Winachi Interview
Slick, hip and cool, North West based Winachi create their own brand of electro/dance/indie and always have something exciting on the go. It’s always a pleasure to catch up with Winachi, be it at a gig or for a chat. A band who manage to juggle numerous projects along with making music, their latest collaboration is a range of merchandise with extreme sports brand, Liberalis: a range including hats, T-shirts and skateboards. So to mix things up a little, Liam Croker, Anthony Egerton and Mark Dickson, founder of Liberalis, joined myself and photographer, Louise Newiss, for a location shoot on Cleveleys seafront, on the wonderful Fylde coast in Lancashire.
Janet- A busy year with gigs and festivals then?
Liam- Yea definitely, well it was until I broke my ankle! Then we had to stick more to the studio based stuff and promo – I did a radio interview up on a third floor, the lift was broken and I had to shuffle up on my bum to get upstairs! I managed a few shows, I sat on a chair and sang from that, but to be fair we haven’t done that many shows since my injury, so we can’t wait to back on that again.
Anthony- Yea we’ve done a lot of stuff in the studio, a lot of stuff promoting and then this latest collaboration with Mark.
Janet- Tell me about that, how did it happen, and what can we expect?
Mark- I met Liam at a show, it was at FC2 in Warrington and I got chatting to Liam afterwards, I do a podcast in Warrington called “local heroes” and I invited him on the show.
Liam- Yes it’s a brilliant podcast about anything or anyone doing exciting stuff from Warrington.
Mark- Anyone with a story to tell, I’ve had sports people, artists, musicians, anything with a local interest aspect so to get Winachi was a must.
Liam- So I went down, we did the podcast and it was great. I’d noticed a logo, some branding whilst I was there and was interested. I asked Mark and he told me about what he does.
Mark- Liberalis is an extreme sports company based and operating from Warrington, LA and Quebec. We got chatting about it and soon decided collaboration could work really well.
Liam- As a band we love collaborating; it opens up doors, gives opportunities and leads us down other avenues.
Anthony- And creatively it pushes us too. I’ve always been into skateboarding so to be working with a brand like Liberalis is really exciting, plus there’s that LA connection.
Janet- Both Ant and Liam, you’re sporting shirts; I’m guessing these are part of this project?
Anthony- Yes! We’ve worked together a lot on this and we’re really happy with the results. We’ve also got hats with our new Winachi branding that Mark has worked with us on.
Mark- The guys had all the ideas, the vision and creativity; I just had what was needed to put it together, to make it physical. It’s been a really fun project and I’m really excited with where it’s all going. We already have a new app, available from Apple Store, so you can basically download the app and everything is there for you, be it merchandise, the album or upcoming gig tickets. It makes a lot of stuff you maybe wouldn’t find very accessible.
Liam- Yeah the app is brilliant, puts it all there with easy access and is very slick.
Anthony- Another thing to come from this and we’ve already trialed it and it went down really well, is a “pop up” concept.
Liam- Basically a pop up event which has us playing a live set, the merch will be there and a pop up shop with all the skateboards and stuff too.
Mark- Skateboards actually sold out when we trialed this!
Anthony- People had us signing them.
Liam- Yeah it was brilliant, really good vibe, a lot of fun and we want to do loads more all over the country.
Janet- Touring again?
Anthony- Definitely, We want to get touring again.
Janet- Where’s the wildest crowd you’ve had at a gig?
Liam- In Scotland. We’ve got a big following, so anywhere up there they go mad, always wild.
Anthony- Conway was mad; proper mad crowd, really up for it.
Janet- If you could play any venue where would it be?
Liam- Apollo, Manchester – brilliant venue; Brixton Academy – iconic; and Barrowlands. In fact anywhere; anywhere in the world I’d play.
Anthony- Anywhere I’ve never played before, keep it new and exciting.
Liam- I want to take it back around the world again; we’re re-emerging!
Anthony- I was back in LA recently and we really want to go back there, work back over in LA again.
Liam- Play music and cause trouble! I miss it; I want to get off tour buses in sweaty, hot places again.
Janet- And the new album?
Liam- Yes indeed. It’s another chapter – the next chapter in the band. New album. Nothing like the first-it’s darker – trip hop, atmospheric and soulful. It’s still got that Winachi groove but it’s deeper, more mature feeling. It was written in lockdown.
Anthony- It’s what we wanted to do when we first got together, but we didn’t know how to do it back then, now we do. It’s like a complete work; the sound’s the same, you’ll know it’s Winachi; we’ve just progressed, developed, as Liam said “matured.”
Liam- It’s not taking anything away from the first album; it’s just a different vibe, feel and direction of another chapter. We’ll always love ‘Sympathy for the Future’, and love playing it, it’s part of us, it’s our love letter to LA.
Anthony- We’ve just evolved as a band and I think creatively it’s needed, whatever your musical genre it keeps it fresh.
Janet- And I know the oldies go down so well at gigs “Time for love” goes off every time.
Liam- It does- we love it, it’s actually turning 10 this August! It was our debut single and means a lot to us, so with Mark and Liberalis we’ve produced limited edition “Time for love” T-shirts.
Mark- I’m really happy to produce these “Time for love” T-shirts. It’s a great collaboration and we worked well together.
Anthony- It’s been good to work with Mark as he’s not from the music industry so has different ideas and input, which is refreshing.
Janet- What’s next for Winachi then?
Anthony- More music, always more music; it’s what we do, our passion. We’ve got loads of stuff we’re already working on and so many ideas.
Liam- More radio, more podcasts. We’re looking at doing a regular Winachi podcast with guests – people getting their stories told. More merch, more gigs, more everything- in September (20th) we headline Saltaire Festival at Robert’s Park, Bradford, and we’ve a really exciting home town gig in Warrington that we’ll be announcing soon. Expect to see lots of live Winachi action coming! It’s what we do!
Another brilliant few hours spent with Liam, Ant, Mark and Louise (photographer). Winachi is such a melting pot of ideas, creativity and musical magic. It’s very inspiring and uplifting. The energy from all three is totally infectious. It’s honestly an absolute pleasure to work with and hang out with such a creative force and lots of laughs are guaranteed. So much in store from Winachi, – I’ll be following keenly.
Huge thanks to the Shipwreck Brew house in Cleveleys for their hospitality.
Photos by Louise Newiss
Interviewer : Janet Harding
