Indie Music Review

I guess that’s just the way it is. We have our own worries and hardships to contend with in our lives. Maybe we just rely on the fact that we know someone will help, someone will sit up and take action.

There is a four piece band out of Winnipeg, Manitoba that is taking action and trying to make a difference in this chaotic world. That band is WHY.

The current line up of WHY have been together since 2005. This includes lead singer Brian Cook, drummer Derek James, bassist Greg Barre, and guitarist Stephan Makarewicz. WHY has actually been around since 1994, however, only Brian is left from the original line up.

WHY is currently hard at work promoting their latest CD “Red”.

I see WHY as an anomaly in this day of pop/punk/rock bands and whatever other over produced music that is blaring from the radio today. Every song on “Red” stands out for its inspiration, spirituality, and rawness. In getting to know WHY a little bit you will know where this music is coming from.

If you check out WHY’s web pages (www.myspace.com/whyy) and www.whytheband.com), you will quickly notice something that you do not see often with many bands. They have listed numerous charitable organizations which they support. Recently I spoke with front man Brian Cook about some of these causes and about their latest CD “Red”.

For Brian, the need to help others started at a young age when he sponsored a child through World Vision. “I saw that child sponsorship works…I saw the world was changeable by the actions of one for one”, says Cook. This attitude has continued right through into Cook’s musical career.

The last few years have seen WHY support several causes through their music. Their 2005 disc The Lazarus Effect had proceeds donated to Make Poverty History. Partial proceeds from the sale of their merchandise continue to go to the African Well Fund. Most recently, sales from the CD single of their number #1 title track hit “Red” were donated to the Global Fund. (By the way, in case you were wondering, “Red” has nothing to do with the “Red” campaign started by Bono.)

As you can tell, the band has a lot of inspiration to draw from. I can only imagine some of the emotions that occur with getting involved with these organizations. WHY has let those emotions spill into the lyrics and music. Perhaps this is best portrayed in two tracks on “Red”. First, the title track “Red” which Cook describes as a lyric that explores the idea behind the term “I see red”. Cook states: “I saw the word red having a layered meaning. Red can be anger, but it also can be danger, joy, passion, embarrassment, sin, or redemption.”

The second track is “Big Thunder No Rain”. Cook sings out about inaction and empty promises. Much to my surprise he was singing about himself. Cook told me: “Big Thunder, was actually a response to the apathy that had crept up on me. Cynicism can be a very comfortable blanket. I didn’t want to just talk about what was wrong anymore, I wanted to do something. Intentions are great, but they don’t change anything…I just wanted to knock myself off the soap box and drive myself into taking action.”

WHY’s writing process may also play a role in the raw emotion that comes through in their music. The incredibly haunting track “The Wrong Way”, my favourite from the disc, is an example of this. Most of the vocal track laid down by Cook was done in one take. Makarewicz came up with a great guitar track and Brian just sang his heart out.

Cook explains that “a lot of the album was done in home studios which gave us the freedom to take our time…Often it (writing process) starts with a lyric or the beginning of a lyric. Other times it is in a band setting where the songs just come. The trick is to stay out of the way of the music. It sounds very spiritual, but to be honest it is.”

Other tracks that really stand out on “Red” are “Rewind/Erase”, which is just a kick ass groove driven rock song, with Greg on bass laying down an infectious funk style bass line.

“The Surface” is a song that will get every person in a stadium singing along with Brian as he belts out the chorus “And rise, and rise.” The song according to Brian is about how “in life we come upon speed bumps, you can slow down and stop to look at them, or you can view them as a ramp and just floor it.”