WINTERLONG interview
with frontman genius EROL GOLBAS!!!...
1. HEY EROL, HOW ARE YOU AND WINTERLONG?
Hi Steve. We're all fine and dandy thanks.
2. FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN'T ALREADY HEARD YOUR SPELLBINDING MUSIC, HOW WOULD YOU PERSONALLY DESCRIBE IT?
'Spellbinding'......I like!! It's difficult answering this sort of question without meandering too far into the 'bullshit zone' of abstract musician-speak!!! But I guess that Winterlong is all about honest, 'real' music. Music with integrity and a bit of 'wear-your-heart-on-your-sleeve' passion thrown in. And much much more than anything else it's about hoping that those last two sentences don't sound wanky!!
3. WHAT COMES FIRST... MUSIC OR LYRICS? AND WHICH SONG OF YOURS IS YOUR FAVOURITE FROM BOTH A LYRICAL AND MUSICAL POINT OF VIEW?
Usually it's the music, but not always. If a chord progression, a riff or whatever sounds good we'll stick with it and then develop lyrical phrases later which is the toughest part cos there's nothing worse than ruining a good song with a crass rhyming couplet! Musically I really like 'Hide In Vain' (and if the good folk that read kidjuxta want to have a listen they can certainly do so at www.winterlong.co.uk). From the standpoint of lyrics there's a song I've got called 'Somewhere in The West' which was written about 5 years ago but is still yet to see the light of day. Hopefully we'll get around to working on it at some point.
4. YOU'VE RELEASED TWO PRETTY DIFFERENT SOUNDING EPs, FIRST OF ALL YOUR 'SHIPWRECK' EP AND MORE RECENTLY YOUR 'ECLIPSED' EP. HOW IS YOUR NEW MATERIAL SOUNDING?
It's more in the style of the new 'Eclipsed EP' - a bit left of centre, a bit weirder if you like! But we still want to retain some semblance of melody in what we're doing, which is difficult when you're trying to be a bit different. I don't want people to say 'Winterlong - they make bloody self-indulgent prog-rock!'
5. HAVE YOU HAD ANY INTEREST FROM RECORD COMPANIES OR ARE STAYING UNDERGROUND FOR THE TIME BEING?
When we finished 'The Shipwreck EP' we didn't send it out to a single record company. We sent it out to a few PR and management companies to gauge their reaction. Some of them liked it but felt that it sounded a bit too similar to other 'indie' bands - and that's something we accept although I still feel that there are 4 very strong songs on there. The 'Eclipsed EP' ended up sounding a lot different but it wasn't a cynically contrived scheme to be different for the sake of it. We were just bored of treading the same water so it was good to overdose on My Bloody Valentine, Massive Attack and The Velvet Underground instead of the more usual 'indie' influences. In the last few weeks we've started sending out copies to 'the industry'.
6. HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO CREATE SUCH AN AFFECTNG, POWERFUL AND SIMPLY OVERWHELMING SOUND AS A MERE 3-PIECE?
We cheat! Well, sort of. In a recording environment you can overdub lots of tracks onto a song to beef things up a bit. 'Seven Smiles' had something like 5 or 6 different guitar parts on it. But you obviously can't pull this off playing live as a 3 piece so we invested in a sampling machine last year and it's great, especially for the new tracks we're playing. It adds a bit more depth to the sonic spectrum so the listener isn't just confronted with the usual guitar, bass and drums sound. It really is the 4th member of the band!
7. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE CURRENT UK MUSIC SCENE?
Ummm... in all honesty not a lot. Music obviously has cycles and fads and Britain is most definitely in the midst of a garage rock 'trend'. I think it's a backlash to the popularity of American Nu-Wave metal bands but the whole thing is far too stylised for my liking. It's almost as if there's a group of journalists sitting around a smoky table in a Camden pub deciding which bands to push, what tastes to promote. I loathe the idea that music is a 'product' to be pushed out onto shelves like washing powder. Having said that I still think there are many exceptionally good bands in the UK - Radiohead and Massive Attack would be my pick of the bunch. In terms of newer bands, Longview's new single 'Further' is stunning. And although I'm not a huge fan of 'The Coral' I do admire the fact that they're on their own musical path.
8. HOW FAR DO YOU WANT TO TAKE YOUR MUSIC?
Well I'd be totally lying if I told you I still want to be playing South London pubs this time next year!! The honest answer is that we want to take it as far as we possibly can, which doesn't necessarily mean record deals. So long as we're all enjoying it then there'd be no reason to stop, even if we don't manage to leave the pub circuit!
9. DO YOU HAVE ANY 'FAMOUS FINAL WORDS'?
Nothing I say could ever come close to surpassing the last words of Spike Milligan, whose tombstone inscription reads 'I told you I was ill.'
The man was a genius.
GO NOW!!!...
www.winterlong.co.uk