There’s a cruel irony at play when it comes to the title of The Winter Passing’s second album, ‘New Ways of Living’. Alas, the Dublin five-piece aren’t secret soothsayers who predicted life in lockdown, but rather the title refers to the conclusion of the previous chapter in the band’s journey. A far cry from the negativity that currently punctuates our day-to-day lives, ‘New Ways of Living’ is a beacon of hope.
Known for their determination and relentless DIY work ethic, The Winter Passing have taken the challenges of being a band during a global pandemic in their stride. If you need further proof, just check out the utterly charming video for the first single from the record, ‘Resist’, and try to watch it without a ridiculous grin on your face.
“As it stands right now, we haven’t seen each other since late February,” says vocalist and bassist Rob Flynn. “We tried to have a band practice over a Zoom call one evening, and it was absolutely terrible. I’ve now seen at least ten bands from the alt-music scene put out similar videos to ours for ‘Resist’, but we tried to be as charismatic as we possibly could, just winging it really – we’ve been forever winging it since this band started. If you felt the wholesomeness, that was intended!”
It’s easy to fall in love with The Winter Passing, from the genuine, heartfelt vocal pairing of siblings Rob and Kate Flynn to their humble beginnings in their hometown of Tipperary. Scrappy and passionate, the band have worked tirelessly from a grass-roots level to get where they are today, building their own connections and nurturing relationships with other bands who could help them on their way.
“Ireland is so small that every music scene is a minority, but that leaves the energy for musicians in Ireland of different backgrounds to collaborate with each other,” explains Rob. “One of the most important bands for us in our early days of making waves in Dublin, was a local band called Chewing on Tinfoil. They were already established and could sell out venues, and they helped us in so many ways. We had a strong sense of ethos, and we knew there was a roof above our heads in Ireland, but there was only a small scene that we could operate inside of. We knew that if we ever wanted to release music or tour, we had to focus on getting to the UK and mainland Europe.”
While setting their sights on being heard further afield than Ireland was a daunting prospect, it certainly helped that Rob and fellow bandmate Jamie Collison were already heavily involved in their local alt-music scene.
“We were kids from Tipperary, making regular two-hour bus journeys to Dublin to go to shows around the time when bands like Title Fight, Man Overboard and The Wonder Years were part of that big resurgence of pop-punk and emo that was happening worldwide. We started putting on our own shows to build connections, even putting on the Wonder Years in a small town in the middle of Tipperary on their first European tour. We ended up touring Europe with them in 2019, so it says a lot about them that they would give us a shout and return the favour ten years later!”
It’s a testament to their DIY ethos that The Winter Passing now have shows across the world, two albums and an EP produced by emo legend J Robbins (The Promise Ring, Texas is the Reason, Jets to Brazil) under their belt. One thing that hasn’t changed since the band first formed in 2012 is the close relationship between Rob and his sister Kate.
“I’d always said to Jamie, that when Kate was 18, we were starting a fresh band straight away and bringing her with us. I consider Kate one of my best friends as much as my sibling, and I think she’s incredibly talented. I would hate to not be doing this with her, I’d be so worried – we’ve actually run into some weird situations throughout the years with shitty sound guys and serious egos, and at times it has been very uncomfortable. It was actually turning us off the music, so we made a decision that we needed to play with bands that had diverse line-ups, and working with labels like Big Scary Monsters has opened up so many doors for us.”
With ‘New Ways of Living’, The Winter Passing have transcended their small-town beginnings to create a record that truly sets them out as a force to be reckoned with on the international stage. If their debut album ‘A Different Space of Mind’ was about coming of age and growing up, ‘New Ways of Living’ is about what happens next.
“With this record, we had to really define ourselves,” states Rob. “We’ve been fortunate enough to be around and weasel ourselves into somebody’s ears, but this record is about setting the record straight. We used to hate the tag ’emo’, but this time around we’re embracing it. It’s been a cathartic release: music is magic, it has healing powers.”
Despite their anthemic melodies taking them far and wide, The Winter Passing won’t be forgetting their Irish roots any time soon. Though heavily inspired by Midwestern emo, album track ‘Greetings From Tipperary’ is a middle finger to anyone who has ever said they sound like Americans. “I was brought up on The Cranberries, Thin Lizzy and U2 – U2’s second album is unbelievable, though I can’t say anything else good about them, they’re just annoying, but those tints of Irish rock shine through in our music. Our drummer Kev, who is also an incredible guitarist, came up with the lick for ‘Greetings From Tipperary’ and I thought it sounded like a trad song, like The Pogues meets American Football. So I pushed ahead and made it into an emo ballad. To any of the Irish publicists who begrudged us and said we sounded American, this one is for you!”
Taken from the July issue of Upset. The Winter Passing’s album ‘New Ways of Living’ is out 3rd July.
