We listened to tales of punk conviction, musical hard work and probably just a touch of excessive partying when we caught up with Red Winter the other day when we put some questions to them!
RBY: Ok, first off then how about some introductions and what you all do in the band?
Joe: Joe, singer and one of the songwriters/lyricist.
Jim: I’m Jim, I play rhythm guitar and so some backing vocals.
Dave: Dave on dave on lead guitar, and backing vocals.
Joel: I’m Joel and I play drums.
Phil: Phil, bass, backing vocals occasional song writer and carrier of the good looks…
Joe: And band liar haha.
RBY: Tell us about the bands history, when did it form, why did it form and what you've done?
Joe: About seven years ago I joined a project named "The Field Day" with two former friends. It was originally a cover band with another singer, and i was brought in to write some songs with them, i never intended to stay. However we wrote a few songs and i asked phil to jump in on second guitar, which was funny because he never played guitar once as he moved to bass once we sacked the bassist for being a lazy arsehole!
We played our first show at The Lomax, thanks to Katherine Murphy. We were meant to open the show but because we had our first show we brought a fuck tonne of people and ended up headlining it over the likes of the hyena kill, and sonic revolvers. We played 5 original acoustic songs and 3 covers and it was awful cos we were all smashed.
Phil: Dutch courage.
Joe: Over the time we lost a few members and between Phil, Jim, Dave and I (plus of course Shan and our mate James Rowan) wrote and perfected the whole of the "Leave it all behind” album. Joel joining shortly after its release, and playing with us since and writing new material.
RBY: What kind of music inspired you? Any particular bands?
Phil: I think we all have very different influences which shows in the songs we bring to the table. So for me Lit, Blink 182 and 3 doors down are influences
Joe: No Use For A Name, Tony Sly, Goldfinger, The Ataris and of course pop punk legends NSYNC.
RBY: I can hear the NSYNC influences already…
Joel: Big time, Joe uses Pop so well in the songs I think, It’s all about melody and hooks
Phil;: Its the choreography!
Joe: This for me is massively important! Something to hang a song on is massive. So pop for me is perfect, everyone gives it a bad rap, but the fact it outsells everything and everyone has a guilty pop pleasure shows its power
RBY: From the many times I've seen you the pop punk thing is really up front but you seem to motor along faster than most bands as well as have more of a good time feel about the music. Is this deliberate?
Jim: I think it's fair to say we all do what we do with Red Winter because we have a genuine love for it and I think that really drives us to the point that we can't help but having a good time when we're doing it whether that's on stage or when we're working on new music.
Joel: I think part of keeping up the pace might be the more punk rock side of things coming through. Though the pop sensibility is really strong in Red Winter but we all like music that has a lot of energy and power behind it, so I reckon that feeds in to that a bit.
Joe: For me I feel that's also a confidence thing yano! We have actively tried to be a bit less slapdash this year, but although we may be a "pop punk/pop rock" band, we have a proper punk rock ethic as Joel said.
RBY: How would you define that ethic?
Joe: For me we may not look like the typical "punk", we may not have the hair, the outfit or the political songs, but we are the band most likely to be drunk in the car park having bought a crate co we were skint, we support the bands around us, but we don't give a shit if u think we are crap, you don't have to and we are proud of it, and we've a lot of people who consider us a good band and decent people. We play shows the same whether its 5 people or 500 people, big as fuck! And make sure its a spectacle
Phil: Again it falls into the love for it category. We all enjoy playing and as joe said 5 or 500 doesn't change that feeling
RBY: Yeah you guys seem to be active supporters of other bands and the whole DIY scene. What (pre Covid) did you like about the local scene? Any venues, bands, particular events of note?
Jim: there’s some great bands and some great venues for it. Outpost is a definite win for me personally as venues go! And the Liverpool Punk Rock All Dayer that Joe runs each year has already become an absolute staple in my music calendar.
Joe: Outpost is ridiculous! Absolutely love the place. And Ian the sound guy especially he's a quality guy! He's the most attentive guy and awesome to boot!
Joel: Love the guy! Always plays Queens for me in sound check. Top man!
Phil: There are loads of things I love about the local scene. I like how you bump into people and can have a pint with them after or during a gig.
Joel: We love being a part of things in Liverpool and the North West ... and Joe’s All Dayer (LPRAD) is a cornerstone of that for us I think!
Joe: Bands wise there's a fuck tonne! The warrington and Liverpool scenes have become very close recently and that's been amazing
Joel: We’ve all been in the scene and the city for a while, so as Phil says we love hanging out
Dave: Rip Old Town House Warrington.
Jim: The old town house was awesome to be fair
RBY: The much missed Town House, it did give a focus to Warrington’s punk scene.
Joel: Yeah the Flair Witch Project was a great example of that.
Joe: Big shout to the likes of Alice Edwards, she's been putting some awesome gigs on in Warrington and paying bands
Joel: Got to play with one of my favourite bands in Liverpool, Salt the Snail
Dave: First Red Winter gig was in Wigan, we went on at 1am and everything went wrong.. <the end>
Joe: And phil fucked off to the bar
Phil: I did test the range of my wireless though and got a free pint from a nice guy in the other room.
RBY: What venue in Wigan?
Phil: Boulevard that was
Joe: The place was dead and the bill was all over the place so we just had a laugh. The venue certainly wasn't the problem, we'd had one 3 hour practice with Dave who learnt the songs in a week, we got put back time wise and it was dead.
Joe: What you three have brought to the band has really made us a better band and made Phil and i work harder
RBY: So you get about a fair bit?
Joel: Used to!
RBY: Yeah, some of this is in the past tense
Joe: We played some awesome places.
Joel: Can’t wait to be playing again, dude. We’re all dying for it. Keeping up the momentum tho!
Personal faves were Leeds and Plymouth
Dave: Just asked me to come play some songs as Rowen wasn't turning up to practise as he was studying in Leeds after the Sunday session, "we are playing Wigan next Saturday, you're coming" not the best place for the first outing
Jim: It’d be great to start getting out and about and hitting some places again once the impending apocalypse has passed
RBY: How do you find travelling, with so many of you it must be more difficult than most to organise?
Jim: Joe’s a master of Tetris when it comes to packing the boot
Phil: Joe is the king of boot Tetris.
Joel: We’re like “Nothing else is going in there”, then Joe comes over…
Joe: I love this is my tagline, Joe "boot Tetris" Norton.
Joe: Its my favourite bit other than the studio yano! Love the days out, sometimes having to play a show ruins it haha.
Jim: Yeah the out of town gigs are by far my favourite ones
Jim: especially in the summer
Dave: Traveling is great... either me or Phil drives and everyone else gets bladdered
Joe: I’ve been better recently haha
Phil: Hmmmm. Warrington?
Dave: Oldham mate
Joe: No comment
Dave: Top form
Phil: Oh shit yeah
Joe: Plus Jim helped me in oldham.
Jim: And i'd do it again! Oldham was boss!
Phil: ”I'm not going home, I wanna stay out. You can't take me hone"
Phil: In Warrington Joe was on form, he had a class night and a few too many. When we were driving home he was making some concerning noises in the back of the car.
Joe: So in oldham, I took.a bottle of rum with me as I was poor. Me and a friend drank most of it, Jim getting involved a bit later, and somehow I ended up on stage attacking the guitarist from We Punch Tigers - all in jest like - and getting him for a three count and winning the wrestling belt. Jim and I blagged a lift home with some people we knew...but we were ready to get the train back and just walk round oldham til 6am.
Joel: Sitting next to him in the back was the worst drive of my life
RBY: So as a band you work hard and play hard. I'm assuming home means roughly Liverpool area to you all?
Joe: Yeah, Old Swan here. Phil lives in Cronton.
Phil: Yeah I’m from Walton originally.
Jim: Yeah Crosby for me... used to be Old Swan until about 12 months ago though
Joel: I’m not a lifer here - moved here just under 5 years ago, from North Wales originally Nottingham, but been hiding out in Liverpool since 2017. Hope they don't find me!
RBY: What do you see happening to live music over the next few months to year?
Phil: I think it's a waiting game. we need to see whats going on with the venues. I can imagine after so long without gigs the scene will be booming when it gets back.
Joe: If we get back to proper live shows, it'll be the same old shit. Bands struggling to get paid while cover bands get paid mega wedge for singing other peoples music! I’m hopeful that people will realise what they've missed, and get out and see the bands, I mean for the price of a massive coffee you can see 4 bands, and even if 3 of them are shit you may find a band that follows you forever.
RBY: Do you see any way of ever altering that?
Joe: Nah cos music isn't absorbed how utterly used to be, its "on in the background" now, its not an occasion anymore. And venues know that if they put on a tribute band people will come because the actual band is charging 200 quid at the bigger venue. I see bands like Beartrap who I think are one of the best bands period, not getting anywhere, but a tribute band just got booked for the O2 Academy small room....baffles me.
RBY: Yeah, how do you manage to fund the Punk Rock All Dayer though, it’s usually free admission?
Joe: Out my own pocket, I pay for pretty much everything.
Jim: I think what we need is promoters who can build nights with their own rep rather than relying on bands to pull a crowd.
Joe: It makes sense to.take the gamble, because I feel it has legs, and maybe once the reputation grows I can start to charge, but for now I want it to feel like home for punk in Liverpool. Before I make money, I will pay the bands first
RBY: Have you got any new material or the like on the way?
Phil: We been working on some new stuff that we are really excited by. Its probably the best stuff we've ever written. We'll be in the studio at the end of the month with Jose Ibanez to record it.
Joel: It’s the first time I’ve written with the lads and it’s been unreal. Love what we’ve put together.
Joe: Ditto! For me its light years ahead of anything we've done! Joel, dave and Jim make such a difference! It's a departure and for some they may think it's too different, but it feels like an evolution.
RBY: Why is it's some of your best stuff?
Joe: We’ve been so much more ruthless and honest when writing! And it's paid dividends. We are all better musicians now. We seem to have stumbled on a method that works for.us when writing
RBY: What that method then?
Joe: The best way I could put it is we don't write it in a practice room, we almost build.it on a demo, then learn to play it in a room.
Phil: We have been home demo'ing and we record the songs to write them instead of playing and idea over and over in a room
RBY: Is there an approximate release date?
Joe: Lol fuck knows...we won't rush it..if it's not good enough, or the video, artwork or any of the product isn't right, we have to do it right.
Phil: It's all about the quality.
Dave: Definitely within the next 10 years!
Jim: Yeah I think we're keen to see this happen sooner rather than later but it's 18 months of work and we don't want to look at it and wonder what could have been
Joe: We believe in these songs greatly, and they have to be right! Dave’s our compass on this, he's the one who brings us back to earth a lot of the time. At the time I think "prick" haha, but he's usually right!
Joel: Completely agree. We’ve all pushed ourselves musically too, I think, so we want the package (i.e. video, art, release, all of it) to reflect that!
RBY: What question would you ask yourselves?
Phil: When are we going to write some trombone parts!?
Dave: When you stop playing a rusty trombone?
Joe: Do you ever think you had a chance to "make it"
RBY: Ok guys, like the gigs it's been a pleasure. Really hope to see us all in some dark room with beer and loud bands soon.
Words: RBY, Photos by Shots By Sarah - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shots_by_sarah_/ - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pg/shotsbysarah
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/redwinterUK/
Bandcamp: https://redwinter.bandcamp.com/
Email: redwinteruk@hotmail.com