A couple years ago now we covered Precious by Depeche Mode on battery powered instruments, shot a video and posted it on YouTube. Since then it’s been, by far, our most popular video, climbing to over 3000 hits (I know, I know, not Beiber numbers but what can you do). It’s also been re-posted and discussed in a couple Depeche Mode fan forums.

So we thought we’d follow it up.

We decided to cover Joy Division‘s haunting tune Love Will Tear Us Apart. We found a cool location (climbed into an archway under a bridge by Mount Pleasant), set up our un-plugged instruments (yes, Steve is supplying the air for the Hohner Melodica keyboard) and went to work. We did it in one take – mainly because Kent couldn’t feel his hands by mid song – got some shots of the surroundings and headed home to warm up.

We sincerely hope you like it!

Last night we had the honour of playing Toronto’s North by Northeast music festival as part of the Random Science showcase. We had the opportunity to share the stage with some of Toronto, Montreal and New York’s best artists including: The Clear, Hexes and Ohs, NLX, Airheart and Purrr.

We met a heap of great people, sold some Hold Back Light Show albums and got some great press (more on that still to come).  Thanks to everyone who came out, lent us your energy and made the night a huge success!

We sat down with Graeme of OntheGOinTo, an excellent Toronto entertainment blog, to talk about everything from writing to releasing new songs to the state of the music biz.

Click this link to see Winhara’s chat with excellent entertainment blog, OntheGOinTO.

Free Download:

Come On Over – Download

Or visit: winhara.com

Behind the Scenes Video:

Lyrics:

Along with writing and recording “the beta collection” we’re also drawing up blueprints for a new live show – literally. Dan has already produced at least six different stage plots for us to discuss / try out. We’ve also been discussing lighting setups and other great visual ideas to add to our show. We’ve been away from the live stage for a while now and I can tell the three of us are overly eager to get back at it – but before we do we want to ensure that we are bring out 100% possible best to the stage. And we’re drawing on our long list of past concert experiences for guidance.
After attending the recent Muse concert (which was amazing) Dan and I started a discussion about our favourite concerts of all time – and what made them so. In the end we both were of the understanding that all the smoke and lights and visuals were nice, but it was the showmanship and songs that held our attention long after the concert was over. He spoke vividly of a Pearl Jam concert in a tiny hockey rink in small town Ontario where the band played past curfew and Eddie Vedder “threw his heart on the stage and stomped on it – like here you go, this is rock and roll.” And the Coldplay performance during their Rush of Blood to the Head tour when Chris Martin held so many thousands captive with his every word and movement.
I recalled Silverchair’s Diorama tour, still my favourite concert to date, in which everything, sounds, lights, performers, worked as one to create and amazing sonic and visual spectacle. And of a young upstart band called Say Anything I witnessed play a total of FOUR songs and fell in love. They weren’t even listed on the bill and had just released their debut “say anything…is a real boy”(which if you don’t own it run out and buy it NOW NOW NOW) but were the best band of the night. They had no flashy stage set up or props, but commanded attention, even when falling on patch chords, and had more than enough energy to light the city of Montreal for weeks after that night.
It was the interaction between the crowd and the band on those nights that made them what they were – not the pyrotechnic effects. Sure we’re working on lights and other on stage set ups, but mostly we’re working on our show to ensure that we can create that amazing connection between everyone, every time we hit the stage, with great energy and great music.

Tom Thomson's famous painting The Jack Pine. Oil on canvas. 1916.

It’s the stuff of Canadian legend.  Artist and avid outdoorsman, Tom Thomson, paddles out into Canoe Lake just as he has done countless times before.  This time he disappears.  After days of searching, his body – bloated and bruised – surfaces.  It doesn’t make any sense.

More on the extraordinary story after these extras we’ve put together for you.

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Official Version:

Download the full studio version of Tom Thomson at www.winhara.com.

Additional Blog:

After researching the painter’s mysterious death I had to see the locations for myself.  Click here to read about my solo trip on Canoe Lake along with pictures of Tom Thomson’s Algonquin park (including the cairn and totem pole that are now standing at his favourite camping spot).

Behind the scenes video:

Acoustic version:

Lyrics:

While the official coroner’s report claims that Thomson’s death was accidental there are many conspiracy theories – and for good reason.  Tom was a strong swimmer and experienced outdoorsman, he even had a license to guide in Algonquin.  It seems quite unlikely that he just fell out of his canoe and drowned on a clear day.  In addition he had a bruise on his temple and there was a piece of fishing line wrapped around his ankle no less than seventeen times!  There also wasn’t any water in his lungs, an indication that he died before he drowned.  These facts, and many others, have raised questions surrounding his death.

Tom was just entering his prime as a painter and was starting to get recognition for his work.  He grew up in Owen Sound but had moved to Toronto to pursue his career.  He spent his summers in Algonquin park doing small oil sketches that he would transfer into larger works at his studio in the section of Toronto now known as Rosedale.

The best site I found for research is Death On A Painted Lake if you’d like to do some of your own digging.  For a more entertaining read you can check out ‘Canoe Lake‘ by Roy MacGregor.

Go to winhara.com

Winhara in mid Hugh-hazing about to hit up Toronto's Resevoir Lounge

Last weekend we took our best friend and bass player of over 5 years out for his exit hazing.

Hugh dropped the bomb on us as soon as we had all regrouped from New Years. He told us that while he loved making music, for many reasons (all of which make complete sense), he is moving on. I can’t say we weren’t shocked. The four of us sat around our kitchen table in complete silence until Steve said “I feel like you guys are listening to me chew.”

It is one of many massive changes that has happened in the last month, and while we’re sad to have Hugh leave, we are extremely excited for what is coming up.

So what is coming up?

• A new website is live right now.  Go to winhara.com to check it out.
• A new album that we’re going to give to you while we write it!  (More on that later, make sure you sign up for our mailing list at the bottom of this post to get updates).
• We’re putting the finishing touches on the first song, Tom Thomson, which will be available for download next week.  (Again see winhara.com).

Needless to say, Kent, Prevost and I are going to continue fighting the good fight.  We won’t be getting a new bass player – the dynamic wouldn’t be right and we don’t have money to hire someone.  So how are we going to play live?  We’ve done it once already and let’s just say we get pretty creative with samplers and trading instruments!

We’re about to head up to Kent’s cabin, nestled into the woods beside the Muskoka River, for a focused four day writing session.  One thing’s for sure… moving forward won’t be the same, but we absolutely wish Hugh all the best with his future endeavors.

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A fight happened right next to me on the subway.  Two girls.  I didn’t even know they were serious until the profanities escalated into one of them used the C-word.  Then I knew it was for real.

An observation: guys can do nothing in this situation without looking like an idiot or getting punched in the face.  For this reason I used all my concentration to attain invisibility.  Even when one of the girls hit me with the back-swing of her purse (yes she was actually swinging it at the other one) I didn’t turn around, didn’t even acknowledge that it happened.

Also, trying not to laugh out loud when this is happening takes a lot of effort.

I am spending some time this afternoon watching the snow fall while eating pea soup and listening to The Album Leaf.  This band – which was suggested to me by a contact at our Facebook page – is quite good, using electronica beats that remind me of Four Tet, but with the melodic ambiance of something like Zero 7 or The Cinematic Orchestra.  (The album I’m listening to is their newest – Into The Blue Again.)

But I’m not really thinking about the album.  I’m thinking more about the snow and the pea soup.  I’m also thinking about the money that’s floating around out there and how to get my hands on some of it; I’m thinking of a terrifying dream I had the other night that to get out of my head I’m putting into a song; I’m thinking about what things mean, but actually mean.  Above all I’m thinking about what I’m thinking about and I think it’s because I’m two thirds of the way through Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.  It swirls up a certain self-reflexivity in me which is why I’m writing about thinking about what I’m thinking.  This is about to go in circles so I’ll stop before my thoughts crystallize and I lose my sanity.  Instead I will do dishes.  Read the book though, it’s really good.