Well then, here we are. After 5 years playing together, The Winchell Riots are no more. We will be playing our last ever show on October 29th 2011 at the Jacqueline du Pre in Oxford before we depart for other lands.
The Winchell Riots started as an immediate reaction to myself and James's last band, Fell City Girl, splitting up. After such a weird and fucked up situation, we set out with the mentality of doing things exactly the way we wanted to. This meant setting up our own label, with our own choice of producers, our own artwork, our own money. The upsides to this were immense: working with such jaw-droppingly talented people on the music and art, packing our stuff into the van and going wherever the fuck we wanted, looking out over any one of the crowds we played to over the years and knowing it was us and us only that got us there, and most importantly overseeing our music from inception, to recording, onto printing it up on vinyl, and finally: sending it out, envelope by envelope into the world. We have always been aware that our 'success' has been a relative one, but to us we did more than we ever expected to do, and that's good enough for us. We've only ever had ourselves to blame, and that's a feeling I am immensely proud of.
Being in a band of our size over the last few years has been increasingly difficult to sustain - financially, logisitically, emotionally and mentally. It is these last two elements that has come to take the heaviest toll on us over the last few months, and so we have decided to stop. Sometimes you love each other too much, and I guess sometimes you just don't love each other enough - I think that's a valid reason to stop.
There are some people to thank, so let's get started. Here are the people that made this band what it was, who did something other than get paid, who stuck their necks out for us and saw something brighter:
Dan Austin (thank you mate) / Tim Bearder / John Brand / James Chant / Alan Day / Nick Downs / Dave Gilyeat / Andy Griffin / Richard Haines / Greg Haver / Jimmy Hetherington / Rian Hughes / Tim Hughes / Phil Jones / Tilly Kneale / Simon Minter / Ronan Munro / Jess Troth / Michael Weatherburn / Sam Williams
Everyone else who supported us and showed up, thank you. Please continue to support bands. I hope some of you will join us on the 29th to send the band off. It'll be a bit of a weird one, because we're playing acoustic, but then, we were halfway down that road already, and what we started sounds good.
Here's to the future. James (Shrek) now joins Nathan, who departed a few months back, in the Grudle Bay Riots. Raise a glass to them, and please support what they do in the future. You can follow them here: http://www.myspace.com/grudlebayriots
I'm sure you'll hear more from us all at some point in the future, I hope so.
Thanks again everyone, it really did mean the world.
Frame the earth in a beautiful light.
Phil.
31/08/2011
Jacqueline du Pre Show Announced
Fresh from Reading & Leeds 2011, The Winchell Riots will be downing our electric guitars for a very special Oxford show at the Jacqueline du Pre, on Saturday October 29th 2011.
Presented by Feed The Birds, Oxford's newest promoters, tickets are onsale now from WeGotTickets (click this link) and all the details can be found on this website here!. We're going to try and do something different for this show - anyone who was at last year's Holywell show knows sort of what to expect for this. Older songs, different stuff etc, in an all seated venue, so bring your parents.
Tickets are £7 in advance, and support comes from The Magic Lantern.
29/08/2011
Reading & Leeds Festival Footage
So here you go - footage from our show at Reading Festival 2011. Mental weekend, mental people, 4 happy people this end. Thanks so much if you were there.
12/08/2011
Reading & Leeds Warmup Announced
The Winchell Riots will be headlining The Cellar in Oxford on August 25th 2011. The show is a warm up for the band's appearance the following night at the Reading & Leeds Festivals. Support comes from Gunning For Tamar and Vixens.
The Winchell Riots are pleased to confirm we will be playing this year's Reading & Leeds Festival 2011. The weekend runs from August 26th-August 28th 2011 and features, among other things that we'll be watching, The National, Deftones and SBTRKT! All the line-up and ticket details can be found here.
We'll be playing a warm-up show in Oxford at The Cellar on Thursday August 25th 2011 - ticket details coming soon.
07/06/2011
East London // June 6th 2011 // or, CANNT YOU SEE AAAHM GOOOD!
Spent most of Sunday crushingly depressed after such a great night in Bristol - playing live seems to induce massive comedowns afterwards and this was one of the worst in ages. When I left my house in the morning to buy milk, I saw empty cans of Red Stripe all over my neighbours' front door which may or may not have been me: the drive back from Bristol was pretty eventful.
We played Shoreditch in East London tonight at the Old Blue Last, which I always thought was a bit too cool for skool for a band like us, but it wasn't. The staff / other bands / people in general were nice and the sound man was polite and kind enough to put up with our ridiculous attempt to get all our gear onto the stage while moaning like children that we couldn't fit it on. Before the show we do our usual East London ritual of buying salt beef biegels on Brick Lane, perhaps the nicest thing to eat before a gig. Last time we had them, the mustard was nose-bleed strong, but East London seems to have calmed down a bit lately, and they were easier on the senses.
I think we played real good tonight. There's an age-old adage in bands that London gigs are somehow different from anywhere else in the world - more pressure, less audience participation, less open-ness towards bands, blah blah: but that’s not really been my experience, and at least they buy vinyl in London (and we didn't have any glass bottles thrown at the van, like in Bristol...!). Afterwards I catch up with a load of really nice people who we've been in contact with over the years in some shape or form - including finally meeting the uber-talented Rian Hughes, who did the artwork for our last two EP's. Working with Rian on the art for our music has been as important to us as writing and recording the actual songs: to find someone you work with who brings something visually so connected with the music is rare. He has an (excellent) new book out called 'Cult-Ure' which you should buy straight away and read repeatedly if you have any sense. The Joy Formidable were in the crowd too and I chatted with their singer Ritzy about the general perils of being in a band. Those guys are a big deal for us and it was nice to hear what she had to say about life.
Cambridge Thursday and then Oxford Saturday. Someone mentioned buying a bottle of something strong for Oxford to drink before we play. That's a silly idea.
06/06/2011
Bristol Croft // June 4th 2011 // or, A Tour Diary
First night of our tour to promote the 'Figure 8s EP'. We're in Bristol, which is one of my favourite cities to play: right back through to the earliest Fell City shows, we've always had a good crowd here, comparable with even our hometown. Tonight we're at the Croft, which is in the Stokes Croft part of Bristol – there’s been a lot on the news about the area these last few weeks because of the Tesco 'riots', and there’s an electricity to the main street that used to exist in a similar part of the world, Cowley Road in Oxford (where I live). The soundman says to me when we get into the venue "fancy that, a band called The Winchell Riots playing in Stokes Croft". I laugh nervously.
The opening bands before us are pretty immense tonight: a hazard of the job in touring is often the ill-thought out support bands that you play with (we played with a band called Karl & The Gimps once in Hull: nice guys, but the police turned up halfway through their set to find them onstage with a stepladder and rubber gimp masks; another time, we played with a band in London and the lead singer spent the whole show saying things like "you didn’t know us before, but you’ll fucking remember our name now" while downing Stella, which is a long way from our power ballad shtickk, AND I can't remember his name). Shout outs to Neotropics and Branches – the latter featuring a guitarist with the best guitar sound I've ever heard and an awesome drummer who played from the heart. Check them out post rock/65 Days fans.
The show was my favourite Winchell show so far. When myself and James played in Fell City Girl, that period of time was capped by a number of shows we played at (what was then) the Oxford Zodiac – I've often thought about those shows and they mean a lot to me, and they’ve been difficult to beat. Tonight - years later - in Bristol I got that same feeling again. The crowd knew the songs, heckled us, bought our vinyl, and were open-hearted and loud of voice, which is a rare thing to find - anywhere, really. Someone draped a feather boa over my mic stand, which is halfway to underwear throwing, in my eyes, which I've yet to experience. We're in London tonight, so there’s still hope.
01/06/2011
Oxforddddd // View From Cowley Rd
23/05/2011
Undertows /// Video
20/05/2011
//// Video Shoot ///
11/05/2011
Competition: Win Test Pressings!
We have some very cool stuff to give away!
Anyone pre-ordering a copy of the Figure 8s EP on 10" vinyl will be automatically entered into a draw to win one of 2 test pressings of the EP! Only 5 copies were ever pressed up on black vinyl, which were done so we could check that it sounded OK on vinyl, and are hand labelled by the band, housed in a clear plastic sleeve.
To win one of these, all you have to do is head over to the 'Buy Page' on this site, and pre-order a vinyl copy - signed or unsigned. Don't worry, those of you have already ordered will be automatically entered into the draw. Winners announced on this site June 6th 2011, on release day! Good luck.
09/05/2011
More Cover Art Revealed
So check this out - we've been working with Rian Hughes now on The Winchell Riots' artwork for about a year - he did the last EP we put out and we wanted to work again with him on the latest release. You've already seen the front cover, now here's the back: a rendering of the ocean floor that Rian did in collaboration with Colin Smith!
This is going to look awesome on 10" vinyl!!
04/05/2011
/// Oxford //// Recording //// April ///
Last weekend three of us went piling into a recording studio in Oxford with two new songs we'd just written and rehearsed a few days before (Phil played a couple of them at that show he did on his own a few months back). We shouted a lot in the run up about banning electric guitars and that went out of the window a few hours in but it was a largely acoustic-based session, which was different for us.
I'm sure all bands have experienced the same thing where the drummer casually writes a really nice piano part while tinkering, but is essentially Grade 1 on the piano, and so when a £3000 mic is put up in front of him and he's told to play it on a grand Steinway piano, he predictably gets "stiff hands" and two hours later, he's still trying to "nail it". This is how we spend our weekends.
Head over to the 'Buy' page on our website to pre-order your copy of the 'Figure 8s EP'! There are some low-numbered, signed copies available but not for long so hurry along!
The Winchell Riots will release the 'Figure 8s EP' on June 6th 2011 through Andrew The Great Records. The 4-track EP was recorded & mixed in Bath with the band's long time friend Dan Austin (Doves / Cherry Ghost / Massive Attack) and includes the tracks 'Figure 8s', 'The Man Who Mapped The Oceans', 'Undertows' and 'Fifteenth'. As with last year's 'Red Square EP', the release will be on stickered and number-stamped 10" vinyl & CD, with a free 5 track download for those people pre-ordering the vinyl release (the bonus track will be live favourite 'Kandahar Road'). The artwork was again designed by Rian Hughes, who worked with the band on their last release. Preordering (with immediate download) will begin on May 3rd 2011, at which time you will be able to download all 5 tracks, with physical copies shipping in June.
To support the release, the band will play 4 shows in the UK. They are
Jun 4th 2011 :: Bristol Croft Jun 6th 2011 :: London Old Blue Last June 9th 2011 :: Cambridge Haymakers June 11th 2011 :: Oxford O2 Academy (Official EP Launch)
To listen to a mash-up of the EP, clikk the Soundcloud link below:
Fuck me, we've been away too long. The Winchell Riots are pleased to say we're bored of being bored and will be returning to playing live again supporting local heroes Dive Dive on April 23rd 2011 at the Zodiac in Oxford!
Head over to the Shop for some silly deals on the last remaining copies of our EP. Vinyls for £5 with free postage, CD's for £4 with no postage, both for £10 with no postage!!! This offer will last for 48 hours only so hurry up and get your friends their Christmas presents early...
19/11/2010
Creative Review Feature
Creative Review - the absolute go to for design junkies and fans of all things beautiful - have run a short feature with interview on our debut 'Red Square EP' focusing on the band's collaboration with the designer Rian Hughes.
You can now purchase new T-shirts & Tote bags from the 'Buy' section of this website!
Printed & designed by Valeska Hykel-Mears based on an original idea by Device artist Rian Hughes, the tote bags and t-shirts are based around the logo found on the front of the 'Red Square' EP. All items sold out immediately at the EP launch night last month in Oxford, and we've managed to get just a handful of each item reprinted. On top of this, you can now buy a 'deluxe' package which includes a tote bag, a tshirt, a 10" & a CD copy of the Red Square EP which, to be honest, would make a GREAT Christmas present, right?
11/10/2010
The Winchell Riots Announced For Audioscope 2010
The Winchell Riots will be appearing at this year's Audioscope 2010 Festival. This year's event will be held at Oxford's Jericho Tavern and runs across three different days. We will be playing on Saturday November 20th 2010 with SJ Esau, Sennen & our friends Phantom Theory, along with many other acts. Advance tickets are £10 and are available now by clicking here
Audioscope is an organisation committed to raising money through music for the national homelessness charity Shelter and is run by our friends Stuart & Simon. Since 2001, they have raised over £20,000 for Shelter, and they once put our old band, Fell City Girl, on with Four Tet & Explosions in the Sky, for which I am still buying them beers.
We'll also be playing a warm up show with Phantom Theory on Thursday November 18th 2010 at Fat Lil's in Witney, which we'll post about nearer the time.
29/09/2010
Logo T-Shirts Sold Out
We have now completely sold out of our logo-d t-shirts!
The designs were created and drafted by our friend James Kirkup whose work with the band can be seen by clicking here. The website shows some early drafts and art for our proposed 'Red Square' EP, as well as the work he did for our myspage page!
We have just received new (handmade) tees designed to conicide with the Red Square release - we're in the process of getting them up onsale for the website so keep your eyes open!
27/09/2010
TWR Confirmed For OX4 Festival
The Winchell Riots are pleased to confirm their appearance at the second OX4 Festival on Cowley Road, in Oxford on Saturday October 9th 2010.
The band will be appearing at 8pm at the O2 Academy supporting Everything Everything and Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin.
Please note that the Portsmouth leg of our tour this week is now no longer happening. Please contact the venue for further information - they double booked which is nice. We are playing in Chichester the following night so we'll see some of you there instead!!
15/09/2010
Worth a try?
14/09/2010
Signed Vinyls Sold Out!
We have now sold out of the low-numbered, signed vinyl EP's.
Head over to the 'Buy' page now to pick up your regular numbered copy of the vinyl, with immediate download!
Thanks to everyone who ordered so quickly.
09/09/2010
EP Launch Night
20/08/2010
Preorder EP NOW (+ Instant mp3 download!!))
It's here!! We're pleased to announce that you can now preorder your copy of The Winchell Riots's debut 'Red Square EP' right away. Just click on the 'Buy' icon in the main toolbar to purchase your copy.
Released on Andrew The Great Records, and available on numbered & stickered 10" vinyl & CD, with all formats limited to 300 copies, we're even happier to announce that anyone ordering the vinyl will receive an immediate download of all 4 tracks today, PLUS a bonus track 'Firewood' which is exclusive to vinyl buyers. All physical orders will ship on or before September 20th 2010.
Here is a picture of the vinyls shortly after they were stamped:
19/08/2010
Dan Austin Session || Photos
We just got back from a week in Bath recording our next EP. While we deal with the colossal comedown involved with Returning To Real Life, you can check out some photos that our official photographer took:
We were joking about the official photographer bit.
02/08/2010
Red Square Cover Art Unveiled
After a long wait, it's with great pride that we can reveal the front cover artwork for the Red Square EP. Designed by the legendary Rian Hughes (stick his name into Wikipedia, he's proper famous and proper brilliant) at Device, the art is based around a map that we chose after borrowing it from the National Library of Scotland. The map - which makes up the backdrop for our website - is an old image of Milton in Glasgow, where Phil's parents grew up, and Hughes customised the artwork to make it look like an old lost library artifact, integrated with the lyrics from the closing track of the EP, Red Square.
The picture shown is the 10" vinyl cover, which will be stickered and labeled, as well as number stamped like a library book. We'll be selling copies of this item very soon right here!
27/07/2010
Dan Austin Session
The Winchell Riots are super-happy to confirm we've just booked 7 days studio time at Bath Moles studio with Dan Austin in August 2010. Dan's recent work includes Doves' last record, Kingdom of Rust, as well as the awesome new Cherry Ghost album. We first worked with him in the Fell City Girl days when he produced the band's Swim EP and last year we recorded the track Kandahar Road with him, which we then sort of forgot to release (more news soon on that, I promise). Since then Dan has sort of exploded and become one of the most exciting producers in the UK so this has taken near enough 6 months to arrange but it's going to be worth it!
25/07/2010
UK dates announced
To coincide with the release of the band's 'Red Square EP' on Sept 20th 2010 the band will be playing a short run of UK dates to promote the EP. They are listed on the Tour page, head over now for advance tickets.
The Oxford show is the official EP launch night and will see the band play in front of a visual backdrop for the first time ever, designed and performed by Adam Pelling-Deeves. We've seen the preview proofs (rushes?) and they look great - oceans, water, space, cityscapes, fire and water. We'll also be selling some super-low numbered copies of the EP at the merch desk for the first few people through the doors so get there early!
