Hello my friend, you has been into metal music for almost 30 years now, could you please tell us a bit more about your personal musical background?
Hmm... there we have to start in times where internet was a not existent. Basically I lived on the landside without a big city nearby. Radio played the typical 80´s music, but no metal or anything else near that genre. At the beginning of the 90’s I moved (because of high school) into a students hostel and this was the year Metallica released their black album. So basically I have to say, it all startet with Metallica 😂. The second thing happening at that time, I had other people also interested in this kind of music and the first merchandising catalogs came up. So we put our money together and ordered albums from more or less know and unknown bands. And then there was Amorphis with their “Tales…” album – which was the door opener for me to the whole death metal stuff. Samael released Ceremony of opposites, Tiamat their Wildhoney, Dimmu Borgir the Enthroned album, In Flames had their good times, so more and more I changed my interest from classical trash metal to black and death metal. Also Therion had their first tries using classical elements in metal music, and that was fascinating for me – it seems to be a perfect combination. Over the years I found a lot of band (small and big) which widened my musical spectrum.
Initially you started to play drums, was it developed in a professional way or just like a “hobby”? Subsequently you was forced to leave drums and started to play guitar? Could you please tell us what exactly happened and how (hard) was the process?
Drums were always a hobby, I think I was 5 or 6 years old when I first wanted to play them. I didn’t get one at that age, so I bought my kit when I was 15 by myself. For me it was about getting out my energy and frustration… After my school years I moved to Vienna into a small flat and there it was not possible to get my kit or play (without getting trouble with the neighbors). So I played from time to time when I was at my parent’s home, but this was getting less and less every time I was there. The time my father had therapy because of his cancer, I stopped playing completely and I never played since then. This was the time, when I started playing guitar to have something else to put the emotions of life… and it is neighbor friendly 😂
Winter's Breath was found during the pandemic (2020), so I would say you got the most benefit from the quarantine time. Which was your aims in shaping the direction of the band?
At the beginning – none. I used the time to try to learn, how to record some stuff (I didn’t have any experience in that). After a while I realized that the things didn’t sound so bad. I had the base for four songs within 2 weeks and there wasn’t the idea of forming Winter’s Breath. It was only for fun and see, what I can do. After a while I had a few songs and started to record lyrics (which wasn’t planed either). So after the first quarantine I had recorded the “Rising Storm EP”. In a moment of “I am not so bad” I released it on Bandcamp and the rest is history.
There is a sort of hidden concept behind the band´s name? How do the winter months affect you on a personal level?
I am a winter person that’s why I think it had to include winter. The part with the breath should show the ephemeral. In winter you see your breath for a short time and this can also be the short time you are on this earth.
And to be honest, I had a list of word combinations and Winter’s Breath was what appealed to me the most and which also reflect the kind of music I try to make.
From the start, the Austrian metal scene has been a special one, with many very important and unique bands. How do you see Winter´s Breath in this landscape?
I think most of those bands even don’t know that this band exists 😂. But that is ok for me. Winter’s Breath is a hobby where I can put in my creativity, emotions, fears,… As I am a one man band, doing everything by myself it is also not so easy to get to be known. On the other hand, this wasn’t the plan at the beginning. But I must admit, this had changed a bit - over time you become ambitious. But I am far away from bands like Summoning, or Belphegor.
I see myself as underground band and that’s ok for me.
First of all, congratulations on your album. I haven't heard a record like "Graveyard Symphonies" (that touched me musically and lyrically so much) for some time. Is your primary intention to evoke emotions in the listener and to make him or her thinking about these specific topics?
Thanks a lot, appreciate that! Music is emotion. On the one hand the one from the person who made the music and on the other hand the listener’s. This can be the same or completely different, but as long as “something happens” I have achieved what I wanted to.
Music can be sweet, it can be bitter, hard and soft. With that I get the base tone of the song and then I think about lyrics. On Graveyard I had topics for the lyrics which included experiences from my childhood, which took me some time to work out.
Between the line there are messages you can think about, but my main intention is to create emotion on the listener’s side with the music.
In fact, many of the lyrics on the album reflect a dark and quite sad reflection on life at the moment. How do you approach writing lyrics like this?
As is said before, some of them are personal experiences and some of them emerge because a actual daily topic does not get out of my mind. But there is no special approach. There are days where I write complete lyrics for one or two songs and then nothing happens for weeks… this is more a “in the mood” thing.
Musical structure in the album sounds really “dark and peaceful”, it seems you fell as really keen on the atmospheric side of the music. Regarding all these, can you explain the song writing process of Winter´s Breath?
Yes, atmosphere is one of the main components for Winter’s Breath. This helps to widen the musical base for my songs. The songwriting mostly starts with an idea for an album - and most of the time I already know the title of the album and how the cover looks like 😂. Maybe this sounds strange, but this helps me to keep the focus on the topic which I want to achieve with the album. The songs more or less happen later on – I have melodies which I try and sometimes after an hour or two I have finished the basic song. This is something which cannot be controlled from my side. I couldn’t sit down with the plan of writing a song. At the end of the day there would be nothing of interest.
Coming from such a strong feelings, you may give clues about the sources of this endless creativity that can be seen in your music? What is the meaning of “creativity” for you in the music or life?
I would say life is the source. Everyone has those days, weeks months where nothing goes as planned. You think you have reached the bottom of it, and then there is the next clash in your face… This is what I am using to put into my music. Other drink, do drugs, or whatever to get through such times. I put my experiences into the music. And being creative is on the one side completely different to what I am doing in my day job. It helps me to be grounded.
And this is what I need to be there for my family and friends.
Clocking at very close to 50 minutes in length, “Graveyard Symphonies” is clearly lengthier that an average album. However, the rich song-writing avoids any sign of repetitions and/or fillers. What was the album’s writing process like? Was this a exhaustive process I guess?
Creating the music itself was not exhausting. Most of the music happened (I don’t know how other musicians are writing their songs). I have days where I start only with a guitar tone which I find interesting at that moment, building up a melody with it and the rest happens. Sometimes this works out and I have a full song in a short time, and sometimes I quit playing around after short time.
The really exhausting part for me (regarding graveyard) was mixing the album to sound the way I wanted it to be. I try to do all by myself and mixing and mastering is something really horrible when you have no experience. And I didn’t have that at that time (I don’t know if I have more now, but I know better what to do which you can hear on the latest outputs). And I was really frustrated at that time and I must admit, I am not happy with the final sound. It was the best I could do at that time and it is ok, but yes… the creative one is never happy with the final output 😉
Have you read any reviews regarding the album? Do you care about what critics have to say about your work?
Yes I read them (when I see them), the good ones and the bad ones. If I care? I would lie if I would say no. Sure I care, more than I expected in the beginning. But I think this is natural, when you create something and then there are people who write something in a not so good way, that this hurts (mostly the ego haha ). On the other hand the good ones motivate to keep going and continue with my musical path. And yes, I also try to listen what the reviewer has to say.
Talking about black metal in particular, What is the contemporary black metal scene like in Vienna, Austria? Has much changed since you started out?
I must say, I have learned a lot about that scene I didn’t even know when I started.
There are a lot of underground bands or oneman bands like me creating really cool stuff. Last year I was included on a Austrian Black Metal Sampler and I only can say, listen to it – it gives you a croad overview of the Austrian black metal scene (not only Vienna)
What are, for you, the challenges in finding new inspiration or breaking new ground in black metal?
At the moment my personal boundaries. With every album I try to bring in something new (clean vocals, acoustic guitars,influences from other genres…). Those are the things where I try what I can achieve. This has nothing to do with black metal in general – I don’t think that I have the influence to change a whole genre. I think the main challenge is to sound authentic but not the same in every album.
What kind of bands you are listening to nowadays? Can you give some names?
Svet – The Truth, Ard – Take up my bones, Wallfahrer, Friisk, Withdraw (with whom I also made a split album), Dusk in Silence, Pure Wrath… to name a few on my daily rotation.
Welll that was all for now, thanks for taking the time making the interview. I wish you all the best. Stay healthy and safe
Thank you for having me here, these were very interesting questions to answer! https://www.facebook.com/wintersbreath.at/
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