Exclusive Video & Interview: Powerkompany – “Last Winter”

Photo by Grace Long

Photo by Grace Long

We’re humbled and honored to be able to premier the new video for “Last Winter, the second single off of Athens-based duo Powerkompany‘s new album, I Am More Than This. Over the past few years, the band (comprised of Packway Handle’s Andrew Heaton & Venice is Sinking’s Marie Davon) has haunted and charmed us with their anthemic and orchestral “future folk”. You can purchase their new album here. In the mean time, check out this exclusive debut of “Last Winter” and our interview with Marie. 

Sean: Before we get to the meat of this interview, congratulations to you and and Andrew both for a successful release of the new record! It must feel wonderful to have that phase behind behind you and be on to performing it live (and perhaps even working on new material)?  

Marie: Thank you! We are very happy to have this album out now and beyond thrilled that people actually like it. We put a lot of effort into it, but—as the title hints—we’re not stopping with I Am More Than This. I have at least seven songs that I am willing to put on another album plus a few more in the works and we have already started recording some of them.

'I Am More Than This' Album Art

‘I Am More Than This’ Album Art

It’s my understanding that a large part of this record is a product of the darkness, but also growth that came from your journey into and out of drug and alcohol addiction. When would you say you realized you had a problem that you needed to face? And when did you realize that something good was emerging from the whole process and that it was something you could harness for this album? 

Actually, this album was written from depths of drug and alcohol abuse. I didn’t realize I had any problems until we had finished the album. I was sitting alone in my house, a mid-February night, forcing whiskey down my throat, feeling like I wanted to die, when I knew it was time to stop or I would be faced with a path I didn’t want. I was in very early recovery when I finished the layout for the album artwork. When you’re in the middle of withdrawal and panic attacks it’s hard to know that you’re even doing anything at all. It was like I was on auto-pilot. In fact, the next album will have songs that came to me during my first few months of recovery.

Given the things that you’ve overcome in the past few months, what advice would you give anyone else that may be struggling with addictions of their own? 

I would say that the only thing I had to do was stop fighting. Being humble makes you vulnerable, but it’s the only way to live.

The video for “Last Winter” is stunning. The contrast of the colors, movement, and texture had me honestly mesmerized until I realized I’d been staring at a black screen for about ten seconds… What was the filming process like?

So happy you liked it! Last December, Andrew and I decided to go down to Savannah to visit our friend Derek Scearce for a couple days. We thought maybe we’d shoot a video, maybe not—we would see how things went. I wanted something cute to wear so I borrowed some dresses from my friend Susanna who owns a little consignment boutique in Athens called Suska and we drove down and set up camp at Derek’s place for the weekend. The house had a creepy attic with great lighting. Derek is basically a photography genius and he took his camera up there to shoot some stuff. I put on that pink dress, took my bottles of vodka and tequila, and proceeded to do what I would normally do on a weekend, which was polish off a couple on my own. Derek was there to capture it and Andrew helped throw insulation around, both taking occasional swigs from the bottles. It was one of the last good times drinking.

You have a few shows in Georgia announced for August and then will be embarking on a short run of North Carolina. Are you eager to take I Am More Than This on the road? 

So eager! We want to play everywhere all the time. In fact, we are looking for local bands from Raleigh/Durham and Asheville who want to trade shows, play with us, have some parties, etc. We are excited. So damn excited.

POWERKOMPANY – “Last Winter”

[vimeo id=66701022]