A year can make all the difference in the life of a band.
Take Edinburgh’s next big thing, The Winter Tradition. This time last year saw the Edinburgh alt-rock four-piece piecing together the finishing touches on their first full album in “Gradients”, and getting ready to release the finished article to the world.
“We had a few little butterflies in the basket but I think we all felt ready to release it” bassist and Lead Singer Ewan Simpson told us. “It had been a long time in the making so we just really wanted everyone to hear it.”
Spending months, sometimes years, writing new material; stuck in recording studios for hours on end trying to perfect every element of every track is a tiring proposition for anybody. Then there is that sudden realisation – ‘how will people view our work?’
It can be a scary proposition.
Fast forward twelve months and The Winter Tradition have enjoyed a great amount of success. A UK wide tour, numerous festival appearances and an album which has received so much acclaim and praise that singles Firelight, Tides & Telegrams and recent single Black Tiger have scarcely been removed from the airwaves. The album has been championed by blogs and critics alike, with the band being championed by the likes of Vic Galloway and Jim Gellatly – the latter including the bands singles on his weekly released podcast. This period has seen The Winter Tradition transforming themselves into one of Scotland’s hottest bands.
Tomorrow evening (Friday 23rd August) sees the band play their biggest show to date with a headline appearance at Edinburgh’s Liquid Rooms as part of the annual Edinburgh Fringe. We caught up with bass guitarist and lead singer Ewan Simpson, to reflect on the bands journey so far and how the band are feeling prior to their home coming show.
TBS: Hi Ewan, how on earth are you today?
ES: I’m very well thank you very much!
TBS: Yourself, Mark and Stephen have been playing music together for over a decade, with drummer Callum joining at a later date. That’s a mighty long time to be playing music together! Did you ever expect to still be with the same guys when you started out at 13/14 years old at high school?
ES: I guess we did. As you said we started the band very young so we probably didn’t think about the future too much then but I think we all realised pretty quickly how much we enjoyed being in a band and that we wanted to try and make a career out of it.
TBS: “Gradients” was written, recorded, mastered and promoted solely by the band. When the album was finished was there any sense that you would have the amount of critical acclaim that you have enjoyed since its release?
ES: I think because we did the whole thing ourselves we really had no idea what peoples reaction was going to be, we just knew we liked what we were making. Needless to say it’s always very nice to hear people say they like Gradients no matter who they are.
TBS: The album is very much a record full of powerful instrumental movements and soaring vocal melodies. How difficult was it to take the songs on the album and transfer that energy and sound into a live set?
ES: Although we wrote much of the music in studio I think in the back of our minds we are always thinking about how it will work live, so transferring the songs to the stage wasn’t too tricky. We just had to add a few new instruments to the stage!
TBS: Is there a sense that you are more confident about your music now?
ES: Yes, without a doubt. Making a full length album allowed us to experiment with songs/sounds we would have never have tried out before. Touring around the UK on the back of Gradients and getting a great reaction all over definitely helps too.
TBS: Would you agree that Gradients has opened up a lot more doors for the band in terms of supporting established artists and festival appearances?
ES: We’ve certainly got a lot more fans and from all corners of the earth than we had before the album was released. I’m sure much of that has come from good press about the album.
TBS: You guys have recently returned from a UK wide tour. What was it like rocking up to a city that you have never played to before and playing a show without knowing what the reaction would be? Any highlights?
ES: Scary at first but it’s all part of the fun of touring, it’s a great feeling going to cities and towns you’ve never been to you in your life and when you turn up people are singing along to your songs. Kasabian came down to see us in Leicester which was pretty surreal, Tom ran up to us at the end of the set and was chatting to us for ages saying he wanted to get us on their next tour. Absolutely lovely chap!
TBS: The upcoming Liquid Rooms show is somewhat a homecoming show for you guys, and your biggest show to date. What’s the current mood in the band for the show?
ES: Good nervousness, we can’t wait to get on the stage really! We’ve got an amazing team around us which is going to help us put on a bigger show than ever before.
TBS: Now that you are stepping up a level in terms of filling venues, do you feel that expectations of the band as a live act have heightened as a result?
ES: Yes and rightly so! We are always looking to take our live show to the next step and these shows give us the chance to do that.
TBS: So, what’s next for The Winter Tradition?
ES: After The Liquid Room we’re heading up to Strathpeffer for “amaSing festival” (31st August – 1st September) which has a great line up so we’re really excited to play that. Then we’re taking a little break from touring to do some writing. We also have a really cool and top secret thing that is currently being worked on which will be released in the coming months!
TBS: Lastly, who would play Ewan Simpson in a Winter Tradition biopic?
ES: Bruce Willis, there’s nothing I like more when I’m not writing music than to shoot down a helicopter using a car.
THE BUZZ STOP 