articles
Win Win Winter
from volume 02 issue 03 // Julie Martin
Win Win Winter
Words: Julie Martin
The fairytale has taught us to beware and take note of things that come in threes. The logical progression follows that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but thrice dictates a pattern. When things repeatedly show themselves we follow the thread to the tangled end and this is how I happened upon Win Win Winter.
One airy evening decked in cowboy boots I ventured out to the New World Brewery to see the long-haired Willowz. I was sure be on time; days earlier I had a cursory listen to the opening acts lined up and one caught my attention: Win Win Winter. After what I thought was a lovely set, I procured a free CD from one of the fellows and popped it into my CD player when I got home. I was definitely pleased with what I heard. Suddenly, after this show, their name kept appearing on bills. Before then, I had never heard of them and decided that this pronounced appearance shouldn’t be ignored. I contacted the band for an interview and what I learned is what I’d love to share with you.
To bring the story full circle, we met at New World where I’d first seen them. The five piece band piled out of one car as: Tommy Simms, guitar/vocals; Joshua Greensberg, keys; Derrick Hutek, drums; Charlie Curtis, bass, and Evan Walker, guitar. The members have roots in the numerous burgs of California, sans drummer Hutek who truly brings the cool of winter hailing from Michigan.
As we chatted, it became apparent that most of the boys had prolific musical backgrounds in which family was a rich soil that nurtured the innate inclination to make music. Pianist Greensberg’s mother was a jazz singer and pianist in Atlanta, and drummer Hutek helped his mother run an orchestra and swing band in Clearwater until recently. According to Simms, “the benefit of growing up here Clearwater is there’s nothing to do but play music.”
Essentially, Simms captured the method of making music as “not playing anything no one wants to play.” Hutek interjected by adding, “We finally have a group of people where everyone is competent with their instruments.” The process is organic and comes together as a group. For the most part words are the soul of Simms: “I’m constantly writing even if there’s no music.” On average playing 2 – 3 times a week, Simms expressed, “I’m constantly getting sick of songs. I want to have a large catalogue of music. I don’t like being forced to play the same set at every show.” However, “We don’t practice as much if we end off on a positive,” says Hutek about a satisfactory rehearsal and boosting moral before a show.
2007 will see the release of Win Win Winter’s LP, Here in America. I was curious about the conventions of writing and recording. One of the things I loved about the songs was the literary technique of juxtaposition, using the content of lyrics versus the mood and atmosphere of music to create counterpoint, “to share two emotions at the exact same time, you can do that with lyrics.” The example Simms used is a song entitled “Millions of A’s”, which is an epic ten minutes that ends with gigantic screaming over a twang country beat. Another is the gorgeous yet wrenching sound embraced in “Doves and Uppercuts”, while a lighter pop feel is realized in the inquisitive “We Came from Stereos”, “New Accents” is the song that lingered in hums on the tip of my tongue for days. “We’re into fidelities,” says Walker as Simms explains the feel of achieving Hi-fi and Lo-fi sounds by adding electronic phrases over live instrumentation.
When we discussed the local music scene and venues, WWW were thrilled to share that we sat at one of their favorite places to play. It became clear that the general sentiment was good faith in the direction music was growing in the community. Walker’s major side project, Headset, was recently aligned as openers for the much anticipated Dr. Dog show, a spot that was originally intended for WWW to play yet was kept in the family. Win Win Winter will be playing July 20th at the Royal Theatre in Clearwater with Headset and Tommy Simms sister, Juliet in Automatic Loveletter. This show will set off a mini-tour through the southeast and will conclude on July 30th at Crowbar with the Mooney Suzuki and Dark Romantics.
Get wrapped up: www.myspace.com/winwinwinter
Words: Julie Martin
The fairytale has taught us to beware and take note of things that come in threes. The logical progression follows that once is happenstance, twice is coincidence but thrice dictates a pattern. When things repeatedly show themselves we follow the thread to the tangled end and this is how I happened upon Win Win Winter.
One airy evening decked in cowboy boots I ventured out to the New World Brewery to see the long-haired Willowz. I was sure be on time; days earlier I had a cursory listen to the opening acts lined up and one caught my attention: Win Win Winter. After what I thought was a lovely set, I procured a free CD from one of the fellows and popped it into my CD player when I got home. I was definitely pleased with what I heard. Suddenly, after this show, their name kept appearing on bills. Before then, I had never heard of them and decided that this pronounced appearance shouldn’t be ignored. I contacted the band for an interview and what I learned is what I’d love to share with you.
To bring the story full circle, we met at New World where I’d first seen them. The five piece band piled out of one car as: Tommy Simms, guitar/vocals; Joshua Greensberg, keys; Derrick Hutek, drums; Charlie Curtis, bass, and Evan Walker, guitar. The members have roots in the numerous burgs of California, sans drummer Hutek who truly brings the cool of winter hailing from Michigan.
As we chatted, it became apparent that most of the boys had prolific musical backgrounds in which family was a rich soil that nurtured the innate inclination to make music. Pianist Greensberg’s mother was a jazz singer and pianist in Atlanta, and drummer Hutek helped his mother run an orchestra and swing band in Clearwater until recently. According to Simms, “the benefit of growing up here Clearwater is there’s nothing to do but play music.”
Essentially, Simms captured the method of making music as “not playing anything no one wants to play.” Hutek interjected by adding, “We finally have a group of people where everyone is competent with their instruments.” The process is organic and comes together as a group. For the most part words are the soul of Simms: “I’m constantly writing even if there’s no music.” On average playing 2 – 3 times a week, Simms expressed, “I’m constantly getting sick of songs. I want to have a large catalogue of music. I don’t like being forced to play the same set at every show.” However, “We don’t practice as much if we end off on a positive,” says Hutek about a satisfactory rehearsal and boosting moral before a show.
2007 will see the release of Win Win Winter’s LP, Here in America. I was curious about the conventions of writing and recording. One of the things I loved about the songs was the literary technique of juxtaposition, using the content of lyrics versus the mood and atmosphere of music to create counterpoint, “to share two emotions at the exact same time, you can do that with lyrics.” The example Simms used is a song entitled “Millions of A’s”, which is an epic ten minutes that ends with gigantic screaming over a twang country beat. Another is the gorgeous yet wrenching sound embraced in “Doves and Uppercuts”, while a lighter pop feel is realized in the inquisitive “We Came from Stereos”, “New Accents” is the song that lingered in hums on the tip of my tongue for days. “We’re into fidelities,” says Walker as Simms explains the feel of achieving Hi-fi and Lo-fi sounds by adding electronic phrases over live instrumentation.
When we discussed the local music scene and venues, WWW were thrilled to share that we sat at one of their favorite places to play. It became clear that the general sentiment was good faith in the direction music was growing in the community. Walker’s major side project, Headset, was recently aligned as openers for the much anticipated Dr. Dog show, a spot that was originally intended for WWW to play yet was kept in the family. Win Win Winter will be playing July 20th at the Royal Theatre in Clearwater with Headset and Tommy Simms sister, Juliet in Automatic Loveletter. This show will set off a mini-tour through the southeast and will conclude on July 30th at Crowbar with the Mooney Suzuki and Dark Romantics.
Get wrapped up: www.myspace.com/winwinwinter
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Nancy Alverez
These guys are really talented musicians and in person there is so much in their performance you can't keep your eyes off them. Relly enjoyed them at NWB.
posted Nov 4th 2007, 07:12