Welcome to an introduction to The Battles Of Winter. The London-based four-piece produce deep, layered, sonorous and dramatic indie rock with both mournful and uplifting vocals. We caught up with the band as they release their latest single ‘Block S Falls’.
‘Block S Fall’ is the first single since their 2016 sophomore album At Once with Tattered Sails following a long hiatus but the four (Alistair Gale – vocals/guitar Lucas Manley – guitar Graeme Dinning – bass Martin Good – drums) are back together making tunes they’re proud of.
The band said: “‘Block S Falls’ is a song that has been kicking around for a while. The original demo was for a short-lived side project and the song was vastly different (acoustic and harmonica).
“Myself [Alistair Gale] and Graeme [Dinning] felt that it would have been a waste not to work on it with the band. We spent a couple of days at the end of February (just before lockdown) recording it and another new song at Savage Sound Studios near Hastings.
“Graeme lives in a village nearby so we had a handy place to crash. We’d met Kev Vanbergen through Steve Warby (Straight Lines Are Fine Records) whilst he was working with Slow Riot, who were also releasing music via SLAF.
“We’d had a long hiatus, so to be honest it was great just being back in a recording studio again. Working with Kev and coming away with a couple of new songs that we’re really proud of made it even more satisfying.”
Working with a fresh face in the studio has been a huge boost for the band. The extra unbiased brain has helped the recording process for the single where someone can offer advice and show a different way of creating music. The band stressed that Kev’s work on the track pushed the band further whilst not holding back on his input.
During their hiatus, the four have tried to juggle family life and work commitments whilst trying to squeeze in as much rehearsal time as possible. It’s certainly not as much as they would have liked, but they also know that more could have been done in those four years.
“To be brutally honest, not enough,” Alistair admits. “We’re not the most active on social media and although we recognise that this is increasingly important, we’re not very good at it either.
“We all have family and work commitments and invest as much time as we can writing, rehearsing and recording. Having the time and inclination to promote ourselves in a way that just doesn’t come naturally to any of us is a real challenge.
“We work with great people, like Steve at Straight Lines Are Fine and Crysta at Jasper PR but we don’t make it easy for them.”
In their songwriting process, Graeme lays down most of the lyrics before Alistair works on the song structure.
He adds: “Our song writing approach has been pretty much the same over many years. We then come together and morph it, bash it, beat it up until it takes shape and finds a tempo that feels right.
“We all bring something to the table, each of us adding their own ideas from their own influences along the way. We’re pretty democratic in our overall approach too. As for influences, Graeme tends to write cryptic lyrics which invoke a certain kind of imagery.
“We try to find music to complement the words. While not always dark in nature they do seem to me to have an undercurrent of intensity, or something unnerving. I’m sure Graeme would cite Stephen Malkmus, Nick Cave and Jeff Mangum as inspirations from a lyrical standpoint.”
Before speaking with The Battles of Winter, the group posted on Facebook that they haven’t performed a live show in four years. However, they were due to perform this year, but you guessed it, COVID-19 got in the way.
Indoor music venues have had it extremely tough in the current climate but the government has said that they can reopen under new guidelines. So, what do you feel needs to happen for musicians to be comfortable to perform and let fans come to shows?
The band explain: “Given the current uncertainty about any gathering I think it’s a really worrying time for live music – particularly the small venues that we’d be playing.
“Small venues are massively struggling and need more well-considered and sustainable assistance. Putting on shows whilst also observing all the COVID restrictions is just not going to be financially viable for most of them.
“We have to be patient and work together to ensure that the industry gets the help it needs until such time that live music can be played and experienced in the way that it was pre-Covid. We miss playing and going to see other shows, but the reality of the situation means we shouldn’t take decisions too lightly.
“For me, most ideas floated or being tried to get live music started again seem to suck the atmosphere out of the whole experience.”
With that answered, what are their plans for the future in a post-Covid world? Working from home and utilising technology appears to be the way forward in terms of recording and practising.
The band added: “Like a lot of people, we’re working more remotely and learning to embrace the digital tools available to us, so we’ve found new ways to collaborate.
“To be honest, this has been one of the upsides of Coronavirus and maybe an approach we should have adopted sooner.
“This doesn’t replicate what we lose from making a noise in a studio together, but it does help to avoid being completely halted. Several new songs are in the works that hopefully won’t take us another four years to record and release.
“We’re desperate, like so many others to play live again. We were building up to that after a long break, so to have that extended has been really disappointing. It’ll be back to normal next year though, right?”
Drawing this introduction interview to a close, The Battles of Winter have been releasing music since 2014 and have been on their live circuit for a number of years. For anyone who is willing to pick up an instrument, Alistar and the band have some advice for those looking to kick-start their careers.
‘To thine own self be true’
“I would always encourage any band to make music that comes naturally and not try too hard to sound a particular way or like another band regardless of how important they are to you,” said Alistair. “Maybe we subconsciously force our sound in certain directions, but I always feel the songs progress freely and develop without ulterior motives.
“This might be out of step with the way that the music industry is so driven by social media – but hold something back. Find that balance between engaging with fans, without giving away everything. I hope mystery and intrigue are still valued. Also, give it everything you can for as long as you can.”
An introduction to… is a new interview series which puts the undiscovered centre stage. If you would like to be featured email getintouch [at] indiecentralmusic.com with ‘An introduction to’ and the name of your band in the subject headline to be considered for a feature.
