Windmills eager to take stage at Kelowna’s newest venue

Homegrown talent Windmills is set to take the stage at the city's newest live music venues, Revelry Food + Music Hub. He'll play support to headliners Hotel Mira, a Vancouver alt-rock troupe described as 'terminally unique'.

Kelowna10 sat down with Windmills ahead of the gig, where he shared his excitement about the growth of the local music scene, reconnecting with old colleagues, and his upcoming album.

The questions and answers have been edited for clarity.

How does it feel to be performing at Kelowna's newest live music venue?

Windmills: With Revelry being so new, it's another opportunity for the local music scene and musicians to just grow and grow. They're bringing in bigger bands, so to be able to share that stage with them is huge.

How do you see Revelry playing into the growth of Kelowna’s music scene?

W: It's sweet. I think Kelowna kind of ebbs and flows with the music scene. We had Red Bird, which started out small, and now that's expanded to be this big music venue for the city. And I feel like Revelry is going to be that next thing. It's starting out big already, it's massive capacity, doing great things for the art scene. So it's going to grow.

The lead singer of Hotel Mira said he knows you – how exciting is it to open for colleagues?

W: It's cool. I've known Charlie and Mike for years, but we've kind of gone our own ways in the music world, and to hear them come to town and reach out to grab me has been huge and I'm super honoured to be part of it.

Mike used to play in some bands that I toured with, and Charlie and I played a couple of shows and events together, and we hit it off right away. My first memory meeting Charlie was like 2013 at a music fest in Victoria, Rifflandia, so it's cool to see it now. We're both a decade into it, still doing our thing.

You’ve taken some time off from performing. What have you been up to for the past few months?

W: In August, I played my last show, took a little bit of a break, didn't want to burn myself out, and just been working on a new record, new material. So getting back into live is super exciting. But I got a new record on the way at some point this year, so that'll be fun too.

Tell us about your new album what can we expect from it?

W: It's a progression of my sound, but it's the first time that I've been doing it all myself. So learning how to audio engineer and mix and produce it a little more than I have in the past. It's been fun, it just feels very much or more so me in a way, as weird as that is. I mean, all the records are mine, but this one is really close to the chest in that regard.

For those who may not have ever seen a Windmills show, what can they expect?

W: I think the biggest thing is people see me come on stage by myself and they're expecting me to just play guitar and sing, and it's not that, it's the opposite of that. I've got full tracks, I've got sounds like a band is on stage with me, being one with the crowd is always my favorite thing. Chatting with them, making them feel normal. It's a show that you're if you haven't seen me perform, you're going to be surprised.

Tickets for the show at Revelry Food + Music Hub can be picked up here. If you enter promo code HOTELM10, you can receive a 10% discount on the ticket.