Interview date: 3 November 1998
German rockers Winterland came to my attention with the release of their "Blind" album earlier this year. When Markus Pfeffer from the band dropped by Mood Swings and noticed that the October update didn't have any new interviews, he kindly said he volunteered himself for the November update. So let's find out some more about Markus & the band:
1. Maybe we could start the interview with a brief summary of how Winterland was formed ?
In late 1995, after the split-up of my previous band SCARLETT, I started recording (instrumental) songs in my homestudio. The result was my solo-album "Persistence of memory", which caught Thorsten Fries' (vocals) attention in early 1996. We both met for the first time in my home-studio and soon realized that our musical tastes fit very well together. I gave a tape of the new songs I recorded to him ("Back for more", the opener of our first album "Under the flood") to see what kind of lyrics he will write for it and what his vocals will sound like. When we met some days after that, my reaction was probably the same as everyone else's hearing WINTERLAND for the first time. I was totally surprised to hear his voice, but also very glad to see he sounds very original and different from other singers. Being a musician for 10 years, I never met anyone I could write songs with so easily, so we decided to work together. Our collaboration resulted in the first album "Under the flood" (released as a promo-demo in December 1996), on which I played all instruments due to the fact that the band was a studio-project by that time. The idea for the bandname came from one of the songs I recorded on "Persistence of memory", called "Winter's breath". But WinterLAND sounded better, indeed. We received marvellous reactions on our album and shortly after completed the line-up with Stephan Hugo (guit.), Holger Kuntz (bass) and Chris Guckeisen (drums) who played together in a band called CENTARON since 1992.
2. In an age where many bands struggle to create an original sound, Winterland have forged their own identity. The most obvious sign of this is Thorsten's vocals. How would you describe his voice ?
Thorsten's voice is the opposite of what kind of vocals one may expect to hear on a Hardrock-album. His dark and deep vocals are often compared to Gary Huges (TEN), Dave Gahan (DEPECHE MODE) and Nick Holmes (PARADISE LOST). Nevertheless, all comparisons can only give a direction, I'd say he has some of all of the singers mentioned. One of the songs we cover live fits perfect to his voice, "Through the barricades" by SPANDAU BALLET and is also a good description of HOW he sings like. Thorsten attended classical trainings and never ever screams, he always SINGS and focuses on melodies and harmonies.
3. The 'Blind' album was completed earlier this year. Without record label backing, was it difficult to get the project off the ground ?
To be honest, no. We decided to record the album in May 1997 and from then on, being a student of economics, I focused on all financial and legal plannings. The whole production, every penny invested, was planned and documented, we got the copyright for the songs and the bandname, did the cover ourselves and even planned which (recording-)tracks to use for which instrument on which song. Nevertheless, we knew before we would never be able to get the money we spent back from the sales. "Blind" was recorded in a professional studio from February until May 1998. We wanted to be sure the recordings can happen without stress and pressure, but that cost quite "some" money...
4. Did you enjoy the time in the studio ?
Absolutely!!! I already recorded/mixed 3 CD's in that studio ("Five minutes" with my first band GO 90 in 1993, "Wait" with SCARLETT in 1994 and my solo-album in 1995), so I knew the studio-owner very well. Willi Müller is a musician himself, he was very supportive, understanding and he always gave us the time we needed, without looking what time of day it is. His wife even gave us coffee and tee (Stephan never drinks coffee, ha ha), and the time in the studio was a great expreience we may never forget.
5. One of the aspects of the album that I liked was the fact that it features a variety of styles & tempos. Was there a deliberate decision to give the album some variety ? Or did it just happen naturally ? Whilst a good many of the songs on the album deserve further discussion, a couple of the songs are always going to generate more comments than the others.
That's a hard question, really. We had about 20 songs to chose from, and finally decided to record 13 we were all convinced of a 100%. The variety of styles results from our different influences, I guess. Stephan has got more heavy and progressive influences, what you can hear on songs such as "Clearer and clearer", "The tables are turned" and "Blind" whereas I call AOR, Rock and Funk my major influences, most audible on songs as e.g. "Shadows", "A walk on the sun" and "Snow falling". The perception of variety was, to be honest, surely forced by our selection WHERE which song will be placed. We concentrated on the fact that "similar" sounding songs may not follow each other directly, ha ha. The most discussed songs on the album are "Snow falling" and "Everything counts". "Everything counts" is a cover of the classic DEPECHE MODE-song and surprised many people (in a positive way). I often heard the comment that people thought we play it in a deeper tune, but that isn't the case, Thorsten's voice just sounds darker than Gahan's...
6. 'Snow Falling' is a tribute to the late Michael Hutchence from INXS. What was the reason behind this ?
"Snow falling" was written on November 23rd last year, when the news that Michael Hutchence, singer of INXS, has died. Being an INXS-fan for a long time, my way to deal with that incident was to write a song about it, I would even go so far and call it a self-therapy. I am more than glad that our intentions were never misunderstood. We wouldn't place a sticker on our CD saying "incl. tribute-song for Michael Hutchence" because we don't want to make profit from that tragedy, that would be disgusting. It was and is meant to honor a musician always underestimated we may never forget.
7. A cover of a Depeche Mode song might at first seem a curious choice for a rock band, but I guess it came about due to the similarities between Thorsten's vocals and Dave Gahan from DP?
Yes and no. Stephan is a great DM-fan and he always dreamed of covering that song, but with the singers of his previous bands, it wasn't possible, the vocals were too LOW for them (very unusual, isn't it). One day, he told us about his idea and everyone was convinced that it was good. Thorsten figured out his voice fits perfectly to Gahan's deep baritone, and that's it. But it wasn't chosen because of the similarities in their voices, that was really hazard (hard to believe, I know).
8. I remember you had a vote on the Winterland mailing list for the list members to vote for their favourite songs. Could you remind us of the results of that ? Any comments ?
Oh my, I hope I remember well. The three most voted songs were
- "Neverland" (an acoustic ballad)
- "Snow falling" (midtempo semi-ballad)
- "A walk on the sun" (AOR-song with funk-influences)
All I can say is that I was very surprised by the results myself. Even Metal-fans on our list voted for the softer, more melodic songs. But I guess I know why. Thorsten's voice sounds better to clean guitars and melodic arrangements than to heavy staccato-riffs. In softer songs, his vocals have way more space to "breathe" and create atmosphere, I gess that's why those kind of songs tend to impress people (no matter what styles of music they prefer) more.
9. And what are your favourite songs from the album ?
"Snow falling", "A walk on the sun" and "Shadows". I'd say that Thorsten did his best job on the vocals for "Shadows". Musically, I also love "Missing" because it is very very heavy and shows the "other side" of WINTERLAND.
10. Any songs, or indeed anything, about the album that you would like the chance to do again ?
Hundreds of things, ha ha. But I am a perfectionist, so that was the wrong question ;-)
Nevertheless, I like the album and I can say without doubt that I am proud of it. There are always things you would do in a different way after an album is completed, but "Blind" wasn't made in a week (like many albums are due to the lack of money) and I guess we've done the best we could by that time.
11. What are Winterland up to at the minute ? And what are the band's plans for the future ?
I already wrote 11 new songs, most of which are more melodic and softer than our previous material. Our plans for the future mainly include focussing on songwriting and arranging, we won't play live for quite some time because rehearsing the old songs over and over again doesn't do the creative process any good. Thanks for the interview and your support, Nigel.
Many thanks to Markus for taking the time to reply to my questions.
