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A FEW UNEVEN RHYMES: A 2-CD TRIBUTE TO WINTER HOURS
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When I first started Winter Hours, the idea was to get the most melodic musicians I could find. After a series of guitarists, two drummers and two singers, we finally found our formula in Bob Messing (who'd been there since day one in Autonomy and Ward 8), Bob Perry, the perfect guitarist to counter my melodies (and vice versa), and the jewel in the crown, Joseph Marques, who originally was a guitar student of mine (and not a very good one, I might add). Rumor had it that he had a voice akin to Jim Morrison, one of my favorite singers. The rumors were true. We now had the perfect set up.
The first demos, which included songs such as "Winter", "Postcards" and "Trial and Error", were ironically engineered by our future drummer John Albanese. Our drummer at that time was future Feelies and Luna drummer Stanley Demeski drummer extraordinaire. For the time being those tracks are still tucked away for a future release. Along our journey I met and befriended bassist Rob Norris (Bongos & post-Lou Reed VU). We had accumulated enough money from shows to record 3 new demos with Rob under the name Ward 8--"Walk Away", "I Want" and "Incendiary". We put together a cover for it, made a bunch of cassettes (fashionable in '83), sold them at shows, and through Trouser Press, and used them as a tool to get other shows.
This worked for a short while. Then we hit upon a song called "Hyacinth Girl". We instinctively we knew we had something special, so once again we called upon Rob Norris to assist us in the studio. Now we had a 4-song demo to be proud of through and through. A friend and manager of sorts attended one of the first New Music Seminars here in New York City. She handed out our cassette to anyone she thought might be interested, one of those people being Andrew Kipnes, who upon hearing the lead-off track "Hyacinth Girl", was smitten. He called us immediately to arrange a meeting. We were pleased with what he had to offer and signed on with his management company.
Andrew arranged a showcase for us at Danceteria so that Polygram Records could come to see us. Unfortunately, the date he had picked conflicted with the date that our drummer Stan had with one of his 3 bands, so he persuaded us to get a new drummer as he was not about to cancel this show. So we reluctantly replaced Stan, who also was there from the beginning, with John Albanese. The show was a complete success. Polygram gave us $2,000 to record a 2-song demo with the option that if they decided to pass on the band, we would then get to keep the recordings. Rob Norris was once again at the helm to record "Churches" and "At A Turtles Pace", as well as two very live versions of "All Along The Watchtower" and "Simple John". The results, to our ears anyway, were fantastic.
Needless to say, Polygram liked what they heard, but thought we needed a bit more time to mature. So our manager decided to form his own label, which at the time seemed like a great idea since he was also involved in Alternative Radio Promotion. However, we soon realized it was a conflict of interest. If you're not happy with how your record company is performing, your manager is supposed to go to bat for you, to put a fire under the label's ass. I'm sure Andrew wasn't about to set his own ass on fire, no matter how unhappy we might've been.
Anyway, we used "Churches" and "Turtles Pace", along with "Watchtower" from the Polygram sessions, and "Walk Away" from the Ward 8 sessions for our first EP. This was all very exciting for us with the exception of the musician credits--we felt that since Stan did all of the drumming and percussion on Walk Away (and quite fabulously I might add) that he should be credited. Our manager disagreed saying that this would confuse people (really!!!). Still we went ahead with the release of the Churches EP.
Almost immediately WNYU picked up on the song Churches as did many other alternative radio stations across the country (mainly in Atlanta, Richmond, D.C., New York, and Boston, which would remain our 5 strongest cities along the east coast, along with Athens, GA and Boulder, CO.) Now we could begin to do some light touring, which we did. The 9:30 Club in D.C. would become our home away from home. Seth Hurwitz, owner of the 9:30 Club, would become one of our biggest supporters, giving us amazing opening slots for Let's Active, Tommy Keane, Robyn Hitchcock, Marshall Crenshaw and Squeeze, among others. I should also add that WHFS put us into medium rotation, which didn't hurt either.
After five or six months of incessant touring it was time for a new record. During a break in touring I had written the music for two new songs I was proud of-- "Island of Jewels" and "Wait Till The Morning", both untitled at the time. I knew, however, that once the boys heard them they would all give their best. They did not disappoint, especially Joe in the lyrics department; he had topped himself once again. I remember when I heard the line from "Churches", "they built a tower to the sky, but who's been left to pray", I thought, how the hell is he going to top that?! I don't need to tell you just how beautiful the lyrics are for both of those songs.
Since we didn't have much money, we once again went back to our dwindling vault, where we culled "Simple John" featuring Bob Perry's killer solo at the end. We needed another song to go along with "Incendiary", so we chose the new version of "Hyacinth Girl", which has John Albanese on drums (this is a faster version than the original demo, which was much darker and moodier). Almost out of the starting gate the EP was a success with each station keying a different song, but "Hyacinth Girl" was the one that slayed everyone, including the audience. The release of this EP brought us to a whole other level--our audience by now doubled in size, we toured more, and for once we could actually make a living from the band (well almost).
At that time, some film student offered to make a video of her favorite song, "Wait Till The Morning", which we gladly accepted. However, due to poor planning on our part, we had a show in D.C. the night before the filming, which was to start at 5:30AM so that the director could get the morning sunlight. We didn't get home until 3:00AM, just enough time to take showers, eat, and get to the park to start filming. However, the sky was overcast so there would be no sunlight. Joe was exceptionally funny in his crankiness saying, next time I'll write a song called "Wait Till The Night Time". It was a long hard day. I don't think it ended until 7:00 or 8:00 that night. Once the video was edited we sent it to MTV where 120 Minutes played it every Sunday for a month. The video, coupled with a performance at the Ritz with Let's Active and The Rain Parade, was really great exposure. People talked about this show for the rest of our career.
Jumping ahead to the last LP for Chrysalis Records--we felt like this was finally our chance to make a record which would please our old fans as well as make some new ones, which is every band's dream to get to that next level. Once again, with songs like "Roadside Flowers", "Carpenter's Square", "Smoke Rings" and Joe's first self-penned composition "Broken Little Man", our hopes were high. Lenny Kaye did a wonderful job of producing. And, as usual, Joe once again topped himself with the lyrics to "Roadside Flowers", which almost didn't make the LP! But the pressure was on, we needed one more song, and Joe came through like a true champ. In addition, Bob Perry's music for "Carpenter's Square" showed just how far his talents had come, and everyone performed at their best, including new drummer Dave Scheff.
Sadly, there were problems almost immediately. First the record company reneged on their original promise of both tour support and money for a video, instead offering us the option of one or the other. Since there were no guarantees that MTV would play our video, we opted for the tour support, so that for the first time we could travel in comfort in a Winnebago. The LP reached number 5 in the Rolling Stone college charts, but that was almost to be expected since our prior EP, "Say The Word", reached number 6. The record company failed to fulfill their promise of bringing us to the next level. Still we forged ahead waiting for the single release of "Roadside Flowers", which we were sure couldn't fail. The record company released it without any push.
So 1990 found us with no record company, no new record, and the band falling apart. Dave Scheff left the band and moved backed to California. Once again we recruited another new drummer (making 5 in all). We had written a bunch of new songs with titles like "Roll In The Ivy", "Faded Pictures", "A New Place To Begin" and "Reasons That We Had", to name a few. But without a record company's support and deciding not to go back to our managers label, Link Records, the spirit of the band was at its lowest, ultimately causing the break-up of it all. Ten years in the making and for what?
Despite how things ended, I wouldnt change those ten years for anything. I love those guys now as I did then. I mourn Joe's death in 2003 almost daily. I was sure that one day we would all get back together, since the music we made was not only timeless, but, as I started out saying, undeniably melodic. There was no one member more important than the other--we each played our roles and played them well, though I would be a fool if I didnt acknowledge that Joe was the identifying voice of Winter Hours. How I wish I had "Ten Minutes" of his time, just one last time just to say how much the music we did together has meant to me even now. My goal is to keep his name (as well as the band's name) alive as much as I can. Being the band archivist, I have a multitude of live concert performances on tape as well as a bunch of studio out-takes which I hope to release a little at a time.
In the meantime, I just want to thank all of you who have supported us, then and now. I can't tell you how much it means to me and I know that Joe would've loved it all. Tragically, before he passed away he thought that no one cared about him or the music we made together. He has no idea just how wrong he was. Hopefully he looks over my shoulder every time I get a fan letter saying just how much the band's music meant to them, how it changed their lives, or got them through a rough time. So with that, thank you all. Please feel free to submit any questions and/or ideas you might have. I'm always listening.
Currently I'm playing in a new group called East Of Venus with Stanley Demeski, Glenn Mercer (Feelies) and Rob Norris (Bongos). We are having a great time playing together and are in the process of recording our first LP. You can check out our MySpace page to find out more about us and listen to some of our music. Our first ever show is at Maxwell's on Saturday January 31st 2009 at 7:00 PM. See above for details!
Peace, Love, Light,
Michael Carlucci--Winter Hours
