Although quite a newly formed band, Winter Springs have a solid foundation from previous individual music ventures and building a firm following through live shows, festival slots and an online presence.
We caught up with the energetic six piece in the green room after their fantastic Sunday morning set at Barn On The Farm.
Hey guys, how are we?
Natalie: Good, very good.
Being quite a new band, it must be quite scary coming to festivals where people might know nothing about you guys, how do you feel about that?
Natalie: I think we were a bit worried that we might not be playing to anyone. It was quite an early slot and everyone is hung-over but it was amazing when we went out on stage and there were so many people there.
Charlotte: Equally we know that we are a new band and we’ve got to play as many festivals as we can and have as many people hear us as we can.
Johnny: I think as a group we have collectively took it step by step, we are not just jumping the gun and trying to do too much, we are just taking it step by step and things are going well and we are building a foundation really well.
Ollie: I like being underestimated.
You said on Facebook recently that you were spending time at schools and holding workshops, what did they involve and how did they go?
Edmund: We basically were teaching young children how to write songs. So effectively they helped us to write songs in their lessons and they were all absolutely amazing.
Natalie: We wrote three killer pop songs with these little kids like!
Charlotte: At the start of the session we asked who had written a song before and only one kid put his hand up. At the end of the session we asked who would now go home and write a song and like half the class put their hands up. So that is what we wanted.
Having released solo material before, especially for Natalie, how does it feel to have the band with you now?
Natalie: It is such a nice change, I love playing on my own still, but playing with a band is such a different experience. It’s really nice to have both things at the same time. I wouldn’t give either of them away.
Is there any plans for an EP in the near future?
Natalie: We’ve got it all recorded, we’ve just had problems getting the stems back from producers and stuff like that.
Edmund: Probably September/October time we are looking to release something with some more tracks on it but we have a two track single at the moment, a demo. We want to get it perfected before we put anything out there, cause we are so excited with the new songs that we just want to make sure its right and not rush it.
Who else are you excited to see at Barn On The Farm this year or have seen yesterday?
Johnny: George Barnett.
Natalie: I’ve seen him before and these guys were like blown away by him.
Johnny: That is just my thing right there! I am normally a rockier heavier kind of guy but that guy was just amazing, really impressed by him. I just couldn’t stop staring at him, his voice was phenomenal.
Ollie: I am going to go for the obvious one in Hozier. Really good to see him, he was actually amazing. I had only heard one tune from him but all of his stuff was really good.
Charlotte: Saint Raymond last night just blew me away. Absolutely incredible! I had never seen him play before and I literally came in and was like wow this guy is good!
Natalie: I feel like I am implanting all my little singer songwriter knowledge to you all!
Johnny: I think Joel Baker as well. He really got the crowd going.
Edmund: Yeah Joel Baker.
Natalie: He is a good friend of ours too.
Ollie: Everyone fancies him! That’s just how it goes. All of Winter Springs fancy him!
What are the plans for the rest of the summer? Is there any more festivals or gigs?
Charlotte: We’ve been touring for three weeks now so we kind of need a little bit of a rest.
Natalie: Because we’re all form different parts of the country when we do gigs we have got to try and organise them in bulk so that we are all together.
Johnny: I’m trying to get us some gigs in Glasgow, and then hopefully Edinburgh and effectively get a Scotland tour going. Then we will return to the midlands. That is our plan of action.
Ollie: We’ve still got two more on this one. We are playing in Cardiff in the Millennium Centre and then we are doing the Bird Cage in Bristol and that will be a nice little closer.
Natalie: It has been a nice mix of headline shows and trying to bring our own audience and then playing festivals.
Ollie: I really like as well that we have rocked up to a couple of open mic nights.
Natalie: Yeah we have done quite a few of them. It is funny to see the look on the soundman’s face when we all turn up.
Ollie: We rocked up to an old people’s home too.
Johnny: Yeah that was cool.
A different type of audience!
Edmund: Yeah we just went in and played an acoustic set. They loved it as well. It was a different audience though with a guy falling asleep snoring and all!
Johnny: I think we work really well working with the community, eventually that might be something we would want to do, teach. So we enjoyed that experience as well.
Ollie: Just gig. If anyone will give us a gig anywhere and we will play it.
Johnny: Once we’re all together it is three weeks of working constantly. If we’re not playing we’re writing, if we’re not writing we’re rehearsing. If not we may have a few drinks in-between but that is pretty compulsory.
Thanks very much for the interview. Enjoy your weekend.
Johnny: No, thank you!