The Winachi Tribe: Up-and-coming hit

Image credit: David Gleave (northernfacephoto.com)

In Los Angeles we hold the entertainment industry supergiants. We also hold one of the biggest “hipster” populations of the world. Satirists play on hipsters’ obsession with finding bands before they become mainstream: “If a tree falls and nobody is around to hear it, would a hipster have heard its album anyways?”

Well let it be known hipsters, I was early onboard with the next big thing… I listened to The Winachi Tribe before you!

The Winachi Tribe, known as the “twelve-legged groove machine” from Northern England, are described by their group as “lyrically explosive and musically eclectic,” and are further characterized as “a sonic soul collective who adhere to no boundaries musically or culturally.” Their sound is synthesized by top musicians fusing funk, acid house and rock with an “urban swagger” to create a massive groove.

The band’s premier EP, “Time For Love,” was released through Manchester record label “A1(M) Records LTD.” Since, the band has played across the United Kingdom and Time for Love has gained frequent playtime on BBC radio stations across the British isles earning rave reviews from music blogs globally.

So how did I hear Winachi Tribe before all of the hipsters?

Well, the city of Manchester lies in my heart. My favorite bands of all time are Manchester’s own rock gods: The Stone Roses and Oasis. Also my passion for Man United football (the European kind) borders on obsession. When my favorite band, The Stone Roses, announced they were coming out of retirement this summer to gig, I purchased tickets immediately.

While being connected to the Roses fans in the U.K., I came into contact with Rita Corneille, known in Manchester as “Little Red” who operates A Little Red Original custom clothing company and also is a DJ. We became friends, she made me custom bucket hats, and even got me into an after party in England that unfortunately I couldn’t make it to.

Corneille put me in contact with her friends in the Tribe. She gave them a rave review, foreseeing the group is “destined for bigger things”.

Little Red explained that the “last time I said that was 1987 and I’d just got Sally Cinnamon (The Stone Roses debut single) for my 18th birthday.”

Once I began searching them out, I instantly recognized percussionist Inder Goldfinger from videos I had seen with Roses’ lead singer, and solo artist, Ian Brown. I knew I had to check them out if he worked alongside my favorite frontman.

I spoke to the band, which is made up of guitarist/vocalist Jamie “Fingers” McGregor, percussionist and “overall Yoda” Inder Goldfinger, bassist Richie Rich, as well as the founding fathers of the Tribe, keyboardist Antony Egerton and lead singer Liam Croker.

Croker, from Warrington, England, is the front man of the band. He writes the lyrics and believes their upcoming album to be “introspective” and “self-analyzing” to find where he fits “in this madness we call life.” Contrastingly, he feels that other tracks on the album analyze “the human race, what were going through, and where we stand.”

According to Croker, the band is “a complex bunch of lads” with “big personalities.” The band is almost “schizophrenic” and that creates “the Winachi sound.” Croker further explained that the sound is so unique that you “could peel a banana and know it was [them].” The frontman’s charisma was noticeable, sighting that their “music will do the talking” though now “I’m doing the talking since you’ve sent me some questions.”

The band believes that they are not trying to appeal to a single demographic or genre of person. In regards to who their music reaches, Croker described that “it’s not an exclusive group, and I don’t want to make it exclusive… Whether you’re black, white, rich, poor, gay, straight… It’s for everybody, and I’d like to reach everybody… I think the whole musician ‘too cool for school’ approach where you try to appeal to ‘this sort of person’ or ‘that sort of person’ is BS. It’s for everyone. You can be massive and still be cool.”

According to Croker, The Tribe are a performing “for the right reasons…we’re not doing it to be in a ‘band’. It’s never really been about that. We haven’t really got a choice in what we do. You haven’t got a choice of not putting your pants on before you leave your house because you get arrested. I can’t get up in the morning and not think of and want to create music. It would be like taking a painter and chopping his hands off… You might as well put a gun to his head and shoot him.”

The band’s artistry is what motivates and inspires him.

The band is a tight group of friends, but they “don’t sit on each other’s knees” it’s “just not healthy”. Except when “Jamie sits on my f***ing shoulders,” joked Croker.

The name of the band, as created by co-founder Egerton, is actually an anagram of the bands former name “China White.” The band renamed due to the unknown association of that title with the drug heroine, and another band having that name in the States. Croker sees that the band is the “Winachi” and the fans, “are the Tribe”.

Each member of the band selected their favorite song off the upcoming album. Goldfinger loves “Sense of Danger” because it’s “simple and straightforward” yet “so amazing.”

Croker selected “Room wiv a Zoo”, citing that “it’s daft, but at the same time ultra cool.”

Egerton favors “Heaven Forbid” because it was “a flex of muscles in the studio, along with a lot of creativity.”

Rich also likes Heaven Forbid the most “because this track is just a different dimension” where “everything is right, nothing is wrong.”

McGregor reckons “Dogs and Men” is his favorite because the “lyrics are always going to be relevant.”

The band would not reveal how many songs are on the album, but I have heard the majority of them. They are all class! There are just a handful of bands in my life that make me enjoy every song on a single album, and The Winachi Tribe have added themselves to the list. I am incredibly excited to hear the rest of their tracks, as well as see them perform one day when they come to the U.S.!

The music makes me want to move and groove about when I hear it. The beats are catchy and the music hooks you in. I find myself singing the songs all day long after they get stuck in my head on repeat. You can often find me moving about my kitchen loudly singing the lyrics to “Everybody Everyone.”

Not only is my excitement building for the band, but it is building globally. The group just announced their biggest headline show to date at Manchester’s “Gorilla” on Aug. 20. In addition, excitement is building domestically, due to the creation of fan pages requesting to bring the Tribe to Los Angeles.

I work a summer job at the iconic Hollywood Bowl venue as an usher. Hopefully one of these days, I will take the day off and enjoy the Bowl as a patron seeing the Tribe; or maybe at Coachella or one of the many music festivals in Southern California sometime soon. That is solely dependent on the readers and listeners here in Los Angeles. I encourage you to check out The Winachi Tribe’s new album when it is released and support the Tribe.

Spread the word about the band in the city, and get ready, because the Tribe will be coming and if we have any say over it, they’ll take the U.S. by storm!

Check out the Tribe’s website for updates and to see how the band looks and sounds. Photos, updates, and more can be found at thewinachitribe.com

Would you like more information on The Winachi Tribe? Or need musical recommendations if you’re new to this music scene? Contact me!

Twitter: @LATimesTommy