WinterKids Chrismukkah Message

Merry Christmas and happy Chunukkah!

Ok, some of you don't mind reading massive chunks of writing. Others probably can't stand it.

I'm about to write alot, so as its Chrismukkah, throughout this blog are some 'Chrismukkah presents', ie - I have uploaded some music that (apart from the last track) before this day has never been played or heard in public. Each song will have a story behind it.

2008

2008 has been a year of development for WinterKids. For much of the year we have locked ourselves away in ‘Little House’ (the name of our rehearsal space in Peaslake) writing music.

There has been the occasional trip to Germany and Switzerland where we have played some exciting shows to amazing fans and shared some interesting experiences - one that springs to mind is climbing to the top of a Swiss mountain in a cable car just after playing a gig…we befriended a goat who happened to live at the peak of the mountain...

...but for the most part we have been creating, writing, recording, listening back, scrapping, re-writing, experimenting and re-recording music.

We have developed as musicians and developed as people.

Earlier this year we revealed that the release of a new EP would be on the horizon. Due to changes behind the scenes on the management front, the EP (for now) will not be released....HOWEVER, the management issues have been resolved and 2009 will be a big year...

Here is the first piece of music. This is a track that was written earlier this year and was going to feature on the unreleased EP. It is called 'Forget About The Future'. Hope you like...



2009

The TV Show

With the news of new management, has come a unique and fun opportunity for the band - we are currently working with the TV producer who was behind Live & Kicking (our favourite programme as children), developing a new TV show. The show has a similar format to TFI Friday, Big Breakfast and Later with Jools Holland.

It will be shot in our rehearsal studio 'Little House' and there will be a live studio audience every week with celebrity guests, art and fashion slots as well as some hilarious sketches by our comedian friend Jay Foreman.

We actually live in Little House and of course will write all the music for the show as well as being the 'house band'....similar to that of '4 Poofs and the Piano'....but in a slightly straighter way!

As soon as this is aired, we will let you know. Meanwhile, if you'd like to be a member of the studio audience, please email us here - info@winterkidsmusic.com or send us a message.


Ok, time for another piece of music. This was written by Hannah and was originally going to be put on our first album 'Memoirs'. We didn't have time to master it in the end, so this is an un mastered, un mixed version. It is called 'Lavender Hill' -



The New Album

The new album has been written.

Now all we have to do is work out how to pay for it to be recorded....

We have been contacted by some top top producers who have all had top ten albums expressing a big interest in producing the new album, however, the one thing holding us back at the moment is lack of funds.

The first album was funded through our club night 'Indie-GOGO', however, due to time constraints, this club night no longer exists so the plan for album number two will have to be slightly different.

Do we approach labels? Do we approach investors? Or do we think of something else inventive to be able to fund the record ourselves?

This is something we'll be working out with our new management in the new year.

Meanwhile, with the new TV show as well as the hard work put into WinterKids to date, we are hopefully in a good position to pursue any of the above avenues!

Song number three is a track taken from our first album Memoirs, so some of you may have heard it, others won't of. The track was written about a meeting that never took place between an old girlfriend of mine. It is called 'Somebody Elses Clothes'.



Touring

Once we we plan out our year release wise, we shall be back on the road again.

Meanwhile, we will be showcasing songs from the new album in a number of low key gigs at the start of the year.

Here are the details for the first show of the year -

- The Lexington in London
- 22nd January, 8pm
- Nearest tube is Angel
- Tickets - To be placed on the cheap ticket list, please myspace message your name(s), or email us here - info@winterkidsmusic.com


Blog

Next year, we plan on changing the format of the blog so that it comes to you on a monthly basis. We tried weekly, but it is really tricky to keep ahead of the game. So there will be one regular monthly update as well as other random blogs of we fancy posting something.


Finally, a big thank you for listening to our music, going to our shows and reading our blogs.

We can't wait to share the new album with you and we wish you all the best for the new year!

Time to squeeze in some turkey sandwiches

James
x

Gig at the British Library

Hello!

We have a very last minute gig that we are playing on the 7th ..this Sunday)! It's a very unusual gig - we have been asked to play at the British Library to celebrate 60 years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the United Nations!  

There will be stalls, fun workshops, bands and other interesting and unique acts performing on stage - including The Zimmers!!. (The restaurant will also be offering a traditional Sunday Roast from 12:00, yummy!)

The event is free and all ages are welcome. It will be running from 1-5pm. We hope to see you there!

Click on the link below to see more info.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/whatson/events/december.html

 

TV OPPORTUNITY

 
Exciting news is WinterKids will be involved in a new TV programme next year.  The show will have a live audience, so we'll keep you posted on that, meanwhile, heres an opportunity for any budding TV hosts -
 
The producer is currently looking for a male and female host to front the show.  They must be between (or at least look between) the ages of 18-28.  If you are interested, or if you know any one who might be interested in applying, please email through your contact details / CV or whatever you'd like to send with a photo to  info@winterkidsmusic.com - we shall then forward these over to the producer.  The show will be filmed in Surrey, so ideally we are looking for someone based in the south.
 
Have a good day:)

Hannah x 
 

Toms Banjo

Hiya Folks

Tom received a phone call last week from BBC Radio Berkshire.

The DJs were looking for a banjo player for a segment in their show. Tom gives banjo lessons, so they obviously found Toms contact details in an advert somewhere and gave him a call to see if he would participate in the show.

Tom was more than happy to...

We thought the conversation was quite funny, so we created this video type thing -





Hope you like!

Meanwhile, for those of you who live in London, we shall be playing at the Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen this Sunday 23rd November.

We'll be on stage from 9pm.

If you'd like to be on the cheap ticket list (£4 instead of £7), please write a message to us with your full name and the names of your friends.

Here is the flyer for the show -

Hope to see you on Sunday

Regards

WinterKids

x

New Songs

We have added 'Another Break' and 'Knock Down All The Houses' to our myspace player. Hope you like..


Meanwhile, more gigs added and other shows in Europe to follow soon


Have a good weekend

WinterKids
x

Gigs!

Hi folks,

Just a quick one this week to let you know that from now until the end of the year, we will be playing a few low key shows.

Our set will consist of a mixture between old and new songs.

Check the gig listing and hopefully see you at one or two of the shows.

Its snowing in Peaslake so we're going out to make a snowman.

WinterKids x

B**G

Bonjour, je m'appelle Connie.

I became friends with WinterKids after meeting James at their Indie Go Go club night in Guildford a couple of years ago. My services to the band include joining them on their legendary tours to Germany, where in the evenings I am found perched on the merch stand, selling t shirts and vinyl to the fans over there.

This week I am going to guest blog, providing you with coverage on the exciting events of Hannah's birthday suprise.

On October 20th Hannah will be 21, so James orgainsed a night out last Thursday with all of her friends to celebrate.

The band drove up to London in Big Blue, keeping secrets about what she would be doing that evening and that all of her friends would soon be gathered in East London to suprise her. After meeting in the Salmon & Ball pub, we walked down to the Working Men's Club, a cosy retro place in Bethnal Green. Hannah's a fan of Dita Von Teese, so James booked us three tables at the Whisky & Ginger Burlesque Show.


We arrived, got stamped and got drinks, then settled ourselves round to wait for the show. Whisky & Ginger was the drink of the night, along with the champagne supplied by James.

The show had a hilairious host and over the next few hours we saw burlesque performances from secretaries, a school boy, fifties pin up girls, a doctor and his brother and a sparkly lupine creature. The show was full of feathers, glitter and bubbles with plenty of falling skirts and bra straps. The boys loved it, and as for the girls, well, we're now researching burlesque lessons.

Towards the end, Hannah was called up to the stage where she was seranaded by the host then presented with a birthday present from the club, a classic pair of red, sequined nipple tassles.

For afters, we stopped at the Brick Lane Beigel Bakery before heading up to a little pub in Whitechapel. A few drinks later, we all parted ways, and I joined the band on the satisfied, sleepy journey back inBig Blue to Little House.


The Flyer -


Hannah shocked at her suprise party -

Inside the club -

A more than lucky Chris, surrounded by Hannah and her friends -

Hannah being called on stage for everyone to sing happy birthday to -

Hannah is presented with her gift -

Hannah trying on her gift -

Lil Miss Chevious -

Legs Malone -

The climax of the evening, all dancers on stage at once -

New Video

First off, here is the link to all of our new photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/winterkids/


A month or so ago one of our friends shot a music video for us.

We wanted to give the video a DIY feel so we managed to cut costs down to just £300. We shot the video in the Peaslake Village Hall and covered the place in brown paper ; all of the coloured boxes you see in the video were hand painted using our marvolous artistic skills.

The video was based around the artwork for the Another Break single -

To see the video in full quality, please go here -

http://web.mac.com/blakeclaridge/site/winterkidsanotherbreakpromo.html

Otherwise, you can check the video out on youtube here -

Hope you enjoy.

Kids

x