Swaggering northern tenacity spliced with smooth Californian G Funk soul is what makes up the foundation of groove machine WINACHI. Since they gravitated towards one another in 2015, the diverse musical background of each band member has helped push WINACHI’s sound into something bone meltingly, ass shakingly unique.
"As good a band as I have ever worked with, they blew my head off when I first heard their music. They are definitely special in their own inimitable style" - Danny Saber (Producer -The Rolling Stones / Black Grape)
We are really looking forward to their Saturday evening performance at Boho Festival, Nottingham. Ahead of the gig we thought we would introduce them with a Q&A, this band have had an amazing journey so far.......
Q & A
How long has the band been together for? Around ten years in different formations and under different guises…Firstly Chine White, then The Winachi Tribe, now just WINACHI.
Where did the name Winachi come from? We were originally called China White, but because of the heroin association with the name, especially in the U.S where we were spending a lot of time working we changed our name The Winachi Tribe, with ‘The Winachi’ being an anagram of China White, during lockdown under new management we ditched the Tribe bit (Again because it wasn’t PC in the states) and now just go under WINACHI.
Describe your bands music style in 5 words? Chicken, Grease, Funked, Sex, Groove.
The band has mainly worked in LA, how did this happen? We’ve not mainly worked in L.A but we have done a lot of work in Los Angeles, our most high profile stuff i.e. shows, videos, collaborations have all been in L.A. It’s also where we recorded our current album ’Sympathy For The Future’, we’re a northern U.K band that has strong history with L.A.
I understand you have won a few awards out in the states? Yeah we headlined the ‘2022 ISSA Wards’ (International Singer Songwriter Association) in Atlanta, GA, where we won ‘Best International Band’ & ‘Best International Single’. This January we won ‘Best International Single’ at ‘World Songwriting Awards’ for our track ‘Smoulder’ which is taken from our debut album ’Sympathy For The Future’.
You mentioned doing some collabs with some famous folk? How come Keith Allen features in one of your music videos? Keith’s a good friend of mine and Antony’s from WINACHI. We Co.Wrote his Olympic Opera album ‘Will Cliff Be There’ which was released in 2012, we then went on tour the record with him and his band ‘Fit Les’, we spent about six months half living with Keith and his family…was absolutely insane. Keith returned the favour by starring in the video for debut single ‘Time For Love’.
Tommy Flannigan from Peaky Blinders in another video, bet that was mental!? Yeah that was for our third single ‘A Room With A Zoo’, we filmed it on Tommy’s ranch in Malibu, California…All completely off our tits!!! Was very surreal. I’m riding around on Tommy’s horse Zeus in the video…complete madness.
We love your new album, why is it called SYMPATHY FOR THE FUTURE? Thanks, we recorded it in 2018/19 while on tour in California. It was recorded with producer John X (David Bowie / The Rolling Stones) at his studio on Venice Beach, Earthstar Creation Centre. The title is taken from the title track of the same name. I’m not sure where it came from but I think it’s pretty apt in the current climate we’er living in.
Also Rowetta from the Happy Mondays features, and co-wrote a song on your new album - Could you twist her arm to make a guest appearance at Boho Festival? Yep Ro features on the title track from the album, she’s an old friend of the band. I can certainly ask her!!!
Summer 2018...The Winachi took over Carnaby Street London for the launch of designer Italian trainer brand Pantofola d'Oro's '1990 Collection'......WTF?? Did you get any free trainers? How come you got this amazing gig? Haha Yeah we got loads of free clobber, Pantofola d’ora went onto endorse the band officially for the next five years, all our tours in the U.S, ITALY, video etc Pantofola went on to release their exclusive WINACHI trainers (Currently available through their website - CLICK HERE TO SEE TRAINERS. The owner of the company Kim Williams basically became the 7th member of WINACHI. We still have a very close relationship with the brand.
Did i hear correctly that one of the Band also plays in Ian Browns Band? Yes our percussionist Inder Goldfinger was in Ian's solo band for over ten years.
Finally we are really honoured, and excited to hear the band perform at our little festival, will you stick around for the weekend and join in? Most definitely I will be sticking around after the show for a beer and a boogie…We look forward to smashing the back doors in!!!
CLICK HERE To Watch WINACHI Music Videos (Including Stars Keith Allen & Tommy Flannigan)
Check Out the bands new Album 'SYMPATHY FOR THE FUTURE' CLICK HERE
Performing on Saturday 27th July, Boho Festival, Newton Nottingham. CLICK HERE for Tickets & Info