Windsor for the Derby

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Windsor for the Derby, Paris, FR 2008. From L to R: Dan Matz, Jason McNeely, Charlie Hall, Alan Schaefer

Windsor for the Derby originally formed in Tampa, Florida in 1995. Shortly thereafter, the band moved to Austin, Texas, where they would soon find a home on King Coffey's (of the Butthole Surfers) Trance Syndicate. Its founding members were Dan Matz, Jason McNeely, and Greg Anderson. Their original live performances were conducted under various names and sometimes under no name at all. Those shows were often instrumental with a mix of blistering guitars and synths accompanied by Anderson's krautrock-inspired drumming. Interestingly, the band had no bass player until much later in their career. WFTD was an odd mix to the Trance lineup which, up to that point, included more raucous psychedelic bands such as Crust and Ed Hall. They did play frequently with like-minded label mates Bedhead and The American Analog Set and help spark a post-rock scene in Austin.

The Trance Years

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WFTD, 1997. Clockwise: Greg Anderson, Dan Matz, Adam Wiltzie, Jason McNeely

WFTD's first release on Trance, 1996's Calm Hades Float was much different than their early live performances. With Adam Wiltzie (Stars of the Lid, A Winged Victory for the Sullen) as recording engineer and assistance from Mat Mitchell (Nine Inch Nails, Tool, Puscifer) the lp took on a much more ambient tone. Michael Gira (Swans) tapped WFTD to be the opening act on the Swans final tour in early 1997. Adam Wiltzie joined the band for that tour and would stay with WFTD for the next few years. It is on that five-week tour that Dan Matz and Gira formed a friendship that would later lead to their collaborative What We Did album for Gira's Young God Records. In fact, WFTD would later become Gira's first non-Swans release for the label with 1999's Difference and Repetition.

With new recordings from Grant Barger (Palace Brothers) and some electronic experiments left over from the Calm Hades Float sessions, WFTD released the Metropolitan Then Poland ep in 1996. The title was reference to the band's move to New York City that year and the train stop where they resided. The New York City move proved short-lived for half of the band, with Dan Matz and Greg Anderson staying in New York and Jason McNeely and guitarist Chris Goyer, who joined the band in 1996, returning to Texas. The Minnie Greutzfeldt lp followed this move and became the first of many recordings that the band would make many miles apart. The core of Minnie Greutzfeldt was recorded in Austin by Adam Wiltzie with Matz contributing tracks recorded in Brooklyn.
In 2002, Emperor Jones released a rarities compilation entitled Earnest Powers. It included early live recordings and outtakes from their years with Trance. Secretly Canadian re-released much of WFTD's Trance catalog in 2006.

Redefined

With a friendship developed on their 1997 tour, WFTD were asked to work with Michael Gira's Young God Records for their next release. Difference and Repetition was recorded in stages over a two-year period with Matz in New York and the rest of the band in Texas. It is during these recordings that Matz began to record and engineer himself, sending tapes back and forth to Texas where Wiltzie was recording the rest of the band. Released in 1999, Difference and Repetition also marked a sonic shift with its detailed guitar work influenced by late sixties folk revivalists and krautfolk of the same era. This release also marked the departure of Goyer and Anderson after tours of the United States and Ireland.
Matz and McNeely collected in Austin, Texas, for the recording of The Emotional Rescue LP. There they again tapped Mat Mitchell, with Kyle Ellison (Meat Puppets) engineering. The band saw a dramatic lineup change with Karl Bauer (Axolotl) taking over on drums and Ben Cissner (Tiny Vipers) as a multi-instrumentalist, among others. Released on Aesthetics Records in 2002, this release would see the band complete a six-week tour of the United States and Canada with Bauer and Charles Eyo-Ita joining Matz and McNeely. Following this, WFTD completed their first of many tours of Europe with Cissner and Tim White (I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness) replacing Bauer and Eyo-Ita. The Emotional Rescue EP, a series of outtakes and alternate mixes, was released in Czech Republic on the Holophonor label. A cover of Section 25's "Melt Close" was included on the EP. Also, as a complement to lp, a series of remixes called the Awkwardness EP was released.
During this time Matz and McNeely also began working on other projects with Matz starting The Birdwatcher and McNeely forming I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness with WFTD contributors Chris Goyer and Tim White.

The Secretly Canadian Years

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WFTD, 2008. Clockwise: Dan Matz, Jason McNeely, Anna Neighbor, Charlie Hall

Matz and McNeely began working with Dan Burton (Ativin, Early Day Miners) in Bloomington, Indiana in 2002. They recorded for the next year and a half with Burton, Ben Cissner and Tim White contributing to the effort. Bloomington's Secretly Canadian subsequently released We Fight Til Death in 2004. With its much more direct and honed songs We Fight Til Death would prove the group’s most ambitious and successful work to date. It is also WFTD's longest release and its vinyl format is a three-sided double lp. Successful tours of the United States, Canada, and Europe followed. The epic "Melody of a Fallen Tree" from that recording was later used in Sofia Coppola's 2006 film, Marie Antoinette.

That same year Matz moved to Philadelphia where McNeely would later join him as they recorded Giving Up The Ghost. This record would be the first where Matz took over engineering duties in his home studio. Two new members, Gianmarco Cilli on drums and Anna Neighbor on bass and keyboards, added to the recording and the live shows that followed. Giving Up the Ghost proved to be much more experimental, with the group utilizing odd instrumentation and rhythms throughout the recording. With limited live dates following the recording, McNeely returned again to Texas and the band again became a long distance project.

In 2007 WFTD also released the Confianza / Visiones EP on Spain's Acuarela Records as well as the Empathy for People Unknown 12" which featured a remix by Odd Nosdam and a cover of Swell Maps' "Gunboats" which would become a staple in WFTD's live set.
After a brief hiatus, Matz and McNeely began work on How We Lost, most of which Matz recorded in his home studio with Dan Burton providing assistance on a few of the tracks from Bloomington. Charlie Hall (The War on Drugs) played drums on a number of the tracks and played many of the live dates on the American and European tours that followed with Adam Granduciel (The War on Drugs) sitting in on drums for a handful of dates. Alan Schaefer joined the band as guitarist and McNeely focused his efforts on playing bass. Justin Luke (Black Branches) contributed vocal arrangements for "Hold On" and a number of others contributed overall. Those contributions resulted in How We Lost again redefining WFTD's sound as the songs proved to align with more traditional pop music structures. "Indeed, after years of indecision as to what kind of band they wanted to be," stated Joe Tangari in a Pitchfork review for the record, "Windsor for the Derby seem to have finally opted against ever deciding. And that's really not a bad thing."

WFTD's final album for Secretly Canadian, 2010's Against Love proves to be their stylistically darkest release both musically and lyrically. With longtime friend and Tampa native Cliff White assisting McNeely in Austin and Matz manning his Philadelphia home studio, the band crafted an lp that mixes McNeely's sometimes caustic soundscapes to Matz's most direct and confessional vocal songs to date. In a review lauding the release, critic Bill Meyer suggested "if there's any autobiography in these songs, then at least one of them is paying a shrink or an attorney."

Members

• Jason McNeely
• Dan Matz
• Christian Goyer
• Tim White
• Ben Cissner
• Greg Anderson
• Karl Bauer
• Adam Wiltzie
• Alan Schaefer
• Gianmarco Cilli
• Charlie Hall
• Adam Granduciel
• Cliff White

Discography

Albums:

1. Calm Hades Float - 1996, Trance Syndicate
2. Minnie Greutzfeldt - 1997, Trance Syndicate
3. Difference and Repetition - 1999, Young God Records
4. The Emotional Rescue LP - 2002, Aesthetic Records
5. Earnest Powers - 2002, Emperor Jones Records
6. We Fight Til Death - 2004, Secretly Canadian
7. Giving Up the Ghost - 2005, Secretly Canadian
8. How We Lost LP - 2007, Secretly Canadian
9. Against Love LP - 2010, Secretly Canadian

Singles and EPs

1. "Live at the Blue Flamingo" - 1995, Golden Hour Records
2. "Windsor For The Derby / Desafinado" Split single 1995, Trance Syndicate
3. Metropolitan Then Poland EP - 1997, Trance Syndicate
4. "The Kahanek Incident - Volume 1" Windsor For The Derby / Drain split 12"-1997, Trance Syndicate
5. "Stars Of The Lid / Windsor For The Derby" split 7"- 1998, 33 Degrees
6. "Fangface" split 7"- 1998, Pehr
7. "Now I Know the Sea" 7" - 1999, Western Vinyl
8. "Melt Close" 7" - 2000, Speakerphone Recordings
9. "The Emotional Rescue EP" - 2001, Holophonor
10. "The Awkwardness EP" - 2001 Aesthetics
11. "Empathy for People Unknown" 12" - 2005, Secretly Canadian
12. "Highway Kind" - Emoragei Magazine Je T'Aime Compilation, 2006
13. "Speaker Special" 7" - Geographic North 2012

External links

• Secretly Canadian: Windsor for the Derby Record label page
• Spin Magazine Live Review
• Windsor for the Derby at AllMusic
• Windsor for the Derby interview (january 2001) for QRD