Cold Weather Company’s harmonies and dynamic arrangements of guitar and piano take listeners on a musical voyage. Their five available songs on Soundcloud, as they say, are a blend of alternative/folk music with a hint of rock influence. While they have only recently started playing in New Brunswick basements, the trio is known around campus for their performances at Hidden Grounds, bars in the area and events held by RUPA and RU Musicians Guild. What may surprise listeners is that such a vibrant sound comes from only two guitars, a keyboard, and three talented voices. I sat down with Brian Curry, (vocals and guitar) Jeff Petescia (vocals and guitar) and Steve Shimchick (vocals and piano) of Cold Weather Company to discuss their collaborative writing process, upcoming album release, and experience as a band whose sound is heating up, right as the weather is getting frosty.
RR: So how do you think your second basement show went?
Brian Curry: I think everyone was really receptive to what we had musically…I feel like there was a really good connection between us and the audience…so it just felt right.
RR: What artists influence your music?
BC: Let’s boil it down to this: I’m gonna go with Fleet Foxes, Radical Face, and Iron and Wine. Jeffrey?
JP: Dave Matthews Band, The Decemberists, Chad Stokes, Tallest Man on Earth and Radiohead.
Steve Shimchick: And I’ve got Coldplay, Keane, Two Door Cinema Club and, we’ll go with Matt Corby.
RR: How’s your music different from other bands? What sets you apart?
SS: A thing that we always strive towards in our songs is our focus on harmonies.
JP: You know what I think is different? The fact that we were all individual songwriters on our own and now, we all team up and write together. We have individual songs and we blend; it’s all a giant collaboration.
SS: Yeah, there’s no lead singer, every song changes depending on it, so we have all contributed our own work, and then our new songs have whatever we feel is right for them. A lot of bands have problems because they want to be in the spotlight, or the lead singer is taking too much credit. But for us, we’re all equal; we split it.
RR: How can you see your sound evolving in future releases?
BC: Well, we kind-of have different ideas for where the sound is going to go…we eventually want to have a bigger sound. Whether that means adding members or just adding new elements…I want to keep the vibe, and see what the limits are.
JP: I don’t think it will change when it comes to the collaboration strategy. I think that on every album, we’re all going to sing.
BC: I think all the dynamics are going to stay the same. When it comes to the sound, we don’t want to ever have the same song twice. We’re going to keep pushing the boundaries, while still staying ourselves.
JP: We want to build the core and then we’ll add the other instruments and have a bigger sound.
SS: We’re still early in on how far we can take this, but right now we definitely still have our foundation, and that’s not going to change.
RR: Could you describe your collaborative process?
SS: Basically, starting out, we knew we all had original solo work, and we decided what songs would be best fit to start playing together.
BC: Generally, when we decide to write a song, the main writing is done by one person, and then, kind-of agreed upon and talked about. Things change as we go. Like, I wrote most of the lyrics for Jasmine, and then we all talked about them, critiqued them, and changed them to make sure that they told the story we wanted to tell.
JP: Song structure wise, we’re a unit. When it comes to lyrics, the person singing, for the most part, is the one who wrote it.
RR: Do you think that the long length of your songs will be an issue in terms of radio play?
BC: We don’t want to stifle our creative process just to make a song marketable.
JP: I mean we might have, at some point, shorter songs, because we know to keep them shorter, and that’s realistically going to happen. But at the same time, when we want to add a cool bridge, like, screw it, we’re just going to add it.
BC: When we’re writing, we’re not really thinking about keeping the songs short, we’re thinking about writing the best song that we can write.
RR: What else can people expect from the album?
SS: With every song, we try to have different elements. It’s pretty unique all around.
BC: You can expect an underlying story between all the songs. We don’t expect everybody to spend the time thinking about it. It’s not Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, but there is a story that ties all the songs together loosely, and it’s open to a lot of interpretation. There’s definitely an over-arching theme to it.
SS: So even if the songs sound like they’re not the same style, they’re linked in a way that we decided on.
RR: What are your goals for the future?
SS: We want to release the album and see how far we’ll take it. Me and Jeff are graduating in May and—
BC: We want to be in Paris by June! (Laughs)
JP: Actually I do want to go to Europe, because the people like acoustic stuff. We actually have some European followers.
SS: Yeah, we’ve been lucky with fans from a lot of places we didn’t expect. To wrap this up, our goals are we want to see how the album does and take it as far as we can. You know, see where we are by graduation. Ideally in the summer we’ll be able to have a real tour where we’re not bogged down by obligations. And you know, when Jeff and I graduate, who knows what will happen.
JP: Yeah, we’d like to go on tour.
SS: Yeah, there’s the work force, but then seeing how far we can go musically is my priority.
BC: Think of how big my beard could be by then if I started growing it.
SS: Yeah, start now.
To check out Cold Weather Company’s music, you can download their five available songs on Soundcloud or Bandcamp, or visit their website at www.coldweathercompany.com. At shows, you will find their vintage merch trunk full of Fellow in the North stickers and hand-printed T-shirts that Brian makes in his “home workshop.” If you want to find out more about their upcoming album release, feel free to give them a like on Facebook.
Laura Curry