1 – Between the last album and this new one there were some line-up changes and at some point you were the only member of the band. What happened? How did you recruited the new members?I have been the only original member since 1994. The original members were Terry Salem, whom I started the band with, Dave Holder and B.C. Richards. Tim and Dennis joined a couple of years later before we signed to Massacre Records.We had put the word out that we were looking to audition singers and out of the many who applied was Alex Koch. I loved what I heard and my manager contacted him and we started writing together. Mark was hired to pound on the drums a year later after out first demo.
-2 – Why did you chose well known musicians like Alexander Koch (Powergod, Scenes, ex-Spiral Tower) and Mark Cross (Firewind, Hellloween, ex-Metalium) instead of not so well known musicians?
Our thinking was to get some musicians that we knew were excellent at their craft. Both of them have a great history of putting out good albums. I thought it would be good to recruit some well know players to help Winters Bane come back out after being dormant for a time.
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3 – You also have a new label, Metal Heaven. How did you got in touch with them? How many albums did you signed for?We were shopping for distribution for Redivivus in Europe and the U.S. and Metal Heaven liked what they heard and picked us up. We have a great relationship and I enjoy working with them. They are exactly the type of label we were looking for, and we’re looking forward to doing two more albums. We have a three album deal. I think it’s going to be very good thing.
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4 – The new album is more intense and faster and powerful. It just came out like this or did you really wanted to write a faster and more powerful record?
I’m guessing that you are comparing it to Girth and HOAK. It’s been several years since our last record. I knew coming back would be difficult and we would need to have a bitch-n record. I wanted to come out with a straight right cross to the face. Pow! 40 minutes of shelling and blistering notes, no ballads or slow songs just kick ass drive your car fast and crank the stereo LOUD. So, yes it was my intention to throw some punches at the listener, in a good way of course.
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5 – The album was produced by Curran Murphy (ex-Nevermore, Annihilator) and Chris Tsangarides (Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Helloween). How did you managed to have them producing the record? And how was it, to work with them and specially with Chris Tsangarides?
After Mark signed on to do the album Chris had asked Mark who was producing it. Mark contacted my manager and said that Chris was interested in producing the new album and of course we wanted him to do it, but had to work out the details. Chris was going to do the entire record when we ran into technical problems. Originally Mark and Alex were to record at his studio “The Dump” and I was to record here in Akron Ohio and send them my guitar tracks. The project was difficult enough to record without ever meeting each other face to face. And it was costing us more money than our budget would allow. Chris and Mark recorded the drums in London. I was looking for a studio that I would be comfortable in and spend the right amount of time laying the tracks. I was introduced to Curran six months earlier by mutual friend. I hung out at his “Smiley Sound Studio” and done side projects there. He knew that I was having technical problems and said that he would do the new Winters Bane record to help me out. I think both Chris and Curran were a blast to work with and I would recommend anyone who wants a professional job and a killer album.
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6 – Who wrote the lyrics for this album? What kind of subjects did you used for the lyrics?
It was a group effort between Curran, Alex and I. We had entered the studio with half of the lyrics done and needed to finish them in about 10 days. We all caught the Flu at a different time and had to pull together to finish the album on time. I had a bunch of titles and new what the song should be about. It was a collaboration. Some of the subjects were;
1) LOTR Two Towers
2) An artist’s view on writing a song and his thoughts
3) The consuming nature of man
4) Three faiths – a man who believes but doesn’t act, a demon who knows and chooses opposite, and a man that follows the word
5) A king coming across the sea to reclaim his kingdom
6) A trial of prophet during the 1600’s
7) Leaving a trail of distrust and hate burning bridges
8) A warrior dying in the midst of battle
9) Cutting ties to an agency like the Mob
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7 – Do you have a tour prepared to promote the record?
I would love to tour. You will have to ask Metal Heaven that question. We have a setlist that we will tour with but as of now have nothing scheduled in Europe.
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8 – In your press-release it’s mentioned that your first singer was Tim Owens (Iced Earth, Beyond Fear, ex-Judas Priest). Do you think that the fact that his is a little bit famous now will help winters bane to get noticed by the press and the fans?
Maybe slightly, but it really is a double edged sword. We are looking to stand on our own, and I think we have accomplished it with our new record Redivivus. Some people say we are trying to capitalize on the fact Tim is famous but as I mentioned earlier he wasn’t our only singer, but is someone who did move on to become famous. I believe we all started in the same place and we will all end up in the same place, but taking different roads to get there.
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9 – The album is about to be released but I already found the album in the internet. I remember back in the old days I used to do some tape-trading and that way I got to know lots of different bands from all over the world and this internet thing is just an upgrade of that tape-trading. What do you think about all this internet file sharing, downloading, mp3?
I think it’s great when you are trying to become known, but it also has its pitfalls. If a band spends every dollar it has on recording and pressing and then has to recoup their costs to do a follow up album then it becomes bands life and death struggle to put out another album. I would like to see some kind of encoding that would allow you to get any bands MP3s and listen to all songs for a limited number of times before you have to buy it, and then it self destructs..lol.
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10 – The album has a modern production and some modern Heavy Metal elements but it is mainly an 80s metal oriented record. What do you think of the whole Metal scene right now and in particular of the Heavy and Power Metal scenes?
Is it alive and well in your opinion or is it just getting trendy and it lost its old school spirit?I think like any form of music you have your die hard. But with the resurgence of metal here in the states I think it’s coming back full force, and when a genre like metal gets accepted for radio it’s going to be big. I still think the spirit is there. You have to be creative to make it fresh again and not play the same old Maiden gallops and cheesy pick slides without having a purpose ... ha-ha! There better be some thought, or your new release will be filed in the dumpster.
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11 – Do you want to leave a final message to your fans?
I wanted to thank everyone who has been a long time fan and for the new fans that have just discovered Winters Bane. I know Winters Bane had hidden in the wake, but it’s time to attack! Metal! We have good things coming. Keep a lookout and enjoy the ride!
Thank you,-Lou St. Paul
Entrevistador: RDSEntrevistado: Lou St. Paul (Guitar)
Metal Heaven: www.metalheaven.net
Winters Bane: www.wintersbane.net
GerMusica Promotion: www.germusica.de
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