An Interview With Winchester 7 & The Runners
Winchester 7 & The Runners just dropped a full length album that ventures into a multitude of indie-rock fusing fuzztones with classic rock undertones and sprinkling pop over just about everything.
The Argos Holiday album is a massive and colorful record that feels great to listen to as it takes you through vibrant and fun pop rock with a certain swagger and character.
Loaded with musical and vocal hooks, the album does an excellent job of bringing sounds together to create something that's sonically all it's own.
It's almost like The Strokes meets Weezer meets Ween and most songs are even quite danceable.
The whiole record is a damn good time and really sticks with you as guitars have a terrific grit and dirtiness to them and that garage rock feel becomes anthemic.
This is a big album and the songs for the most part sound like a drive down an open road on a summer day.
There is a lot to the record that's a bit more than meets the eye and all kinds of influences peak out here and there giving the record a more rounded style.
With such a killer release, we wanted to have a chat with Winchester 7 & The Runners to find out more, so that's exactly what we did.
Here's what happened.
TSWS: Okay let's start with the Argos Holiday album. This record has some awesome energy
and a sound that crosses garage rock with classic rock and more in between. Where did
this record come from?
WINCHESTER 7: Thank you very much. It’s always great to hear when that comes
through. We had a lot of fun making it and set out from the start to do something different. Our
debut EP, Beyond the Dome, represented what we felt were our very best songs at the
time. Then, for our sophomore effort, The Forgotten World, we readied the best of the
rest and some of our newer work, resulting in sort of a transitional record.
So, by the time that we were recording Argos Holiday, we were really working from a
blank slate and purposefully set about creating something with a proper beginning, end,
and hopefully enough interesting bits in the middle to allow it to be enjoyed as a
complete work.
TSWS: How did this all start for you guys?
Jack: Phil and I were pulling a runner and Win, here, came after us.
Phil: We would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for…
Winchester 7: Look, I’m faster than you might think!
Jack: Or we’re a good bit slower, anyway.
Winchester 7: So, once we’d come face-to-face, they began playing and…I joined in.
Phil: We were better off together than apart, facing what ultimately awaited us back in
the dome.
TSWS: So I'm hearing some various styles in this album. What bands really influenced you?
Winchester 7: The Beatles, the Pixies, the Clash, the Ramones, the White Stripes…
Jack: The Rolling Stones, the Record Company, the Strokes, the Black Keys…
Phil: Not the “the” game again….
Winchester 7: The The…
Phil: Okay, I’ll go with influential bassists then: Paul McCartney, Peter Hook, John Paul
Jones, Bootsy Collins, and Flea.
TSWS: Did you guys play shows a bit before? Will you be focusing on live performance again
when the time comes?
Winchester 7: Yeah, we do some gigs now and again; but, we also really enjoy
creating new content and have more recently established a production rhythm of writing,
recording, and filming.
Jack: Rinse…
Phil: Repeat…one more take!
Winchester 7: Post-pandemic though, I’m sure, we’d love to get out there and play
Argos Holiday for a live audience as we haven’t yet had the opportunity. I expect that
we’ll have some new ones ready by then too, so it’d be great to showcase them as well.
Jack: I’d be pleased as punch to see that many unmasked people in one place again
and not fear the bleeding apocalypse.
TSWS: What's next for you as a band? Anything new in the works even now?
Phil: Our appearance on Francis West’s Firesides is in post-production.
Jack: We’re also in post for our first music video release of the year for our new song,
Ever Said.
Winchester 7: Well, Frank and the crew over there were good enough to let us shoot it
on set. So, that helped quite a bit. But, yeah, Ever Said was written over the holidays
and recorded just after the turn of the year to officially kick-off the start of our work on the
next album.
TSWS: What are you doing when you're NOT working on music?
Phil: Saturday’s are group movie night.
Jack: Tenet is week this.
Winchester 7: I like to travel and take some pride in my backyard barbequing.
Phil: He’s a wonder with a smoker.
Jack: This week is Tenet.
TSWS: What sort of things inspire you to write?
Winchester 7: It typically begins with the music. I’ll start to work on something and then
bring it to the group. We flesh it out together and the lyrics come after.
Jack: They’re usually inspired from a concept or phrase that comes to mind.
Phil: And sometimes we build songs around a bassline too.
Jack: Sometimes, la. That new one coming along, is it?
Phil: Yeah…
Do you guys get together to rehearse?
Phil: Virtually these days.
Jack: The mute’s a bit tricky, on occasion, but we do our best to keep fit.
TSWS: You have been dropping songs on Spotify since 2019. What kind of advice would you
have for other up and coming bands out there?
Winchester 7: Well, certainly plenty of rehearsal. But, I also suggest learning about the
business itself, it’s history, and some of the hard learned lessons that artists who have
come before you experienced to help save unnecessary missteps.
If you’re going to spend the time to create, then take the time to incorporate, join a
performance rights organization, sort out your publishing shares; and copyright.
Jack: And don’t forget to have fun while you’re at it. There’s that.
TSWS: Before we go, what would you like to say to fans of the music?
Winchester 7: Thank you for all of your support.
Phil: The best may be yet to come, but thanks for appreciating what we’ve done.
Winchester 7: And please consider subscribing to our YouTube channel where we pre-
release all of our tracks with our own brand of homemade music videos.
Jack: Thank you for listening…and watching. Cheers!
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