WINDINGS play Unfringed at Dolan’s on January 30. In 2005, windings eponymous debut album was released on Out On A Limb Records. Recorded in fits and bursts over a four-year period, “Windings” was finally whittled down to 14 songs. All songs were written and performed by Limerick man Steve Ryan, along with a little help from some of his friends. Everything about the album, its artwork, its compositions and its recording, is positively home grown, all of which makes for a truly original and invigorating listening experience.
Steve Ryan together with Keith Lawler formed Giveamanakick in 2001 and three albums later completed their musical journey in 2009. “On December 18 we played our final gig in the Warehouse, it was a fantastic night, a night we will never forget, it was the final gig of our final tour, we had toured the whole country in November and December. We decided in the first half of last year that Giveamanakick had achieved what we wanted to achieve and we were both very happy with it. So that was it, we booked the final tour and said goodbye, it worked out very nicely”. Steve tells the Limerick Post.
Last summer Steve went up to a studio in Letterkenny where the Giveamanakick albums were recorded and recorded a second Windings album. “We have ten songs recorded, when we decided that Giveamanaick was winding up I said I’d concentrate fully on Giveamanakick and see it to the end and wait till 2010 to start with the Windings thing. I got a band together but we wont be playing together until February, I will be doing a few solo gigs in January but from February onwards it will be Windings band”.
Over the past few years, Windings have had the pleasure of playing with the likes of Daniel Johnston, Smog/Bill Callahan, The Handsome Family, Bob Mould, Malcolm Middleton, Okkervil River, Jape, Caribou, Tom McRae, Iron And Wine and Villagers. “There is a lot of new acts around and they are certainly getting attention. I went to see O Emperor in Dolan’s on Thursday night, it was my third time seeing them, they are an excellent band, We Cut Corners are another one, Last Days of Death Country the men with plans, basically people are working very hard which is great to see”.
Windings also played support to Modest Mouse in December. “We have only done one or two gigs as a four of five piece, one of them was playing with Modest Mouse in Galway and before that it was Electric Picnic two years ago so their was a big gap between the two. I enjoyed both but I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked I’m really enjoying the rehearsals, it’s great to have all this instrumentation. The Modest Mouse gig was our biggest gig as Windings band that’s for sure. We have done one or two gigs in Vicar Street, as a two piece myself and Liam Marley but the Modest Mouse gig was more in the line of what we’d like our band to sound like so it was great to play to that audience and play with a band that we loved. It was a brilliant experience; I’d love to do more of it if possible. People came up to us afterwards and told us that they really enjoyed it and where could they get our album so that was nice”.
The new album is set for release this summer and was recorded with Tommy McLaughlin- (Villagers, Giveamanakick and Cathy Davey). “We recorded with him, he’s a great friend and we got to know him through Giveamanakick, he’s own band are called Berkley, he’s got a great set-up up there, he seems to know what I want to hear and records it very well”. The gig on January 30 kicks off at 9.30pm with Dublin band Drunken Boat also on the bill. “I’m going to try something a bit different as it’s an Unfringed show for the event that’s in it, it won’t be a full band show but it will definitely be a Windings show. I’m very aware that people don’t know the second album yet so it will be 50/50 material from the second album and 2005’s Windings album. It’s the first time ever I have only been in one band in my life”.
Steve is still very loyal to the label Out On A Limb Records adding “I certainly wouldn’t be five albums into a music career if it wasn’t for those guys”. There is an audio clip of the new single Brain Fluid on the Windings my space. “I’m constantly updating the myspace with new songs and photos and videos to show that things are happening”.
