We have just recently finished recording our new demo 'Chemical Tales of Chemical Trails' all of which can be heard here right now! Let us know what you think!
We are four guys who love to play music. Our line up at present is by far the most accomplished that has ever played under the name Winterlong. Our music derives from our love of heavy, funky, catchy, intense and purposeful music. If all we ever do in this life is write and play live together then we will be content. We have many influences which do not always effect or influence our 'sound', in fact, more the way in which we approach song writing. This has been massively important as we have developed over the years and understood how effective simplicity can be.
Biography;-
Winterlong initially started out as an acoustic three piece consisting of Steven Dobb, James Mills and David Tumelty. We enjoyed a highly creative and productive start which enabled us to begin gigging around popular venues in the local area with in months. The feed back that we received was very positive and we were urged by many to remain as an acoustic three piece as we seemed to filling a void in the local scene. We on the other hand had always felt the urge for our sound to have more depth which would enable us to be more dynamic like such bands as Radiohead and Oceansize. Their ability to create intense atmospheres by layering and building up sounds and instruments makes for stark contrast to more subtle, quiet and in turn simpler areas. Both of these elements placed next to one another help emphasise their distinction and contrast. The listener is given an opportunity to experience ambiance and intensity at powerful/ polar opposite ends of the scale.
Baring this in mind we felt it obvious for our next direction to be finding a drummer. We tried out a few that did not work out (One of them being our good friend Pete from such bands as ‘Flying Blind on a Rocket Cycle’ and ‘Defacer). Fortunately we had the privilege of pocketing a young man who goes by the name of Michael Bell. Basically Belly is one of the funkiest mother lickers around and you would be a fool to turn him down so we didn’t. With him on drums, Millsy picking his beloved Telecaster up, Tum booming it out another notch or twelve and Dobby staying acoustic we achieved that bigger range in sound we were looking for whilst not forgetting our acoustic beginnings. Our song writing and performing evolved rapidly as we quickly became a force to be reckoned with in the local scene. Then, what seems as a regularity with in this band many disruptions occurred. First Jimmy decided to fly to Europe for a month, then Dobb decided to jet to New Zealand for longer finally concluding with Belly announcing his departure to Australia for a mere year and a half! So we were forced to revert back to our original acoustic line up. It was not something that we wanted but more importantly we did not want this nor any situation to halt our progression and so use these times of change as a point to reflect, learn and reinvent ourselves. The ability to bounce back with even more passion and energy is one of our greatest strengths.
During The last six months of 2005 we found it difficult to gain any kind of momentum. We acquired another drummer named Lexi for a short while which helped us write some of our best songs to date. We enjoyed some good times with him but unfortunately it did not work out. Then in 2006 we had a jam with our current drummer Mark Smith. With in a few weeks we realised we had hit the jack pot. We were able to iron out all the creases and make our best music to date. Marks ability to be highly innovative whilst maintaining a solid beat is the perfect combination and has given us all so much confidence. The music itself is simpler as a whole yet in turn has more impact. The entirety of Winterlong feel it is the strongest line up to date. This opinion was solidified when we won ‘The Battle of the Bands’ competition at The Diamond rock club, Sutton, in the summer of 2006. We achieved performances there that even shocked ourselves and would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who supported us and took part! Since then we have taken time out to write new material, some of which can be heard right here.
We are now pushing for the next stage and making sure that we enjoy what we do for as long as we do it! Thanks for taking the time out to check our myspace,
Winterlong x
