Hugh and I had rented a three bedroom town house in Kingston while he was finishing his last year of university. Steve was also finishing up school in Kingston but had already signed a lease just down the street with some friends. Dan was teaching at a private school just outside of Kingston and I was working at a bakery knowing that band was eventually going to become our number one focus. We wanted to rent a three bedroom house because we wanted room to setup all the band equipment. The third bedroom ended up being an office for Hugh to do his school work, our dining room became our living room and our living room became our band room, coincidentally the largest open area in the house.

So many nights during that year in Kingston Hugh would be studying hard as I sat in the stairwell or the kitchen playing my acoustic guitar trying to come up with some idea, some riff, that would evoke a comment from the office upstairs. I can’t remember the actual moment in which Hugh probably said something fairly simple such as “That last thing you were playing was pretty cool” but it only ever took that for me to show it to the other guys the next time they were over. It was most likely a Sunday because that’s when Dan would usually make the hour drive to Kingston so we could have band practice and I remember thinking that I was going to show him these verse, pre-chorus and chorus parts I had been working on. I remember feeling confident he wasn’t going to like them but I was feeling obligated to show him because they felt so good to me. Being the super self conscious guitar player I am I had prepared myself for this reaction and was completely o.k. with sweeping these idea’s into the trash. Much to my surprise Dan seemed to really like them so we decided to work on them at the next practice.

Our living room window faced west and at sunset the room would always have an inspiring glow to it but on this particular day it was nothing short of spectacular. As we plugged in our equipment and got settled into our little personal bubbles the room felt normal as usual. We started to throw around ideas for the song and it just started falling into place. A bridge was easily formed and Dan dropped the eventual melody he sings to this day in without any hesitation. As the different parts formed into a song, the room was turning from its usual stale white into a burning fusion of red and orange and it was a songwriting moment I will never forget. The sun was beaming in on all of us with these incredible colours and the room was screaming with a beautiful mesh of bass, drums, piano and guitar. And then it happened. As we swooped emotionally into the chorus the mumbled melody idea Dan was using easily transitioned into wise words to live by,

“Take it slow…and steady…”

[Listen to Slow and Steady]

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A few years ago I found myself at a point in my life when I was “between homes”. I spent a few months sleeping on a pullout couch in the sewing room of my parents newly built home that was not designed with me in mind. Thus I slept in the sewing room (which was only a few feet larger than the pullout itself). The sewing room had no windows, which made for a good sleep but also caused the occasional state of panic. One morning I woke up staring up into complete blackness with a bass line that had transferred over from a dream I was having about god knows what, stuck in my brain. It was stuck in my brain with “Yo Mickey, you’re so fine you blow my mind” levels of catchy-ness that I can only compare to something as random as the soundtrack to Super Mario Bros. 3. I got out of bed and went and grabbed my Dads acoustic bass off the wall in my parent’s bedroom and sat down and figured out how to play the bass line I was hearing.

At our next band practice I showed Hugh the bass line and the four of us started laying out the song together. Over the next few practices we ran into a few problems. Problem #1: We were having a key change debate. I think we came to the conclusion that key changes were neither cool nor un-cool and it was more about who was using them and how they were used. I think? Problem #2: The bass line was really cool and the song layout was coming together nicely but the song on a whole felt more like something you would hear in an elevator and less like something on a Winhara album. I think I was the main culprit because I couldn’t find a guitar part that fit the bass line Hugh was playing. I had just purchased a new effects pedal that I didn’t know how to use and one of its synthesizer settings in particular was a noise I thought sounded absolutely horrible. Because this pedal was new I really wanted to try applying it to something. I think initially I used the synthesizer setting as a joke but realized immediately that it sounded really cool with this song. Usually in these situations I look at the guys with a grin to see what the reaction is because they will never mince words when it comes to bad ideas. On this day I think we all concluded that the synth driven guitar sound was exactly what the song needed to take it away from the elevator feeling we were having. I wanted to keep the part simple so I embraced the bass line and played the octave on the guitar. The song started heading a direction we’d never gone before and Dan really embraced the moment and gave birth to possibly one of his most creative vocal melodies to date.

The song has grown slightly since the first few practices with it, but what developed over the first few practices is essentially what it is today: Hugh and I try and lock it down with the rhythm as Steve pushes it through like a tidal wave. And Dan, well he makes sure that the rest of you are all right there with us.

“We collide, our body language clear and high and full. Please believe me when I say we move like animals.”

[Listen to Please Belive Me:]

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Personally? Well I think I sound a little pitchy and I sometimes struggle with my “R’s”. This band on the other hand, well we sound like Winhara…I hope. On the rare occasion that Mic Jagger runs into someone who has not heard the Rolling Stones before I always wonder what his answer to that question would be.

“Well we sound like The Beatles but we’ve done more drugs and are less worried about peace and more concerned about sex, but hey tomaytoe tomattoe right?”

or

“We sound like the F$%#ing Stones man!”

It’s raining this morning and I’ve been sitting around thinking about what kind of music I like. I’ve been thinking about what I enjoy in a song and how I interpret new music. The hardest part for me is removing my idea of the artist before I judge the song. Why is it I can’t listen to a song for its musicality and production?

What do we sound like?

We sound like the cover of our album. We sound like the promotional pictures on our website. We sound like our small club live show. We could sound like our big stadium live show. We could sound like our radio or TV interview. Hell we could even sound like our leaked celebrity sex tape.

What do you hear?

Winhara…I hope.

-k

THE YEAR THAT WAS

Hey everyone I’d just like to start with a blanket apology for everything from not playing enough shows this past year to not keeping everyone updated enough throughout some major developments with the band. The beginning of 2007 started off with the completion of our album “We Are Not Normal.” This album couldn’t have happened with out the help of many people. It turns out doing an album on your own never seems to work out that way. Also as we completed the album we joined the Kharma Management team which has been the greatest boost to both our commitment and focus to this band. To have the full support of people in the industry who believe in us is a healthy dose of confidence.

After becoming good friends with Kharma family member and well known Toronto producer Byron Wong during the “We Are Not Normal” album (thanks for letting us borrow so much stuff!) we all decided our next project should be together. As the Winter was ending we started working out some songs for our next project at home in Bracebridge. Thankfully I had found a few months of free rent in Bracebridge from my amazing Aunt and Uncle. I was house/guitar-sitting for them as they went away to do some traveling. We used this opportunity to set up our equipment and do some writing and practicing to prep.

In the Spring as we started working on the songs with Byron a few of us had been hit with some family health bombshells. Lets just say we all grew up a little bit in 2007 and even though these issues are ongoing we’ve learned to really appreciate where we’re all at in our lives and as a band. It was amazing going through the writing process with Byron and learning so many things about song structure and creativity and learning to balance it all.

As we rolled through the summer in Muskoka with the exception of our weekend travels to Toronto we lived for Muskoka Dry Gingerale, Boating/Wakeboarding, bonfires and lakefront band meetings on the dock. We really tried to take it in this year because I think we all feel that it may be the last regular summer we’ll have for at least a few years. We also decided that it was time to make two major changes. It was time to move on in more ways than one. We decided that come summers end we would move to Toronto together and we would change our name. For some reason we thought that moving to Toronto was going to be the easy part. Such was not the case!

We found a loft in Toronto in an old factory that is now filled with rehearsal spaces for local and touring bands. We lucked out and got our hands on this loft which is actually a live-in rehearsal studio with four bedrooms. The price was right and after a weekend of painting and cleaning in September we’ve all grown to love this place.

The band name was a difficult task. We were four or five months coming to agree on something and we decided on Winhara. This is a really personal name that relates to us all. We grew up and together as a band on Winhara Rd. The Hara is also known to some as “the vital center of man” and it is the belief of not distinguishing between body and soul but finding that balance that brings them together to help find harmony and fulfillment. It’s that balance we’re trying to find as a band and as men. The ability for us to win hara is directly linked to our ability to take this band as far as we feel we can and hopefully you’ll all join us along the way.

I hope to see you much more in 2008

Kent