Zulu Winter

Zulu Winter It is refreshing when a band comes around that has a unique, genuine sound. Zulu Winter’s bassist Iain Lock chats with Frankie Salt about how the band was born and where they want to be in ten years time. They’re here for the long haul, which is great news for all ears. Their distinctive Electronic, deep Indie sound creates an album that you can listen to from start to finish with pleasing ease. After being crowned ‘Hottest Record’ by Zane Lowe, amongst other amazing achievements, 2012 sets to be a big year for this big band.

Hello Iain how are you this morning? Where are you?

I am currently in my kitchen in the big smoke, in my pyjamas drinking a good cup of tea out of my Mr. Tickle mug; I bet that paints a lovely picture for you!

It does indeed mate; to be honest I’m pretty much doing the same! How’s everything been for you this year? You lot haven’t been around for too long. How did you first come together?

Yeah it’s been great and we are coming to Australia soon. We have had a couple of great tours and the new album, things are good. I used to skate with Guy the drummer as we lived just outside Oxford. We were 18 and he turned to me and said ‘you play bass don’t you?’ His band’s bassist had gone away travelling and so I jumped at the chance to be in the band and then it went from there. That was ten years ago. We then went off to Uni and did different projects, and then we decided to get back together when Uni came to an end. Two years ago we said are we going to do this seriously or go back to our day jobs and we decided to make a go of it and locked ourselves away for a while.

Well it seems everything happens for a reason! How did you come up with the name Zulu Winter? Any special meaning?

Well Harry had a name idea of ‘Nine Winters’, I should probably spin you a really long story about trekking through a desert with a magic lamp and stuff, but it’s a bit early and I don’t really have the creative prowess yet. But then we thought the name was a bit depressing and we had a picture of a Zulu warrior in our rehearsal room. Will said ‘do you know what it could even be Zulu Winter’ and we didn’t think it sounded too bad, it had a good ring and juxtaposition.

When you were growing up, who made big impressions on you and made you want to make the music yourself?

I think my brother was my biggest influence. He introduced me to so many different types of music. People like Radiohead, Jeff Buckley, Pearl Jam, Bob Dylan- all of the legends. The other guys in the band went down a different route to me. I was pretty traditional, I remember jumping up and down on the sofa to Guns and Roses when I was like 9 as my Dad was heavily into rock music. I also like dance music, Guy and I met in 2000 at a rave and so that was so fun. That’s probably where our love for electronic music comes from.

You have been crowned hottest record for ‘We Should Be Swimming’ by the almighty Zane Lowe (who dubbed you as this title twice later for ‘Silver Tongue’) and New Band Of The Day on the Guardian website, what has been your proudest moment as a band to date over the last crazy year?

For me, the best moment has been Field Day, Victoria Park. We have been going to that festival as a band since it started, and is a great festival. We had a big crowd and it was one of the first festival experiences we had. Having the vinyl of your album given to you is a pretty amazing feeling, nothing compares to having that in your hands.

You have an amazing summer coming up; I’m hoping to catch you at Secret Garden Party (which I’m mega excited about) and at Bestival. Have you had a favourite venue/country you’ve played in so far?

Playing in Holland is always fun. We did a show recently and it was just great, it’s odd when you go and do a show and everything feels perfect. You have the confidence and you’re not worried and you do your thing and it works. We always play well in Holland and the last few gigs have been fantastic with people singing along and loving it. Maybe Australia will beat it? Oh, and Brixton academy is amazing being on the stage there after seeing Queens of the Stone Age when I was like 16.

Ha-ha well Australians are always up for a gig. I bet you couldn’t see yourself on that stage ten years ago? Where do you see the band in ten years?

Well we are here for the long haul. We want this career for the rest of our lives. I’ll be more than happy to be there in ten years with the guys in the recording studio, waiting to go home to my wife and kids, sounds perfect to me!

What advice would you give to our readers starting in a band and wanting to get their foot into the music industry?

Just keep at it. You’ve got to believe in yourself. The three C’s; Communication, confidence and composure. There is also the added fourth C- the click. Just prepare yourself, get some tracks and go for it. I sat and listened to the album from start to finish, and to be honest it is a rarity to find myself doing so. It’s quality.

Do you ever come across disagreements, as the four of you want something different from a track? Do you all work equally or does someone take a backseat sometimes?

Thank you very much. Well, it depends on the song. ‘People That You Must Remember’ started as an Indie anthem with lots of guitar. It is quite a big track, like ‘The Big Pink [jokingly sings ‘Dominoes’]. We knew that there was something great in there, but we didn’t want to be making the big anthems. And then one day Henry had this vision. It became atmospheric and sensitive, and then Will added the vocals. I didn’t like it to begin with but I took a back seat as I trust them and I let the guys do their thing and now it’s one of my favourite tracks on the album. Will is a clever man and writes all the lyrics but we do write as a five some. Things are often put to a vote.

Yeah, so teamwork made the dream happen whilst creating your debut album, which has just been released, would you go back and change anything about it?

I think what we made in the time and constraints we had, we made the best album we could. That was always the aim, to make it as good as possible. There has been a few problems with playing things live and choosing what to include and what not to include. We have four guitar parts on some tracks and not four players so we had to adapt. We are very happy people.

Catch Zulu Winter at Splendour In The Grass

Image by Tom Oxley

Check out what’s happening in the music world…click HERE