Wind Cries Mary

When you hear the words “metal band,” many people automatically think of gnarly, grizzled dudes plastered with a million ‘tats’ and unkempt beards. So much for clichés. The young men of Wind Cries Mary, including two members from North Middlesex, look more like the kids from next door. But, that can be deceiving, too. Already, the five-man grouphave released two recordings, played headlining gigs and been nominated recently for ‘Favourite Metal Band’ in the London Music Awards, which are conducted by Scene Magazine. In short, they’ve come a long way in a remarkably brief amount of time. Although 18-year old Devin Nickles and 20-year old Jordan Desjardine have been playing together around Parkhill since they were 10 and 12 respectively, it wasn’t until they met Mike Arounlasy in the summer of 2011 that they decided to form the band. Desjardine heard Arounlasy play and knew immediately that he wanted him to join them. At the time, Desjardine said, “I don’t even need to know his name. He’s a good guitar player.” With Nickles on percussion, Desjardine on guitar and 19-year old Arounlasy on guitar, they started searching for a bassist and vocalist to round out the band, eventually finding the right combination with 21-year old Justin Cooper of Greenway on bass and Derek Brandon, a 23-year old vocalist from the Clinton area. Although they’d started out playing more punk-influenced music, Nickles says, “As soon as we got into metal, everything started clicking.” He says it’s surprising how much more adept they’ve become at playing since they got all the pieces in place. “Now, we’re at a pretty good state. We still need improving, but we’re working on our stuff like mad right now,” says Nickles. “We can tell. Every time we go into the studio, the critics are saying, ‘Whoa, you guys just jumped up.’” In the short time they’ve been together, they’ve already played shows all over the area from Kitchener to Sarnia, with plenty of appearances in London under their belt. Nickles says at first they had to fight for gigs; now people are constantly calling them to do shows. That’s made them realize how important music is for all of Wind Cries Mary’smembers. As Desjardine says, “We didn’t think it was going to become something this serious. At first it was just, ‘I want to start a band, because I want to play music,’ and now it’s like, ‘We have to do this’ – because we want to and there’s people who want to hear us.” The band describes their music as ‘metalcore,’ which brings in influences from both metal and hardcore, but also adds in a little ‘progression.’ It’s given them a unique sound that fans, music critics and other bands on the metal scene are really impressed by. All five members enjoy different music genres, so they bring a variety of styles to the table. “We’ve all kind of connected. But, we all bring in our own influences,” says Desjardine. They constantly bounce ideas off each other and are starting to write more and more songs as a group. It probably also helps that the band members are mostly self-taught, so they’ve created their own style of playing. On top of that, their music is virtually all organic, without the use of synths and click tracks that dominate so much of the metal scene. So far, the band has released a single called ‘Welcome’ in August 2012 and an EP entitled Ouija in October. They’re very happy with the results of those sessions and give a lot of credit to Thomas Ireland and Rob McKercher of Ice House Studios in Goderich who helped bring a live feel to their recorded music. And they’re also excited about the new music they’re creating. “Mike brought in a new song that we’re going to be recording,” says Desjardine. “Once we release it, I think it will be a game-changer for us.” Between the live shows and the recorded music, their fan base has been growing exponentially, with supporters from all over the globe catching up with them on Facebook. The road ahead for Wind Cries Mary looks pretty amazing. They’re planning on recording a split EP with another area band in the near future. They’re already making money selling t-shirts at their shows and hope to add more merch, as well. Additionally, they’re looking at using indiegogo, a fund-raising website for arts’ projects. It’s all part of the business when you’re trying to take your band to the next level. Although all the band members have outside interests and two of them are still in school – Nickles, who’s completing high school at North Middlesex DHS, and Arounlasy, who’s in first year of Web Development at Fanshawe College in London – they all believe their futures lie in music. Bassist Cooper, who took culinary arts at Fanshawe, says, “I like cooking and stuff but, really, music’s my muse. It’s what I want to do for my whole life. I’d rather be a starving artist than a guy in a suit and tie.” As far as the metal genre itself, the band members realize it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but they also know that many people have some very misguided ideas about heavy music that simply aren’t true.“Everyone’s always going to assume you’re crazy or something because you listen to heavy metal. Or that you’re a loose cannon. But a lot of the people we meet are the nicest people I’ve ever met in my life,” says Desjardine. He adds, “It’s harmless aggression, that’s all it is. You get on stage and you just have fun and you release and you make sure no one gets hurt.” Whatever people think, however, it’s not about to change the way the band goes about their business. All five members know what they want and they’re all determined to stay true to themselves. As Desjardine says, “We don’t want to try to be something that we can’t be – or that we’re not.” That’s excellent advice for just about anyone, no matter what career they’re pursuing. And, so far, it seems to be working just fine for the young metal men of Wind Cries Mary. Interview/Write-up By: Eric Nixon 5-Piece Metal band out of London, Ontario. FREE DOWNLOADS: windcriesmary.bandcamp.com Email: windcriesmaryband@gmail.com