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Little did I know after first getting introduced to Signature Sounds through a budding artist’s debut record in 2013, that the woman serving as publicist for the label was also a talented member of a riveting indie rock band seemingly content to keep its fan base close to home in New England. Winterpills, it’s great to hear from you again.
The Fantastic 5 based in Northampton, Massachusetts, where their small but sturdy label is located, are active again after a nine-year “hiatus” basically due to family commitments, other musical opportunities, and COVID-19. They’re back in a big way, too, with the wondrous This Is How We Dance, which will be released on 14 November by — no surprise — Signature Sounds. It’s their first full-length LP since 2016’s Love Songs.
To promote their eighth album spread over a career dating to 2003, Winterpills present an exclusive music video premiere of the seductive single “How We Dance” at PopMatters today (7 November). Philip Price, the band’s primary songwriter who also shares vocal and acoustic guitar duties with his wife Flora Reed (the aforementioned publicist), created the winsome video.
Calling himself “a packrat of found images, photos, and footage” during our email interview accompanying the premiere, Price provides some insight on the video, the album, and the state of the band. It also includes longtime members Dennis Crommett (electric guitars), Max Germer (bass guitars), and Dave Hower (drums, percussion).
Check out this exclusive presentation of the official music video for “How We Dance” now, then read on to learn more about a thoroughly engaging, elegant, entertaining — and apparently egoless — group of players who hopefully won’t wait another nine years to deliver their next album.
Seamlessly blending vintage photographs, stock footage, and brief bits of animation along with current video of perky party people and dutiful dancers (try to spot the Winterpills cameos), Price “shot around this huge gothic abandoned building down the street (from their house in Hadley, about 3 1/2 miles northeast of Northampton). … I’ve had a recurring narrative in my head for years of a huge party going on inside a building that I cannot get into — a dream of exclusion.
“This combined with the idea of all of humanity forgetting how to dance together, being splintered, and disconnected and too injured to dance. My mother was a dancer and I have to assume this factored in as well.”
For anyone wondering, the lone end credit in capital letters — “Video by WOODYBROOK LANE JR.” — is Price’s pseudonym, named after the street where he grew up in Croton-on-Hudson, New York.
Since his father was a screenwriter, Price shares, “My first ambition in life was to make films … a path I obviously didn’t fully take, but I keep that dream alive by making lots of little films and music videos. I’m feeling more ambitious about that outlet recently.”
Along with helping bring back Winterpills, Price also is a dad, celebrating with Reed the birth of their son in 2019. The new album signals a rebirth of the band, too.
“The band knew there would be a hiatus for this kiddo to happen; it just was extended far beyond our desires,” Price states. While “writing always drags on forever,” he maintains this time it “combined with parenting exhaustion, eldercare exhaustion, world-care exhaustion. But in picking from the pile, I just sent around a mess of songs to the band, and we all picked what we liked. We are democratic to a fault. My son weighed in, too.”
Getting back into the studio and producing with trusted colleague Dave Chalfant (“a member of the extended family” who worked on Winterpills’ first two albums), “It took a concerted push by everyone; but once the wheel started rolling downhill, there was no stopping it,” Price offers. “We basically just decided there were plenty of songs and we started doing weekly rehearsals at several different spaces, before finally settling on Max’s living room as the most conducive and cozy.”
Recorded at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen, Massachusetts, This Is How We Dance has 12 songs that will enrapt the listening audience, propelled by thought-provoking lyrics, sweet harmonies, irresistible melodies, Crommett’s pulsating electric riffs, and the rhythmic bursts of Germer and Hower.
It only took one pop-up show at Darlings in Easthampton (what Price calls “a beloved local tiny bar”) to get the seal of approval from a small crowd of lucky folks. Winterpills performed the entire album “just to see if anyone noticed. They did,” he adds.
While Price and Reed added to their family (she’s a stepmom to “Philip’s two amazing adult daughters”) during the extended break, he managed “to squeak out three solo albums during that time, so it wasn’t totally a vacuum.” Their bandmates kept busy, too.
Juggling solo projects and working with artists like Mark Mulcahy, Crommett is a master guitar blaster who mans another Western Mass band called Spanish For Hitchhiking with Germer, Hower, and Chalfant. (The latter two were also members of the Nields.) Germer has side gigs with the Fawns and Gentle Hen while Hower has recorded with Valley of Weights, his college band.
While pouring themselves into parenting, Reed continues her efficient work at Signature Sounds, where Price has a part-time job as graphic designer and webmaster. The two met after she moved to the area in 1997, with Reed saying the relationship started “more as an acquaintance and fan of his power-pop band the Maggies,” which also included Germer.
Born in Japan but raised in Virginia, Reed joined Winterpills in 2004. Her group status “quickly changed” from single musician as she and Price evolved into married couple in 2008.
In 2013, Reed first turned me on to Heather Maloney, who soon became one of my fave folk singer-songwriters after profiling her in an article that year for The Huffington Post. While pitching a robust list of artists at her label, including Chris Smither, Eilen Jewell, Lake Street Dive’s Bridget Kearney and the Sweetback Sisters, Reed never mentioned Winterpills. Until 2014.
She sent me a copy of Echolalia, the band’s cool covers album that included several transformations of eclectic selections from a wide range of artists like the Beatles (“Cry Baby Cry”), XTC (“Train Running Low on Soul Coal”) and Sharon Van Etten (“One Day”, with Reed supplying lead vocals). Recognizing her name in the credits, the light bulb above my head finally shined. Tweeting congrats and complimenting her via email on the “lovely album” that October, I added about her participation, “Pardon my stupidity, but I had no idea …”
That was smack-dab in the middle of Winterpills’ career path, 11 years after the group formed and 11 years before delivering a promising resurgence.
Surviving with little fuss or fanfare, Winterpills quietly go about their business. After previously releasing the Crommett-created lyric video for “Lean in the Wind,” the new parents’ co-write with a soothing group vocal, Price has “several more in the pipeline, some homemade and some by other filmmakers” to build the momentum following “How We Dance”.
“Plus: touring,” pledges Price, “which is somewhat limited due to parenting, but we like to tour smart, not hard.” This year, Winterpills are also just a few days from celebrating the 20th anniversary of their self-titled debut album.
Released on 8 November 2005, it now has a remastered edition (available at bandcamp.com and other digital streaming platforms) that includes two new bonus cuts, “Everybody Gets High” and “Looking Down (Flora’s version)”.
Managing to keep a marriage together for 17 years is a challenge in itself for two accomplished musicians but getting five core members to coexist (on and off) for 23 years is nothing short of a miracle. Reed, residing in Hadley with Price, their son, and a few kittens and chickens, points out they all live within an eight-mile radius of Northampton: Crommett in Williamsburg, Germer in Florence, and Hower in Easthampton. They’re a shining example of the band that plays together, stays together.
Disbanding Winterpills “has never been on the table,” Price declares. “We’re a big open marriage of a band. Why break up? There’s no bad blood. We love each other and take care of each other. We’re boring in that way. When we play, it coalesces naturally and feels (cheesily) like it was meant to be. There’s no money to fight over. We’ll let you know if that changes.”
Asked for a moment he remembers that best encapsulates Winterpills’ existence, Price goes back to when it all started. “Maybe it was early on when we were learning all the songs for the first album and Flora got very pissed at me for writing a good song,” he recalls. “I knew we’d all be all right after that.”
Now that they have more of their own good songs to write and projects to pitch, Winterpills can continue to demonstrate how they dance.
Bollywood actress Sonakshi Sinha has shut down rampant pregnancy rumours using some good old-fashioned sense of humour. In a recent Instagram post, the actress dealt with the rampant gossip in a lighthearted and inimitable manner, demonstrating that one time laughter actually is the best medicine.
The actress posted a set of pictures from a Diwali celebration with her husband, Zaheer Iqbal, where the duo looked happy and relaxed. Sonakshi and Zaheer are enjoying a hearty laugh together in one of the snaps, looking stylishly dressed in party gear. Sonakshi simply glowed in an ivory traditional wear, whereas Zaheer went for a timeless navy look, making them a perfect pair.
What everyone was, however, talking about was the cheeky caption put up by Sonakshi. “World record holder for longest pregnancy in human history (16 months and counting according to our lovely and hyper-intelligent media) simply for posing with hand around midsection,” she posted, bringing a hint of humour to the prevailing rumour mill.
The playful reply immediately responded with a viral effect, as fans and other celebrities deluged the post with laughter emojis and encouraging remarks. Many lauded her for diffusing the situation with wit and elegance and not engaging in a confrontation.
Speculation regarding her pregnancy had grown after the couple had attended designer Vikram Phadnis’s gala earlier this month. Sonakshi had been clicked with her hand wrapped casually around her midsection, with some tabloids picking it up as a “hint” of pregnancy. Rumours got further fuel on social media, prompting heavy buzz regarding the couple’s personal life.
In a lighter moment, Zaheer Iqbal too got into the act. At some time, he was caught on camera mimicking cradling her belly in play, indicating clearly that the rumor was unfounded. As per Bollywood Hungama, this moment of levity between the pair was their subtle and pointed response to the undue attention.
Sonakshi and Zaheer exchanged their marriage vows in June 2024 after having a long relationship. The couple has frequently been under the limelight since their marriage, with people and media waiting for news about their lives. This is another instance of how celebrity couples are put through out-of-context interpretations of mere gestures.
With this sarcastic tweet, Sonakshi not only put the rumors to rest but also reminded everyone that celebrities are entitled to their private space — and sometimes a well-timed joke can convey more than a formal apology ever could.
Also Read: Sudheer Babu’s Jatadhara Trailer: A Spine-Chilling Showdown with Sonakshi Sinha’s Evil Spirit
A woman known as the “Ketamine Queen,” charged with selling Matthew Perry the drug that killed him, agreed to plead guilty Monday.
Jasveen Sangha becomes the fifth and final defendant charged in the overdose death of the Friends star to strike a plea agreement with federal prosecutors. Having initially pleaded not guilty, her change of plea means she’ll avoid a trial that had been planned for August.
Prosecutors had cast Sangha as a prolific drug dealer who was known to her customers as the “Ketamine Queen,” using the term often in press releases and court documents and even including it in the official name of the case.
A federal indictment charged Sangha with one count of conspiracy to distribute ketamine, one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, one count of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, one count of possession with intent to distribute ketamine and five counts of distribution of ketamine.
Sangha will officially change her plea to guilty at an upcoming hearing, where sentencing will be scheduled, prosecutors said. She could get up to 45 years in prison. An email sent to Sangha’s lawyers seeking comment was not immediately answered.
She and Dr. Salvador Plasencia, who signed his own plea deal June 16, had been the primary targets of the investigation. Three other defendants — Dr. Mark Chavez, Kenneth Iwamasa and Erik Fleming — agreed to plead guilty last year in exchange for their cooperation, which included statements implicating Sangha and Plasencia.
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Perry was found dead in his Los Angeles home by Iwamasa, his assistant, on Oct. 28, 2023. The medical examiner ruled that ketamine, typically used as a surgical anesthetic, was the primary cause of death.
The actor had been using the drug through his regular doctor as a legal, but off-label, treatment for depression, which has become increasingly common. Perry, 54, sought more ketamine than his doctor would give him. He began getting it from Plasencia about a month before his death, then started getting still more from Sangha about two weeks before his death, prosecutors said.
Perry and Iwamasa found Sangha through Perry’s friend Fleming. In their plea agreements, both men described the subsequent deals in detail.
Fleming messaged Iwamasa saying Sangha’s ketamine was “unmarked but it’s amazing,” according to court documents. Fleming texted Iwamasa that she only deals “with high end and celebs. If it were not great stuff she’d lose her business.”
With the two men acting as middlemen, Perry bought large amounts of ketamine from Sangha, including 25 vials for $6,000 in cash four days before his death. That purchase included the doses that killed Perry, prosecutors said.
On the day of Perry’s death, Sangha told Fleming they should delete all the messages they had sent each other, according to her indictment.
Her home in North Hollywood, California, was raided in March 2024 by Drug Enforcement Administration agents who found large amounts of methamphetamines and ketamine, according to an affidavit from an agent. She was indicted that June, arrested that August and has been held in jail since.
None of the defendants have yet been sentenced.
Perry struggled with addiction for years, dating back to his time on Friends, when he became one of the biggest stars of his generation as Chandler Bing. He starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc and David Schwimmer for 10 seasons from 1994 to 2004 on NBC’s mega-hit series.
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