A sort of homcoming: Wintersleep plays Th'YARC Dec. 21

BY MICHAEL GORMAN

The Vanguard

NovaNewsNow.com



Tim D'Eon and Paul Murphy still remember the first time they saw a concert at Th'YARC. It was Dec. 22, 1995 and Burnt Black, along with the Purple Helmets and Christopher Robin, staged the first of what would become — for a time — an annual Christmas tradition.

Now, exactly 11 years less one day since that show, the two Yarmouth natives are preparing for their turn to add to the rock lore of Th'YARC when their band, Wintersleep, hts the stage Dec. 21 with guests Contrived and Ryan Cook.

"To see a band in this kind of spot, it automatically kind of elevated it to something more special," Murphy says of the Burnt Black show.

That show became famous for a lot of reasons (most of which can't be printed), but perhaps the most important result was that it inspired a new generation of local musicians to pick up instruments.

D'Eon, Wintersleep's guitar player, was one of them.

"The first time we went we didn't really know what to expect; we were young kids," he says. "It was pretty much my first rock show . . . It's probably when I first decided that I wanted to be in a band."

To say the past year has been a good one for wintersleep would be an understatement.

The Halifax-based band, which along with front man Murphy and D'Eon includes drummer Loel Campbell and bassist Jud Haynes, is well established in the independent music world from one end of the country to the other.

They've played shows at major music festivals in New York and Texas, made two new music videos, appeared at the East Coast Music Awards, played several shows in Ireland and England and signed a deal with Labwork Music. The Yarmouth show marks the end of their fifth cross-Canada tour.

Through it all the popularity of the band has continued to skyrocket, something that still comes as a bit of a surprise to the band.

They all come from bands that, while popular in certain circles, never had the same kind of crossover appeal as Wintersleep.

"We're not exactly like the kind of stuff that's coming out right now, too, which is really cool," says Murphy. "We're not so much like very many bands now that are playing in Canada, so it's kind of neat to see that there actually is an audience for the stuff that we're doing."

"It's pretty rewarding (considering) all the work we've put into it," adds D'Eon. "And now it seems like it's starting to pay off a bit."

What is happening with the band, says D'Eon, is well beyond where he ever imagined things could go.

"I never thought we'd be doing it at this level — especially so quickly. Our first show was in the basement of an art café with 20 people there. There was a slow build there for a while and then our songs started getting played on rock radio . . . and a lot of word of mouth and a lot of touring and we're where we are right now."

Though D'Eon is rather understated when asked about his feelings about returning home to play a show for the first time in more than a year — "I'm just hoping that a bunch of people are going to come out and it will be a good time" — Murphy says it definitely has significance.

"There's always been a big support from the kids and our peers and the people around (Yarmouth)," he says. "It's just a very musical community and people like music a lot in Yarmouth. It's one of those outlets that, I think, people are really starved for.

"The kids in Yarmouth don't have a lot of stuff to do; they don't have a lot of different things going on for kids to enjoy. So it's definitely awesome to come back to our town."

After their holiday break it will be business as usual for the band.

The signing to Labwork, which includes wide distribution through Canada and the U.S. and help with the recording of their next album, has the band's eyes cast downward, to the biggest music market of them all.

"We do pretty well all across Canada now and it's just been a result of constant touring," says D'Eon. "We need to do that in the States now."

Tickets for the show, which are on sale now, are $15 in advance and $20 the night of the show.