english, it means that you are a kind of hunting girls...

Marc: It also means birds hunting [laughs].

Marius: In fact it's because of a friend of Nico the guitarist who is a painter, she signed her paintings by Blondie Birdy Hunt so we thought that Birdy Hunt sounds cool and we used to hunt “bird” at this time so it was funny to use that name… [laughs]

Marc: We have never been a band which attract groupies...

Who compose the most in the band?

Marc: We compose all together. We have a studio in Gennevilliers in France where we gather the six of us and try to come up with something then, most of the time I write the lyrics. Nico helps me too to see what we could keep or not in the lyrics. We work like this.

Marius: We do the arrangement together, none of us come up with a song, it's a collective work. We really work together.

Manu: We don't rehearse alone, we do it together during rehearsal, in circle we rehearse and we come up with something.

Marc: The trap when you're a group, is that become a sort of group made-up of other groups of which you are fans, so it is better to have several people around with different influences.

Why did you choose to come to London ?

Marc: It's not the first time that we come to London. When we started to form the band in 2007, Manu wasn't in the band yet, we came to London for a month in 2007. We had fifteen dates, we really did our first tour, then we also really formed the band at this time, because we didn't know each other really well. I only knew Luc and Marius, there were also Nico and Tom, who are not here, who already knew each other, then we started to form the real band. We love this city, it feels like home when we are in London, we often have opportunities to play. We try to come back at least once a year.

Manu: We come back even more in the future. We are also in London to meet people that we hope to work with in London.

As we say, very punchy band !

You launched an EP in 2011, are you going to launch a new album soon this year?

Manu: We do fewer gigs mow except these two gigs that we did in London. It has been four months now that we have been composing, we are going to do an album. We would like to record it in London. We probably are going to work with an English Producer who has worked with Robbie Williams.

Fingers crossed !

Your second EP seems quite different from the first one. Why this turn of direction ? 

Marc: When you make an EP you need to immerse yourself in some kind of ambiance, then you see what happens. For this one, we went in January to my place in French Brittany.

Manu: It is a peaceful place so…

Marius: That's why we made more calm tracks.

Marc: We worked on tracks with pop bases and classical guitars, then, when we got the outline of the EP we reworked it with electric guitars. But for the next EP we want to make something different.

Manu: We tried to stay consistent on each EP and even if there is different atmosphere they work together.

Yesterday (01/11) you played at the Bull and Gate, was the audience 
receptive ? Is there a difference between French and English music fans ?

Marius & Manu: Yesterday was cool !

Marc: It depends on which part of France you go to. There are places where French people are really receptive and some other where they are kind of uptight...

Manu: In Paris for instance !

Marc: In London, there are so many bands that it is always gratifying when people love what you do. Plus, this is great to play for people who actually understand the meaning of your songs. We sing in English so there is always some kind of barrier with French people while here we can joke, speak half english, half french between songs and take ourselves not so seriously !

Birdy Hunt during the gig.
Manu's hair stuck in the strings of Nicolas's guitar.

Yesterday, there was the Mercury Prize ceremony. Alt-J have been named winner of this year with their album An Awesome Wave. 
What do you think about that ?

Marc: What I really would like to know is what happens when you tape ALT plus J on your keyboard ? [laughs]

Marius: It's a delta ! That's why their logo is a triangle.

Manu: This is the Illuminati !

Marc: Actually, I listened to it, but I don't really fancy it.

Manu: I'm not so into that triangle trend.

Marius : Anyway, we're happy for them

Marc: Yes of course, we are ! But the thing is that when you compose you don't really listen to other bands.

Marius: We are not so aware of the last released, latest music news. I try not to listen so much music so I can keep making my own stuff.

Manu: It is always better to isolate yourself, to disconnect from the world.

Do you have other dates of concerts scheduled in London ?

All: Not for the moment.

Manu: You should ask Kevin, our manager. (To Kevin, also in the van) Kevin, any others concerts in London ?

Kevin: Yes of course ! At the O2 Academy. [Laughs]

Marius: We may play in Brighton in January.

Kevin: This is not 100% sure at the moment, it is in negotiation.

Manu: The thing is that we are currently composing. We had an opportunity to play here so we took it but we didn't try to find more gigs to play.

Marius: But in 2013, there will be for sure !

Marc: Actually, if we are in England it's because we are going two days in Oxford to make to do preproduction. It's the first step in studio to try to adapt ourselves in case we have to record in England in December, to see if it's cool or not.

Marius: If it's not cool, we dissolve the band ! [Laughs]

Thanks to Birdy Hunt and Kevin Lacroix.

http://www.birdyhunt.com/

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And if you are interested by Luc's brand, you can find it on:

http://www.leschatsperches.com

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