Project Description

Interview with Ant Banister from Sounds Like Winter

Sydney based multi instrumentalist and producer Ant Banister is the front-man of local post punk outfit Sounds Like Winter. They released their debut album Initiate earlier this year and have been touring the album extensively around Australia ever since. AMNPLIFY had the opportunity to sit down with Ant recently and have a chat.

Firstly, congratulations on the release of the debut Sounds Like Winter album, Initiate. Can you give us an insight into how the band was formed?

Thanks very much, we are extremely proud of our first release and excited by how well it has been received worldwide so far. The Sounds Like Winter project started as an idea between friends to write some dark 80’s Post Punk influenced songs. Ash Rothschild and Robert Finder hatched the idea and were joined by myself and Ryan Mortimer shortly after. The signs were positive with a couple of good songs coming effortlessly. Then Rob got offered a job in Byron and had to move out of Sydney. Ash and myself moved the project to my own studio and met every Wednesday morning for a couple of hours to write and record.

What was the songwriting and recording process like?

I would program the drums and synths and play some bass, Ash played guitar and bass (as well as Ryan) and we took turns with lyrics and vocals, multi-tracking the parts we needed. I would then pull together the parts into an arrangement and do the final production work. In only a couple of months we had written nine new songs. We decided that it was time to form a band and take the songs live. After finding the needed band members, we rehearsed for a few months and released our first single The Dark with a video clip.

 Ash‘s home life and other band projects then took priority and he had to leave the project. Ryan also left, so I continued on and brought Andi Lennon and Tommy Webster from Howl and Thatch Noir on board, as the songs needed two strong vocalists and a guitarist with the right feel. Andi, Tommy and I started writing just as prolifically with new songs coming fast. We played in Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra and NZ and again the profile of the band increased. We needed a new bass player and drummer and a stable line-up took form with Jamie Pajuczok and Leticia Olhaberry joining us. The album followed, along with a white vinyl EP and five new video clips.

Jamie, our bass player is taking a break from live music, so we have just recruited Matt Judge from Fundamental Illness Records to take over, he is super motivated, active in the scene and loves the music we do.

You have been touring Initiate extensively this year, how have the songs translated from the record to a live environment?

I like to get the live sound as close to the recorded work as we can, we use some backings for the synths and electronic drum parts. I believe the songs have an identity and if you want your audience to really connect with your work, you should make the effort to bring the complete song to the audience. I am really interested in the neuro-chemical effect music has on the brain.

Familiar songs make you feel good, if you are to trigger a serotonin cascade properly, the long term memory of the listener needs to be engaged. If the song is not right, it jars and kills the buzz, so to speak.

 Our live shows have been going from strength to strength, each show we seem to attract new fans and another person wanting to help out with more shows, photos, video or merch. The offers to play live have been coming thick and fast, we have been playing at least once a month for over two years and are currently booked ahead to April 2017 for Australia and NZ.

The next step locally would be to get into some of the larger venues and festivals. That requires local radio airplay, but so far our appeal seems to be OS not here. Ever since we released our first demos in 2013 we have had growing and consistent support from specialist radio shows all over the globe, this has also meant we are being played in clubs, invited onto a number of high profile compilations and have overseas shows waiting for us should we decide to tour the US, South America or Europe.

What have been your personal highlights of the tour?

Touring is always a lot of fun. We all get on really well and Andi is a natural comedian and keeps the shenanigans and crazy banter going 24/7.

My memories of every trip usually feature uncontrollable laughter. Playing in an old cinema (The New Globe) in Brisbane was really cool, down in the front row there was a bunch of tripping twenty somethings, freaking out that Jamie looked like a lizard in his scaled shirt, they were convinced he was a real lizard and found it hilarious.

New Zealand was incredible, such a lovely place and everyone was really helpful and the shows had an amazing energy to them. We have plans to go back again soon. Canberra is also a great place to play for much the same reasons.

 

You have been in many, many bands over the years, has your songwriting changed in Sounds Like Winter?

My songwriting has come full circle to a certain extent. I started in punk and new wave bands way back, and then went on to my years in the Clan Analogue collective playing purely electronic dance music. Then I started singing again in the early 2000’s making synthpop in Lunar Module and now I am back again in a band with guitars and real drums. Restoring fourteen tracks from scratch for the two Def FX tours really taught me a lot about production and rock drum programming. It also gave me a work ethic, I now work on music every day.

Those diverse influences, equipment and skills I have gained, means having the ability to go from rough ideas all the way to a mastered release at home. That has given me complete freedom to express my own ideas and help bring the other musicians ideas to their full potential.

Who do you look up to musically? Also, is there one particular artist that unites the band (perhaps elaborate on other band member’s influences)?

There are certain bands who just never seemed to write a bad song: Bauhaus, Depeche Mode,Wire, The Cramps, The Wall of Voodoo, Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees to name a few. Musically, I am influenced by an era rather than by a specific act.

The Post Punk era features an over driven bass guitar up front, angular beats, some synth and textured guitars, it’s in my blood.

As a band we all seem to like the more left of centre dark bands like: Skeletal Family, Sex Gang Children and The Virgin Prunes. Andi really likes Christian Death, Matt likes Mommy, Tommy likes The Danse Society and Leticia is from Uruguay and likes local band Los Traidoreswith her help we were able to learn our one cover version, Gritar by Los Estomagos which I sing in Spanish. 

Have you found that your taste in music has changed over the years?

My taste in music has not so much as changed as expanded. What I have listened to tended to change with the kind of music I was making at the time. DJing as well as making music means I have quite a large music library, I have it sorted into genre mainly.

For example, the sections include, Reggae/Ska, Electronic/Industrial, Post Punk 80’s and New Wave, Punk, Australian indie, 90’s indie and Baroque classical.

I have set my listening space up at home with a turntable and CD’s and I find myself listening to music from all my different phases these days. I get sent a lot of new music and there are so many great bands around now, I get my fill of that with my radio show, when I am alone I quite often listen to old Ska and Rocksteady.

I know that you are quite a prolific DJ in Sydney amongst the alternative club scene, how does it compare with being on a stage? Do you have a favourite genre/club night?

I really enjoy DJing. I know musicians that have DJed in the past and they say it does not compare and stopped. They are right, the rush of playing live is extremely addictive and you can’t sleep for hours afterwards.

 I have always been a DJ ever since I started playing parties at 16 and I never want to stop. I have had radio shows in the past and have just started a new one that is broadcast out of LA on Eternaoscuridad Radio once a month. It can be found on Mixcloud and is called Torment Radio. In clubs, it is great reading the mood of the crowd and feeling out which song to play next. I never pre-plan my sets. I just bring everything (laughs).

My favourite club is No Rest For The Wicked where I get to play anything from New Wave to New Romantic, Punk. Post Punk, Deathrock and Electronic. I do love playing at Ska nights, but there is no time these days.

 

What are you plans musically for 2017?  Will there be another Def FX tour in the near future?

We have our second Sounds Like Winter album well under way and will be releasing it on vinyl and cassette early 2017. With all of it being the work of the current line-up, it has a more cohesive sound, but once again will feature a nice balance of influences and sounds. We have a second tour planned that will start in Feb and will cover Australia and NZ once again. Then we start saving for tours further away.

Def FX are setting off on a 20 year reunion tour in late July 2017. With special guests from the USA. The special guests will get everyone excited, enough said for now.

Finally, what have you been listening to lately?

New stuff, I really like the bands Ash Code and Sextile, the majority of the time I listen to the shows I have subscribed to on Mixcloud. My favs being The Dead Sound Show, Dazed and Confused and What Double J Should Sound Like. They play stuff I like and also do all the hard work for me finding great new bands.

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