Kip Winger

I was just going more for what I’ve always been influenced by, European music.

Good records – from my point of view, where I grew up which was Led Zeppelin and Jethro Tull… bands that were pushing the envelope a little – musically and in production.

It’s a little bit more like I want to give this to the people that are really into it first – I don’t have a lot of desire to be like Bon Jovi or something like that, I really want to concentrate on the music.

We were lumped into the Lite Metal radio bands.

I’m a child of the 70’s; influenced mostly by albums that had a wide variety of style.

It’s like, on my solo stuff, every single person who buys the record, gets it. On the other stuff, the masses… when you have a hit on the radio, not everyone’s going to get it. They are going to buy it for the hit.

The main thing is that I’ve been studying composition for the last four years. I’d say it’s the life experience combined with the lessons that enabled me to go much further.

To actually put the time and energy into an album that would be better than Pull would be a hell of a lot of work, because I took that band really seriously, way more seriously than people took us. If you go back and listen to the records, you can hear it.

I wouldn’t do just a tour, it would have to be an album, and the album would have to beat Pull.

God would have to beam into me what I was doing and what the album actually sounded like because usually when I start a project like that, I already know what the album sounds like before I start it.

In general, I don’t feel artists should need producers.

The songs were really complicated. I used to meet people in bar bands who were trying to play our songs and they were really struggling with it. Technically it was really difficult stuff.

I was really into Black Sabbath, but heavy guitars can really be very limiting, it’s a great frequency and it’s great fun to listen to but on the other hand, musically you can do a lot more without it.

We tune down a full step when we play but I never miss a note. I’ve learned how to keep my voice.

A producer should only be there to enable an artist to be himself.

Rock stardom and all that stuff like that was never like my main M.O., my main M.O. is musical growth, and if I become a rock star in the process, great!

I’ve studied voice from a few different people for years.

I could play everything but could never take a lead. My brain just doesn’t work like that.

I’m not financially insecure anymore either so I don’t have to sit there and get on the latest Poison tour just to make money, which is what a lot of them are doing.

I’d like to tour, but again, to tour my music now would take a bigger band.

As a musician, basically the masses never thought I was a musician.

I play piano and guitar. Acoustic guitar. I tried studying classical guitar when I was 16 but it got really hard. I could never play a lead to save my life.

I think it’s important to know your limitations too.

Throughout the years I have tried to hone my skills to gain mastery over the music in my head.