The Northwest fight the good fight in their stirring new alt-rock single and video The Shoreline — showcasing today on Tinnitist.
“The song was inspired by an episode of the show Band Of Brothers,” explains singer-guitarist Wayne Watkins. “It’s a song about commitment to a cause and banding together to make it through a difficult time and place. It may end, but we are going all in to fight another day.”
As they have. The Northwest — Watkins, guitarists Greg Callaghan and Mike Yak, bassist Mike Smykacz and drummer Marc Santos — have been a band for nearly a decade, writing and performing together while inspired by life, the world around them, and human existence. Shoreline serves as the first single of the Sault Ste. Marie crew’s June EP release All In.
“All In was a challenge for us to take things to the next level,” they say, adding: “In 2019, we received an Ontario Arts Council grant for a recording project, and we knew we had to step up to bat.”
“We utilized the (pandemic) down time to really focus on how to become better songwriters,” says Watkins. “I spent every morning writing something — melody, lyric ideas, chord progression, I would utilize voice memos and later that day listen back while I went for a walk with my dog. Since I also challenged myself to write about real life experience. I think that shows all the way through the album. These life moments were needed to write this album.”
Unable to practise as a group, the band made use of cloud-based software to begin piecing together All In. It would eventually be produced by Dustin Goodall and Bill Priddle (Treble Charger, Broken Social Scene) at Unsalted Audio in Sault Ste. Marie.
Watch the video for Shoreline above, listen to All In below, and follow The Northwest on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
