Interview with Paul Murphy of Wintersleep

by hardrockchick [about 1 year, 5 months ago.]

Wintersleep is an indie rock band from Halifax, Nova Scotia that dabbles in the psychedelic and hard rock spectrum. I’ve seen them once before, and they put on a great live show.

Lead singer Paul Murphy answered a few questions for me. Don’t miss your chance to see them tonight at Hotel Utah.

HardRockChick: How did the band get together?

Paul Murphy: Fans of each others bands. We all moved to Halifax to finish up schooling and to play music. We all knew each other via our bands Kary and Contrived.

HRC: Where did you come up with the name Wintersleep?

PM: It means hibernation. The last song on the first Kary record was called hibernation. It kind of sounds as similar to Wintersleep as that band really gets, not that that song was the reason Wintersleep exists or started. I just liked the image and the word. It is rooted in the German word for hibernation, “Winterschlaf”

HRC: Is there something in the water in Canada? It seems like all the good
new bands are from there.

PM: Yes The beer is also better
You have Hot Snakes and Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr and Kyuss. All I gotta say about the band thing

HRC: Did you recover any of your stolen gear?

PM: No.

HRC: How was your European tour and SXSW?

PM: Dope. The European tour was the first time we did it up proper over there. Great crowds and yummy food. A good touring experience.. SXSW is my favorite festival. $10 to park our van for the day.. Free food options. Great bands.. Warm weather in March.. What more can a Canadian rock band ask for really.. ?!

HRC: What do you think about using Twitter to keep in touch with fans?

PM: We just started doing it. Sorta like Ben’s bread* of the internet communication world. It looks like bread, tastes like it.. but ultimately not really satisfying in the way bread should be. Certainly not home-made. I like it though. Tastes good with peanut butter either way. What doesn’t?

HRC: What can we expect to see from Wintersleep in the near future?

PM: Plenty o’ jams. Hopefully a new record soon. Hugs.

*”ben’s bread” is our local bakery bread sold in our region’s grocery stores

Follow Wintersleep on Twitter

Genre(s): Interviews