In a scene full of “chugga chugga” hardcore and metal bands, Winter of ’74 inspires a different climate by intelligently meshing heartfelt lyrics with the power of simplicity. Winter of ’74 will showcase these abilities as well as four new songs at The Obscure in Cookeville, Tenn., on April 9.
Having just formed in March of 2004, Winter of ’74 has already begun making strides in the right direction to go from unsigned to signed band. Last fall, Winter of ’74 shared the stage with Capitol recording artist Everclear at East Tennessee State University, and has also supported bands such as Pilot Round the Sun and International Orange.
Not only has Winter of ’74 played with some noteworthy musical groups, the band has also recorded a five-song demo and a live recording from the Bettye Jane’s Fashion Exchange grand opening show at the Casbah.
“Although we have the demo, I want to hold off on sending anything to any record companies until we have something of better quality and that we are all proud of,” singer, songwriter and guitarist Drew Montgomery said. “We are going to continue writing new songs and working them out so we have enough songs when we find out who we want to record with.”
Montgomery has made the band a primary focus in his life and drives from his home in Dillard, Ga., to Johnson City every weekend to practice and to play shows with Winter of ’74.
“Winter (of ’74) is in a transition period right now while we are working in our new drummer, Daniel Keyser, thinking about changing our name, and deciding who we are going to record with,” guitarist Chris Mitchell said.
Winter of ’74 had to replace original drummer Tim Smith when he decided to leave the band to open Bettye Jane’s Fashion Exchange.
The transition of drummers has not been difficult, since Keyser regularly attended Winter of ’74 shows and even filled in for Smith once. Smith and Keyser, however, are stylistically different drummers, Mitchell said. “Daniel is more of a controlled drummer where Tim was a balls-out, fast, hard-hitting drummer,” Montgomery said.
Even though Winter of ’74 has established its name in this area, none of the band members are happy with the name and are in the process of brainstorming new names. “All of us like the name Winter of ’74, but none of us are in love with it,” Mitchell said. “We want to have a name that we can look at down the road and feel that it represents us fully as a band and not regret a poor name choice like Green Day does.”
The name change will have to occur before they have a full-length recording out so they will not have to deal with the hassles of playing in a band with CDs with a different band name on them, Mitchell said.
Winter of ’74 bassist Nelson Arblaster’s parents have given the band money to record and to have their CD professionally pressed and printed.
“We have heard a lot of the local records and none of them really sound professional,” Montgomery said. “We just want to choose the right guy to record, mix and master this record since we have the funds to do so.”
Winter of ’74 has been looking at several different studios and producers to record its debut full-length, but nothing is a definite yet.
Whoever Winter of ’74 decides to record their record with, the band has to have it finished before this winter because both Arblaster and Montgomery’s wives are pregnant with their first children with due dates just days apart in November, Mitchell said.
“I am excited about having a kid and I am sure Nelson is too,” Montgomery said. “I just feel like I have to treat my wife perfectly and give her what she wants …. But none of my aspirations as far as this band have changed at all.”
Mitchell is also keeping the band a top priority. “We want to make the best record possible and have the ability to take our time doing it so when it is out we can get our press kits together and hopefully impress some record companies,” said Mitchell.
The band wants to tour the East Coast this summer to support their record once it is recorded. The band hopes that playing shows in different areas will create some noise for the record and help them accomplish their goals, Mitchell said.
“Our goal is to be a breath of fresh air to the congested nasal-ridden pop-punk, fake-angst and scream-for-no-reason thrash that pollutes today’s airwaves,” Montgomery said.

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