Monday

Winter Gloves Interview

Interview conducted by Jeff Tomczek

Winter Gloves is a seemingly unclassifiable group from Montreal that mixes pop, indie and electronic experimentation to create their unique sound. Front man Charlie F. is an accomplished Jazz drummer that formed Winter Gloves while conducting a side project with keyboardist Vincent. Having won ‘Best New Artist’ 2008 on iTunes Canada, the group is gaining moment worldwide and excited for an upcoming release and tour. Charlie took time between sessions to speak with us and share the latest.

Winter Gloves

MVRemix: Where are you speaking from today?

Charlie F: Currently at home. We have a project coming on to release in September. It’s ‘About a Girl’, but alternate version; going to a meeting for that soon.

MVRemix: For those not familiar with Winter Gloves, can you explain how you went from a one-man show to a group effort?

Charlie F: Yeah sure, the project started about two years ago. I used to be a jazz drummer, so I was in small town, moved from England to Montreal and met Vincent, who I needed for my first EP that I did by myself at home. He helped me out by mixing it and putting it on MySpace, etc. I was talking with him and said, it’d be nice to start a band and just play. It was just an idea at the beginning and we weren’t thinking about doing much with that. Then it was so much fun to play and we found Patrick the drummer at the studio I used to work at in Montreal and then we met John after the first release tour in Canada. So yeah, it’s kind of strange because most bands play a lot together before going on tour, but this was sort of the opposite where it was so quick and so fast and we learned to play together on tour. It’s really funny and I’m really glad that we’ve haven’t killed each other. This is going to be our third or fourth tour in September and everyone still gets along.

MVRemix: Will you have US dates in September?

Charlie F: Yeah, definitely. We did mostly a West Coast tour last time, so we are hoping to play more on the East Coast this time.

MVRemix: You’ve had a lot of success doing festivals and playing with incredible acts at them. How do you feel about the festival circuit and playing with so many great bands?

Charlie F: I’m really glad we’ve done festivals. Everyone is just out to have a good time and sometimes when you play for friends and family they have to like it, but festivals are a place where people come just to have fun. We’re going to play the Oceaga with the Beastie Boys and Coldplay soon, which is really exciting for us because we’ve been listening to them for a long time. There’s a band called Thunder Height from Canada that is playing some different music, a little indie a little electronic pop, but I’m excited to play with them again. They have a different drive and audience than us and those shows have a lot of energy. It’s a good match and we hope to do more gigs with them.

MVRemix: In terms of your sound, are you able to classify your sound?

Charlie F: My fear is to call it one name and then go into the studio and have people say “This isn’t Winter Gloves” if I use a different keyboard or an organ sound I like to use. I’m trying not to do that so my mind is clear when I write my music. Usually after I do a song I decide if it should be a Winter Gloves song or just mine as an artist. Most of our songs are made with Vincent on keyboards using his left hand for the melody and his right for the bass line. It’s something I really like about our song. On our second album there will be more tempo and more electronic stuff.

MVRemix: What is it about making music and playing for audiences that you hope connects with your listeners?

Charlie F: Well, as I said, I started as a jazz drummer and had a really different relationship with the audience because I wasn’t a songwriter at the moment, I was just improvising on covers and mostly showing off and doing complicated music. When I started writing on guitar it was really different. I was really into British music like Radiohead and darker music. I remember I played a show and people were interested, but people didn’t seem to have fun. When I started to write Winter Gloves music it at first was silly to me; really simple grooves and melodies, but when I did the first few shows the people were having a blast and jumping everywhere. The energy was way easier to connect with people. Now, the shows have affected my writing. I do write music to have a good record, but I keep in mind the live experience.

MVRemix: How has social networking helped you communicate with your audience and expand your fanbase?

Charlie F: We’re just figuring out some of the Twitter stuff, but it’s really important for us to stay connected with people. I try to use MySpace to ask random questions and get feedback about the shows and music as well as whatever you feel like talking about. Everybody in the band has a part of the internet effort and we answer everything ourselves.

MVRemix: In the film Almost Famous there is a scene where the band Stillwater is in a plane and about to crash. Everyone in the group decides to confess something that has been bottled up inside of them. If that moment happened with your group and you had one moment to shout something out, what would you confess to the guys in Winter Gloves?

Charlie F: (laughing) I would probably confess to the other guys that I always feel like I need to be in control of their lives. Not just musically, but also in their personal lives and I’m a little bit of a freak like that. I would apologize for always being on their backs and telling them what to do.

MVRemix: Anything you want to share with your fans and our audience before we finish:

Charlie F: Well, we’re working on the alternate version of ‘About a Girl’ that will release around September in the US and Canada. It will be all the same songs, but we’re going to have remixes, alternate versions and live versions of each song we chose and we’re pretty excited.

MVRemix: We look forward to hearing it. Thanks for taking the time out to talk with us.

Charlie F: Thank you

Winter Gloves Interview