The Winter Gypsy
Indie folksters hailing from Adelaide town The Winter Gypsy are starting to make an impression on the national scene already being compared to the likes of Paper Kites and The Middle East. Their new single Took Me By is receiving high rotation on Triple J and the band collectively (Tushar Singh, Max Lambert, Dave Thompson, Isaac Kerr, Jonny Kotts, Sean Helps) shared their thoughts on the journey so far via a quick Q&A with Across The Ocean.
What is the latest for The Winter Gypsy?
The release of our single has be a great experience, with the hype of our new video clip and getting love on Triple J has been amazing. We’re also so psyched to be releasing our first EP on August 5th, with a tour shortly after.
Is it an exciting time building up to the tour and release of the EP?
Yeah, we’re so eager to show everyone what we’ve been working on. The hardest part is holding off and waiting until the release date. But it’s all going to be worth it, I’m sure!
Have you been encouraged by the response so far by fans and Triple J to your music?
Yes, absolutely! It’s definitely given us proof that people are seriously enjoying what we’re putting out there. This is the music that we love making, so it’s a great feeling when others appreciate your passion too.
Must be a huge buzz being compared to Middle East and The Paper Kites?
I’ve been listening to The Middle East and The Paper Kites since 2011, and they’ve definitely had a huge impact on the way I write my music. To even be compared to them; there are just no words. Such an amazing feeling. I think being compared to an artist called, ‘Szymon’ really sent shivers down my spine. He was an amazing musician who I’ve only just recently discovered. My god, he is a genius.
What did you think when you first heard song played on national radio?
Not going to lie to you, I’ve never heard myself or my band on the radio before. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. Tick that off my bucket list.
Do you feel the weight of expectation?
Not too much really. We’re just a bunch of mates making noise; we’re just glad people love what we love doing.
How did the band meet and get together?
We’ve all been friends for quite some time; or have known each other through mutual friends and so on. Max and I started up The Winter Gypsy as a duo, planning to only release music but not play any shows. However, we started getting offers that we couldn’t resist, so we brought Dave, Isaac, Jonny and Sean into the mix and we’ve been loving it ever since.
Is there a hidden meaning to the band name?
It’s quite simple really. I used to play backyard shows with Dave (Pianist) and people used to call us gypsies. The word ‘Gypsy’ stuck with me. During the time it was winter and I had decided that it was my favourite season of the year; and people used to tell me they loved listening to me play during winter. I had a soothing vibe according to them. Hence the name, ‘The Winter Gypsy’.
Do you still remember those first jam sessions to find your band’s sound?
It only took a couple of jam sessions to realise we had something going. We all clicked so well in such a short period of time. We’ve only been a band since August 2015 (almost a year). I’m keen to see what our next lot of new songs will turn out to be as I’m sure we’ll experiment with different sounds.
What can fans expect on this tour?
We tend to have a lot of instrumental add-ons that don’t exist in the recorded material. There is a much greater build-up to either the intro or outro of our songs which really creates a fuller sound. We feel as a band that not only do we enjoy jamming these instrumentals, but it really pulls our audience together and draws them in for each song that we play. We tend to just jam out prior to our first song – before we’ve even introduced ourselves. We love performing live and fans can definitely expect a lot more energy compared to what they might usually hear on our EP or other recordings.
Do you find that people are surprised that a band this good comes from Adelaide?
I feel like Adelaide folk are still yet to discover us. We get people coming up to us loving our sound, but they’re more surprised at the fact that we’ve only been a band for such a short period of time.
There’s a lot of good artists/bands emerging from Adelaide that are seriously starting to make a name for themselves. Local artists we’ve been loving are, Ollie English, The Montreals, Hunt, Zen Panda, Bromham and Neon Tetra to name a few.
Do you think you would relocate overseas at some point to get the much deserved attention to launch your careers?
I’m hoping for Europe. I feel like our type of music would really suit.
Are there any significant influences that the band share and have these changed much since you’ve started writing and recording?
We all have different influences; but that’s the best part about us. I never know what our songs will turn out to sound like, but that’s such a fun process in writing new material.
Was the process of writing and recording for your album as hard/difficult as you thought?
Not at all, luckily it was all easy for us. We all liked what we were doing in each track, and laid it all down in the recordings. Turned out so much better than I had already anticipated. A big thanks to our producer, Hugh Atkinson for his sublime work. Having his creativity with recording really made it that much easier to work through our tracks.
Are there a lot of lessons you can take from this in to the next recording experience?
Definitely having all the tracks polished before heading in to record is a must for us. Since there’s six of us, it takes time to get all the tracks down. Having demos recorded as a guideline before heading in to record a mastered copy we found was also a massive help to us.
What is the biggest lesson you have learnt so far?
Music is a lot of hard work. I didn’t understand how much we had to put into our work until I really put my all into it. But It’s what I truly love doing, so it’s totally worth it.
What’s the plan from here? Are there big plans for the summer?
We’re aiming to play a few more shows, maybe even lock in a festival, that would be the dream! For now, though, we’re just too keen on the release of our EP and our Tour. I’m just excited to be travelling around the East Coast with my good friends, playing music and hanging out. It’s going to be great!
Whether it is rummaging through vinyl at record stores such as Clarity and Title finding hidden gems to scouring the internet to find that album by the next big thing or chasing bands to get that elusive autograph and photo his passion is music all the way.
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