LA BASED WINTER GRAIN RELEASES SINGLE + MUSIC VIDEO
"PASSENGER SEAT"
FROM NEW EP 'HOLLYWOOD & HARD' OUT 12/3
LISTEN HERE | WATCH HERE | PREMIERE
Inspired by the experiences of band member Kate Anderson who was left without a mother during the pivotal ages of 9-12, "Passenger Seat" is an acoustic country laced lament exploring those confusing and conflicting feelings that still followed her. Even though upon her mother's return relationships were eventually mended, she knew that things would never be the same.
"There’s a new, palpable tension to the song every time it’s performed because it captures both the joy and sadness: joy of a mother who realized her kid wanted nothing more than to be with her mom, sadness of a kid whose mom took three years to turn the car around." - Winter Grain
By letting go of the emotions that were held back for so long and finally airing them out in the open, writing this song was a form of catharsis for Kate. A full circle moment occurred when her mom heard the track for the first time, stating, "I could really hear how Kate wanted to be in the passenger seat." Kate cried in disbelief, as she had very intently meant to convey the sadness reflected in that symbolic empty seat.
"Passenger Seat" is out now, from upcoming EP 'Hollywood & Hard' out on December 3rd via independent release.
[WATCH WINTER GRAIN - "PASSENGER SEAT" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HERE]
[WATCH WINTER GRAIN - "A BETTER YOU" OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO HERE]
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THE FULL STORY BIO: Written by Randy Harward
When singer-songwriter Kate Anderson moved from Reno, Nev. to Salt Lake City, Utah in 2014, she met guitarist Secily Saunders while looking for band members. Discovering a musical and personal harmony, they formed a band around Kate’s songs and gigged locally and regionally.
Before the band had been together a year, Kate, a helicopter pilot with the Army, was chosen to train on the storied Blackhawk chopper—just as she was switching jobs in her civilian life. In addition, she and Secily became engaged. Late one night, Kate and Secily reflected on their musical direction. “If we could make a wish,” Kate said to Secily, “where would we go from here?”
They elected to go big. Where usually a band would write, and rehearse an album, then find a producer and a studio, they decided to work backward. Being big Brandi Carlile fans, they inquired about tracking their first release at Bear Creek Studio.
To what Kate calls their “excitedly terrified surprise,” they’d soon booked a week at the Seattle studio during the last week of February 2017. That gave them less than a month to find a band, choose a name and write some new songs. “We didn’t know who was going up with us until a week-and-a-half before we left,” says Secily. They managed to assemble a tight five-piece group comprised of friends and previous collaborators who could travel during that window. The band name then came from one of them, a luthier.
“Winter Grain” describes the ideal woodgrain for instrument-making: durable, lovely and resonant. “It gets that dark grain from the tree having pulled its nutrients into the roots and bark, hardening itself for the winter to survive. Then, when spring comes, it uses those nutrients for a growth spurt,” Kate says. As it happened, it proved a sublime metaphor for the transitional period all the band-mates were going through, ranging from breakups, to addictions, and the death of a spouse.
The next step was to write some new songs. They sent demos of material old and new to Bear Creek’s Ryan Hadlock (Foo Fighters, The Lumineers, Vance Joy), who suggested the five tracks that became the Bear Creek EP. Through Hadlock, the band secured the mastering services of Grammy-winning Gavin Lurssen (Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Miranda Lambert). “When we came back with this beautiful-sounding EP, it only seemed right and natural to say, ‘Let’s go big again,’” Kate says.
So, instead of booking a release show at one of their usual venues, they thought outside-the-box. Teaming up with Salt Lake’s Clark Planetarium, Winter Grain produced what may be the first folk-rock laser-light show listening party. The June 2017 show was a hit, earning the band a “Best of Utah” award from Salt Lake City Weekly, who described the event as “a full-immersion multimedia experience that made the music more immediate and present, engaging multiple senses and causing eruptions of gooseflesh.”
Once again, life zigged instead of zagged. After a year of playing listening rooms and private parties, Kate and Secily had sensed a big change coming. Initially, they thought it might be another album, or perhaps another unique event. It wound up being both. In August 2018, they released the three-track EP Pale Horse Sound, produced by Greg Downs (The Backseat Lovers) at his studio and once more mastered by Lurssen.
While it is, in fact, momentous— there was another, bigger change in store. Shortly after completing the EP, Winter Grain decided to move to explore music in another city, namely Los Angeles. It made sense, because Secily had already lived there and knew people. She learned she could teach music at Manhattan Academy. The morning after their final show, Winter Grain left Salt Lake City for L.A. where Kate joined the California Army National Guard
Since their arrival in L.A. they’ve set out to sample as much of the music scene as they can. Teaming up with Berklee School of Music grads, Elliott Klein and Ryan Gleason, they also added Morris Carrillo as percussionist. In 2019, they played Hotel Café, Whiskey A Go-Go, House of Blues - Anaheim, among other venues, festivals and radio stations. When COVID hit in early 2020 they shifted their focus to online shows and crafting new original music.
Come October, they found themselves at Bear Creek Studio again, but this time, socially distanced. During recording, nobody could have guessed how elections would end up or how tensions were to rise before Inauguration Day. However, it grew increasingly clear during mastering that the EP release wouldn’t be complete without “Fists” setting the tone.
Released on the 20th of January, “Fists” set the tone for the five-track EP to be launched this summer. On Valentine’s Day, Kate was deployed with her Army unit, leaving Winter Grain limited on what shows they can perform in the next year. However, it is with great joy and anticipation that they plan to participate in the digital music scene as much as possible to keep the music alive.
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