The Shivering Songs festival, curated by local folk pop group Olympic Symphonium, will host an array of musicians from all across Canada and the United States starting Jan. 23.
One of the festival’s headliners is Wintersleep, Juno award winning rock band from Halifax.
“We have been playing in Fredericton for the last 10 years, so we have a lot of friends here. It’s just great to have these sort of festivals in Fredericton now. I don’t think anything like it really existed when we were starting out,” said Loel Campbell, who plays drums in the band.
He went on to mention that band are extremely fond of healthy food when on the road, and listed Fredericton’s Cedar Tree Cafe as a place they enjoy. The Cedar Tree is hosting shows for the festival along with Wilmot Baptist Church and the Capital Complex, but this year the Boyce Farmers Market will play host to Wintersleep.
“We’ve always enjoyed the stage at the Farmers Market. It works for our band. Smaller places generally make for a stronger connection to the audience,”said Campbell.
“The Farmers Market is one of my favourite places to see a show, its right small with beer available everywhere,”said Keven Steeves, a UNB student who is looking forward to the show.
That being said, this is one band that appreciates an intimate atmosphere, but doesn’t shy away from the big stage, having played The Late Show with David Letterman in January 2011 and opened for Paul McCartney in 2009.
The soft rockers won the hearts of Canadians with their 2007 album Welcome to the Night Sky, which led to them winning New Group of the Year at the Juno’s in 2008. Their song “Weighty Ghost” won a Much Music VideoFACT Award for best independent music video in the same year.
Wintersleep’s fifth album, Hello Hum was released in June 2012. These east coast indie rockers are pushing the envelope with this latest recording by mixing soulful jams such as “Saving Song” and roaring uptempo crowd raisers such as “Rapture.”
“We tried to put together the most cohesive batch of songs we had at the time,” said Campbell.
If you’d ask what makes Wintersleep the shining beacon in the blizzard of generic indie bands out there, It would have to be their drumming. Campbell’s work is reminiscent of Matt Tong from Bloc Party with his wildly fast wrists which seem to float across his kit, even when playing beats that would put an ’80s discotheque to shame.
Catch them Jan. 25 with Paper Lions at the Boyce Farmers Market. Doors open at 9 p.m., tickets are 28 bucks in advance.
