Photo courtesy of Winkler

Indie pop five-piece Winkler are something like an Allston supergroup. Boasting members from AP faves Sweet Petunia and Dino Gala, the group boast a sound that certainly differs from their those other projects, but retains a similar tunefulness and emotional force. Aided by a rep for ecstatic live shows and a string of well-received singles, the band has caused quite a stir in the tight-knit basement scene since their inception in 2020. With a warm, (some might even say folksy) approach, Winkler makes music that hues a bit closer to classic AM pop music than some of their contemporaries, and with such a rich background, they definitely have the chops to back it up. The band also toys with a clever experimental streak on the back end. In fact, a deep love of home analog recording, and a comparatively brash use of more robust instrumentation have helped Winkler stake a claim for one of Boston’s most promising young bands, and their debut album For You, Now distills these influences into their strongest statement yet as a unit. Pulling from classic folk and rock of the psychedelic and the conventional variety, Winkler has made something like a Dave Fridmann-style orchestral rock opus in miniature, and we can’t wait to see what happens next.

We had the chance to chat with the band’s own Justin Schaefers ahead of For You, Now’s release, so hit play and read on below.

Allston Pudding: When and how did Winkler form? 

Winkler: Winkler formed here in the magical city of Boston, Massachusetts. Christian and I first got together because I had heard that he was skilled with a four-track cassette recorder. He very graciously agreed to help record some of my songs on the four-track, and after booking a rehearsal space at our school, that’s exactly what we did. After a few hours of playing we began messing with some new ideas, one of which became our first single, as well as the origin of the band’s name. Winkler has gone through a few lineup changes since our formation, but the current lineup is made up of the best friends and musicians anyone could ask for.

AP: It’s clear you’ve carved a particular path within the Allston rock scene, how did you arrive at this sound? 

W: We are all very grateful for the music scene here in Allston. It has been such a home to us and the other bands, and the community’s love for music has been a huge influence on us. I think that this energy has really charged our live shows with a vibe that I love. The studio can be a very different environment and while we love to rock out, we felt that with this record, we could attempt some sounds that we wouldn’t typically go for in a live set. Two guitars, percussion, bass, and drums are a perfect vessel for us in a performance environment, but we felt like if we had the time and the space, we could paint a more clear and even picture of who we are musically.

AP: What did some of your earlier music endeavors look like comparatively?

W: We have all been musicians for years, Most of us are currently in other bands as well. For myself I can say that I have been in two other bands before Winkler, both out of Northern California, for which I am extremely grateful. Our bassist Ava and I grew up in the same town in California, and even played in some of the same bands growing up. She moved to Boston a year or two after I did, but I was always hoping that we would be playing together here on the east coast and here we are now! 

Maddy is also in Sweet Petunia, a wonderful group with some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard. They are a band that I have seen more times than I can count and have still taken my breath away with each performance. We are very lucky to have even a drop of that skill in Winkler. 

Alex and Christian are also in the band Dino Gala, who if you haven’t listened to already, then what have you been doing? With some of the most passionate live performances and amazing playing and singing in all of Boston, we feel so lucky to have Alex as the guitar player for Winkler.

AP: There’s obviously a lot of moving parts within your music, how does a Winkler song come together? 

W: It’s a crazy mess most of the time. Each song on this album came together in a different way. We tried our very best to start each song with a solid live take as the foundation. This is how we tracked most of the songs, however, there are a few exceptions. “Sarah and and the Moon” started with a piano track that I did to tape in California, and then we proceeded to build up everything from that one track. This proved to be very difficult but I had heard that “Penny Lane” began the same way so we held on to that faith during the recording process. The second track on the album, “Nothing But Time” began with a minimal demo to a metronome that we then sent to our friend Kely who added the beautiful cello to the track. We then proceeded to re-record the song around the cello tracks to make it as cohesive of a song as possible. The final exception would be the instrumental track “Drunk Surfers” which I recorded all on one four track alone in my room right after the first lock down. I remember sending it to Christian and was thrilled when he suggested we include it on the album. 

AP: What were you listening to and reading or watching while piecing together For You, Now? How do you feel as though those influences are distilled into the album? 

W: We have been working on these songs and recording for so long that the list of influences could go on for a while! The first batch of these really came together while we were on a big Neil Young kick. After the Gold Rush really had a big influence on us. Other influences would include Devendra Banhart (who we all adore), as well as artists like Jonathan Richman, Cate le Bon, Harry Nilsson, Alice Phoebe Lou, among many others.

AP: The production on For You, Now has an interesting mix of fidelities: homespun for sure, but also very warm and dynamic. How did you manage to achieve all that depth while recording at (various) homes around the city?

W: We experimented a lot while recording with different levels of sound quality to help us get what we were going for on any given song. We have a decent selection of mostly working tape machines that all have different sonic qualities that we would use for different things. For example, we have a tiny blue four-track that makes guitars sound all fantastic, rich, and warbly. I love this machine because it makes my guitar sound like some of my favorite records. We recorded almost all of the tracks in our old house on the corner of Linden and Pratt in Allston and we think the space also had a great effect on the sound of the record. We were able to manipulate the limitations of the four-track with the help of the computer when we needed, but for as much of the album as we could, we tried to keep everything on the four-track which creates lots of decisions early on that you can’t change afterwards. This meant a lot of apologizing to our mixing engineer Alex Judd for having things like drums, bass, and piano all on one track!

AP: Speaking of which, the city seems to play a role in several of these tracks, why do you think that setting plays such a role in the album? 

W: The City is just the setting for the record, most of the songs were written in tiny dorm rooms or apartments and I suppose the influence of the city just found its way in. If you walk through the Common in May it’s hard not to feel like writing a song about it.

AP: Is the dichotomy between the typically “rural” stylings of folk music and the urban references you work into the music a conscious thing or just a natural outgrowth of yourselves as musicians?

W: It was never a conscious thing. These songs are just songs we had and knew we wanted to put on an album, we never thought, “oh hey I think this is a folk rock album” it was always more that we knew what we wanted this batch of songs to sound like and we felt like we owed it to ourselves as well as anyone who listened to us to get the songs as close to the goal as possible.

AP: How does the city of Boston and the music scene within inspire you all as musicians/people?

W: Boston has shown us so much wonderful music and introduced us to some of our favorite bands in the world. Most importantly, Boston has been a home and a place where all of us could find each other and create something we feel proud of. Seeing the DIY scene here is so inspiring as well. without it we probably wouldn’t exist. With so few venues available to us starting out as a new band, House shows and the kindness of the scene here has made all the difference in the world.

AP: For our readers who haven’t seen y’all live yet, how would you describe a Winkler set?

W: Big and Bold. in my mind there’s no point in putting on a show if you’re not trying to give something away or share something with other people. That being said, we hope to always be experimenting with our live shows and keep people on their toes so maybe I shouldn’t say much more than that.

AP: Beyond the release show at The Lilypad, what’s next in Winkler land?

W: Immediately after the show tomorrow we are playing three more shows on the east coast as part of a mini release tour as well as another small tour in April. We have already begun working on some new songs in the studio and feel very excited about what we’re getting, so we can’t wait to keep sharing with anyone who is willing to listen.

For You, Now is out now, you can grab a download right here. Tonight’s record release show at The Lilypad is already sold out, sorry!