A Musical Enema For The Mind

By John Bones on June 12, 2012 in Arts

Combining the pleasant harmonies of the old world with the bitter edges of the new one, Winter People create a brand of post-rock folk music that You Am I’s Tim Rogers described as a “musical enema for your mind”.

With a new EP titled ‘Gallons’ about to drop, we caught up with Winter People’s vocalist and guitarist Dylan Baskind during the month …

Winter People in a sentence are… Old world slams into new world in a fiery apocalyptic interplanetary collision.

First memory of music… Morning fog was pouring off the mountain, the curtains rustled, the television was on and we heard the orchestral version of the Scooby-Doo theme song pouring out of those tinny little ‘80s mini-television speakers.

First album you bought… The Beatles – ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. I listened to it on solid repeat until the over-use scratches on the disc became so constant and all-pervasive that in the end there was more silence than song.

Song that gives you goosebumps… Tom Waits – ‘Take It With Me’. It is proof of the man’s genius.

Fave driving album/s… As we see it, there are three modes of road-trip: a) Sun Going Down Over Ridges Mode, for which we find most appropriate album is the ‘O Brother, Where Art Thou?’ soundtrack; b) Middle Of The Day Barracking Down The Highway Mode, for which ‘Come With Us’ by the Chemical Brothers is best; and c) Home Straights Of A Long Drive Mode, which requires good old silence to best appreciate the closure of a long journey.

A Winter People highlight… Having Peter Katis and Rich Costey mix our music has been a highlight in the band’s lifetime.

If you could pick a supergroup its members would be… Neils Bohr on drums, Isaac Newton on keys, Genghis Khan on bass, Napoleon Bonaparte on vocals. They’d probably make terrible music but would definitely make for a fascinating band room dynamic.

Sydney bands giving you the good tingles at the moment… In no particular order: Bearhug, The Preachers, WIM, OMOMM.

Fave Sydney venue… Oxford Art Factory as a club venue and the Enmore as a large-scale venue.

Band or genre that gives you an ice-cream headache… Blackmetal, screamcore vanilla ice-creams give us a crazy migraine. We’ve sought medical relief from doctors of all stripes, and even ventured so far off the beaten path of empirically validated science as to try a cross spectrum of herbal medicines and homoeopathic treatments, but to no avail.

If you bowed to corporate sponsorship it would be to advertise… We’ve already bowed to corporate sponsorship since we play each year as the karaoke backing band at The Paper Street Soap Company Annual Retreat Saturday Night Spectacular.

Your dream bill for a night (Winter People included of course)… Beirut, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, The National and Augie March.

An unknown Winter People fact… Our preferred band name – ‘The Travelling Christmas Carollers Family Band’ – was already taken according to MySpace.

What next for Winter People… Uncorking our album after its extended period of fermentation. We can’t wait to finally have something complete and audible/tangible/take-home to give to people after shows.

Winter People are playing at the Oxford Art Factory on June 7. To find out more about the band visit www.winterpeople.com.au or www.facebook.com/winterpeople.