WINTERLONG - "Winterlong" - Lion Music

Thorbjorn Englund continues to evolve and become one of Metal's most impressive players. Speed is not an issue here, it's obvious he's can blister with the best, the most important part is his ability to create new sounds and grow with the instrument. He does exactly that by using all his influences to create a sound of his own.

Of course you can't talk about Winterlong without focusing on Englund's playing, but the truth is that their third album is also full of some amazing writing that propels them to the next level. The lyrics are very well-written and portray a dark image that is the theme of this release. In seems death and judgment is in the bands mind at this point beginning with the steallar "The Priest" and continuing throughout the CD with songs like "Judgement Day", "Each Day We Die", "Oblivion" and others. There's even a very beautifully done "ballad" called Demise, that will move even the hardest of hearts.

Now back to Englund. His speed and precision must simply be heard to be believed. It's only a matter of time before he breaks into a larger stage. His playing rivals that of any of the big names in Europe, and with albums like this, sooner or later he will be impossible to ignore.

My greatest fear as an aging Metalhead now in his 30's is that the younger generation won't carry on the Metal tradtion of my heroes Judas Priest, Saxon, Iron Maiden and others. Now I can sleep easier knowing that guys a decade or more younger than I have picked up the Metal torch and have taken up the challege of keeping true Heavy Metal alive.

Thorbjorn Englund of Winterlong and Starqueen is the future of Metal. As Priest and Maiden keep aging gracefully, they are still aging, and new blood is needed to keep the Metal monster going strong. As you'll read our interview with the young Swede, you to will feel a sense of relief knowing that this guy is on our side.

-First of all Thorbjorn, let’s introduce you to the readers, tell us a bit about yourself… how old are you, where are you from, and so forth…

Ok! Well, I am still youg I guess, 23 years old. I live in Sweden, in the very north, in a little town called Kalix where I have my studio and my business.
I have been making music all of my life. I started composing my first songs at the age of six, on a lousy casio-keyboard... and not only did the keyboard suck, of course my songs also weren´t that great... hehe.
Time went on by, and at age 10 I got my first guitar, a scallopped Yamaha. I was very interested in beeing able to play the guitar, and that heavy guitarsound they had on records like Bon Jovis Slippery When Wet and such great albums really got me hooked...and so I really wanted to be able to play it... But since I didn´t know anything about how play the guitar correctly, and since I didn´t know any no chords or anything I just started to improvise... I put on some Iron Maiden-albums and just went for it! So this is basically my education when it comes to music, lots of listening and lots and lots of training. To me traditional education seem only boring and in a way a little pretensious... I mean, no one can teach you how to feel and love the music, you have to have your own burning interest and ambitions to be able to create truly passionate music, and this is what I figure it is all about...

-You seem to have taken a similar route to the guitar Gods of the 70’s and 80’s… you basically practiced your ass off and really learned the fine art of guitar. Can you talk about when you started playing and what inspired you to get to where you are today?

When I was 15-16 years old I rent a video with Yngwie Malmsteen, as I was very eager to learn more how to develop my playing... I watched the video a couple of times and was blown away with what a human beeing can do with nothing but fingers and a guitar. So from that day I locked myself inside for a few years, didn´t care about anything else but my guitar....and believe me, I have sacrificed lots to achieve what you hear on my albums.I realized that there was no compromizing what so ever if I really was going to gain full control over my instrument, so I played for at least 6-7 hours every single day for about 5 years, unlocking every little secret I could find.

-Yngwie Malmsteen was a major influence on you, what have you learned from his style of playing?

Very much I´d say. Yngwie was a kind of "guiding light" in my dark years of practicing, and I listened a lot to him and his incredible playing. Nowadays I have sort of found myself in the jungle of guitar-styles, and I came to mix Yngwies style with my other inspiration sources like Iron Maiden, Joe Satriani, Kee Marcello etc. The list is almost infinite.

-You burst onto the Metal scene with your debut Winterlong album “Vally Of The Lost” which was one of the most impressive debuts I’ve heard in a long time, especially considering the ages of the band members. This time for “Second Coming” you did some different things and had some member changes as well as some very special guests. Can you take us back to the time between albums and how these changes came about?

Thanks! Always nice to hear compliments on my music! Well, after "Valley" the line-up changed due to a band related problem we had to confront with all of a sudden. No one had any plans to split up from the band really, and we were already planning for the 2:nd album with Winterlong together with the same setting as on the "Valley"-album, but then it came out that the bass player and the singer wanted to form their own band and to play a different style of music, and so they did, and the drummer left with them as well. So then, in a blink of and eye they were all in a new band, and me on the other hand was without band members for the upcoming second album, and not to mention with no written material since we had written the planned new songs together...

This moment in my career was very hard. But the pressure to maintain the bands image, now on my own, actually made me a hundred times stronger, and so I collected myself on a vacation in the sun, grabbed my guitar and tons of coffee and went into the studio... and out came "The second coming". I had many serious discussions with LionMusic and Lars Eric Mattsson about which bandmembers would fit to replace the old bandmembers and which guys that would be available to hire in for the album, and as time went by I contacted guys like Göran Edman (ex Malmsteen), and talents like Michael O Mara from the US based band "Talen" and just every singer I could imagine for the album, but finally I remembered my old friend Mikael Holm from the school days, and I knew he was still making music and singing at clubs from time to time, and I also remembered what an incredible voice this man had, so I phoned him up and asked if he´d be interested, and that was it! He is phenomenal! Great big powerful voice, yet so smooth at times, it just fits perfect to my music.
As far as the drummers go I got in touch with Andreas and Anders via LionMusic, and thanks to all the help from Lars Eric Mattson I managed to hire them both in for the album, and they kicked major butt with their drumwork I can say! I am still blown away!

-We mentioned your special guests, Anders Johansson (Hammerfall/Malmsteen) and Andreas Lill of Vanden Plas. What did you learn from these guys and do you have plans on working with them again in the future?

I´ve learned a lot. Working with such pro´s is deffinitely something I´ve always wanted to do, and everything they did is just in the right place and fits like a glove to the songs. I have had some talks with Anders recently concidering some drumming on my forthcoming solo-album, and he was in for it, so any day now I will send him some new material which will end up on a half instrumental/half vocal-album.

-Are you able to play live very often considering this ended up being a conglomeration of players versus a band? Are you hoping to in the future solidify a more stable group so you can tour?

Gigs right now is unfortunately out of the question. Not only because I haven´t got a stable drummer or bassplayer, but mostly because I am working day and night with the sequel to "Faithbringer" with Starqueen. This album will surely be a killer, very very BIG and advanced, nothing like the first cd. I have been working very close with Stella Tormanoff this time to make every little detail into perfection. There´s a lot to do with this album since it´s like nothing I´ve done before, so it will surely take some time to finish it, but then I will get a hold of a great drummer and seek my way out of the snow.

-As far as the advancement in the music from the first to “Second Coming”, is it fair to say the music is more progressive? Is this the direction you’re hoping to continue towards?

Yes, I´d say so. I think that the more one learn the more one develops the music, obviously. So "The second coming" is a little more progressive, yes, but I would never make a total progressive turn and change the style completely. I like sometimes to keep it simple but powerful, and you know what they say, -less is more. I don´t think Winterlong will be more progressive than what you hear on the second coming, I will save the "adventures of developing" for my solo albums and keep Winterlongs´ spirit intact for the fans.

-Where do you get your ideas and inspirations for your songs?

Lot´s of things. Movies, Music, Vikings, Folklore, Winter,...... just billions of things, I recently read about the prophecy of Nostradamus, and from that I wrote two songs. After watching a movie about Vikings I felt obligated to write a hymn to my forfathers; the song "Northman" on the Second coming was born. I get inspiration very easy, and from lots of things... and that feels great!

-Most guys your age seem to be playing a more extreme style of music, how important is it for you to keep Melody and Harmony in the music versus pure aggression?

To be honest I can´t stand todays "fashion-metal". This is something that I don´t think has got anything to do with music, it is mostly pure agression and doesn´t attract my ears at all. To me, who grew up with great bands like Maiden and Priest, melody and harmony is very important, and I would never ever dream to play something if it didn´t have a meaning behind it other than to scream in your face! Todays "neo-metal" (or whatever it is called), I think, (my personal oppinion) is nothing but a huge money industry, taking profit from the fashion of drugs and violence among rebellious kids.

-So what’s next? Any other projects you’d like to talk about?

Next is, as I mentined earlier, Starqueen 2. And this album will kick butt.
It´s a lot of hard work ahead with this album, which is very complicated (I even play the piano on it), but in the end it will surely be a masterpiece over 70 minutes long. After that I will complete my soloalbum and hopefully start to write for the third Winterlong album, which then will be followed by gigs around Sweden. The future looks brighter than ever right now!

-Thanks again man, it’s great to know young guys like yourself are into this style of Metal, it ensures the future of Heavy Metal is intact. Is there anything you like to add?

Thank YOU! It is always a pleasure to discuss metal with someone who knows his business! I promise to keep the future of metal intact with every last power I´ve got! Winterlong is something to reccon with! Thank you for your time, and keep up the great work!

Sincerely,
Thorbjorn Englund.

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