I want to be sexy.....

Winterbrief

Who needs Coldplay, anyways? Forget dodgy wank-style guitarsolos and whiney voices, here come Winterbrief - the syntholution is upon us! Think slightly eighties keyboards. Think diskobeats.Think five year olds after an overdose of Sunny Delight. Oh, and try not to think Bis!

Winterbrief are an all boy all girl supergroup, namely boy Julian (backing vocals, guitar, working with drummer "Coco" - note: Coco is not a moron who doesn't know what to do, it's a drummachine we're talking about- and making ,erm, noises) and girl Jan (vocals and keyboards). The duo from Philadelphia first met at high school (hoorah!) and their musical activities took off in 1998 when they released their first single and "started playing 'real' shows".

Real shows, as opposed to? "A house party in ther basement, the pipes were leaking and we were afraid of being electrocuted. Right after we played the pipes burst and the basement was flooded, fortunately we'd taken our equipment out already. We played three or four songs, one was a Fad Gadget cover and another song was an original that was an absolute dirge, hard to imagine that with how we sound now." Julian remembers Winterbrief's first ever gig. Jan's memories of that very night are that "the house party was full of crusty punks, it was funny. Our main aim was to annoy, so the dirge was a good choice for starting off our set. It was fun cos the crowd wanted something fast and angry but we just wanted to be annoying!".

Fair enough, so that was the first ever Winterbrief live appearance. But, was it also the worst? According to Julian, it wasn't, as their worst ever show involved a "horrendous bar owner doing Frank Sinatra Kareoke and a huge mural of a scantily-clad woman getting physical with a tiger."

Moving on from the Winterbrief live experience to their recorded output, the album "Complaints from the Beauty Class" was released in 1999 and was "embraced by fans and critics alike". Hoorah! So what's next for Winterbrief? "We will be releasing a Winterbrief remix album that has 'Brief songs remixed by lotsa superstars from around the world! So far we have "Art Loft Rebel" remixed by Jimmy of the Guy Who Invented Fire/Robots and Electric Brains and "Chick Flick" remixed by the Hit Device. We are going to be remixed by Fingernail,whom we'll also be touring with, Electrelane, Cex, Gummi Boy, and various other superstars."

And what are they definitely NOT going to do? "What we won't do,we will never do psychedelic '60s' dad rock. I hate most music from that ear! As well I will not admit to liking Madonna, she sucks!" rages Jan whilst Julian just reassures that Winterbrief "won't be going in a country direction".

And what are they doing right NOW? "The band currently resides in Philadelphia where they enjoy roaming aimlessly and getting lost. Julian is currently battling addiction to picture taking whilst Jan is trying to kick her habit of collecting wrapping paper. Their appreciation for good coffee, however, suggests they may be maturing."