UN: I was curious to ask how exactly Winds came to be. The bands you guys have been or are in are very different from each other and actually very different from what Winds plays. Was it a matter of like minded musicians coming together to play music they didn’t explore with their other bands?

Andy Winter: Yes, you’re not that far off actually. Long story short we ended up together as a result of musical interests that are similar and also from the fact that we all have a need for playing many different kinds of styles of music. This is something we enjoy to do and we incorporate a lot of it into Winds and what we can’t integrate into Winds we do in other bands. We play everything from jazz, folk music, metal, progressive rock, classical, you name it.

UN: How did the bands musical approach come together? Was it started with the sole intention of being a blend of symphonic elements and heavy driving guitars? To my ears it almost sounds like a more realized version of what Therion progressed into, but more cohesive and with a much more progressive approach.

Andy Winter: Our progressive influences come a lot from our guitarist, Carl, but I’m also getting more into the progressive elements, and I’ve always had a background in classical so that’s perhaps what I bring into it the most. Jan Axel also likes progressive metal while Lars brings the jazz elements to it. These combinations make up the unique combination that it is. We never intentionally set out to play a specific style of music or to integrate specific styles of music, we just write and arrange music the way it comes to us naturally and we’re not selective about where that takes us musically. It was always my goal with Winds to bring the symphonic elements of classical music into the sound of distorted guitars and combine that with melodic vocals, and from there we just gradually evolved musically into a more progressive and neo-classical approach as a result of increased involvement in the creative process from the other members.

UN: Can you explain the concept behind the title, The Imaginary Direction of Time? How does the artwork tie into the grand scheme of things?

Andy Winter: At the risk of giving a disappointing answer the concept cannot be explained, it needs to be experienced. The artwork is merely an imaginary manifestation and interpretation of the concept, music and lyrics. These things are always closely related for us as we view music lyrics and graphics collectively to be a part of the art of we do, it’s not just one thing, it’s all related and it’s part of the concept. Winds itself is even a concept, so we don’t just do concept albums we are in fact a concept band as well.

UN: This record took quite sometime to record. Was it intended to record it over such a long period of time or did it just happen to have to be done this way? Many of the members of Winds are involved in other bands or projects, so I’m sure you all must be very busy.

Andy Winter: It was not intentional for it to take as long as it did, but at the same time we felt we were in no hurry to complete it just for the sake of getting it out, we wanted to take all the time we felt we needed to make sure this record became an improvement from our previous works. It probably could have taken less time if it wasn’t for the fact that we worked in so many different studios and formats that it took a while to figure out how to make everything compatible. After this was figured out we actually managed to record the last parts of the album and conduct the mix in a matter of a few months. Everyone in the band is busy with other bands and projects as you mentioned, so sometimes that can play a part, but lately it really hasn’t because everyone involved is so dedicated to this band now that even though Winds is not the most financially lucrative project of all the projects we are involved in, we still make it a priority to get it done.

UN: This goes along with the last question, would you consider Winds to be a project band or would you consider it a full fledged band? I know that you guys take the band very seriously musically, but I’m not sure if touring or anything would be possible. Which makes me assume that it might be a project band.

Andy Winter: I’ve never been a fan of these ambiguous definitions. Who knows what they really mean anyway? Project band, full time band, studio band, it doesn’t matter to me what they call us because it really has no significance to what we do. Yes, we are each involved in many different projects, but they are all equally important, and even though Winds is not a live band as of today we still take Winds very seriously. The reason why we don’t do shows is more of a practical problem than lack of enthusiasm or interest in doing it. I guess you could call us a studio band, at least for now, but that might chance if there is a high enough demand for us to do shows. We’ve talked about it and it’s a possibility, but there are lots of bands that sell many more records than we do that also don’t tour so this is not an entirely unheard of phenomenon. A lot of it has to do with finances, it costs more money to put on a tour than most people realize, and especially for a band like us that has music with many different layers and not the least a string ensemble. We would need to hire musicians to come on tour with us and that’s raising the bar for being able to do shows. We also live in three different countries at the moment which makes rehearsing together quite difficult. But if there is a realistic opportunity for us to play live we will surely do it.

UN: Is it challenging to write music that has so many layers? It must take a while for songs to complete themselves. How do you guys write the string sections? Will you develop the ideas on other instruments and then have sheet music for the string players when it comes time to record?

Andy Winter: It can sometimes be challenging, not necessarily to write the music but to arrange the parts so that everything fits together in the sound without something taking away from something else. Usually I will write basic ideas on keyboards that make up the basic structure of the songs, but the keyboard sounds themselves are never used, it’s all replaced by the real thing after that. When the foundation is done I give the string arrangements to our vocalist / bassist, Lars, who then fine tunes them to work with his bass lines. Lars works in a different way than me, I like to hear what I’m doing on the keyboard with a string sound and he likes to not use any reference while writing string arrangements. He just writes them from the top of his head without any reference instrument what so ever, which is really impressive. The arrangement process is really a very collective effort that we all work together on in the band. The string arrangements have to be written to sheet music so the string players know what to play, and Lars is responsible for that even though anyone in the band could really do it. We chose to do it this way, not only because he has a great talent for orchestral arrangements, but also because it was natural to distribute the tasks a little more since Carl and I work much more on the basic arrangements before Lars and Jan Axel come into the picture. Going back to the string arrangements again, the string ensemble will only play after sheet music. You can’t tell them to improvise because that doesn’t work when four different people who don’t know the songs are supposed to play together. They only play what they’re asked to by us, so we have to plan it to every little detail.

UN: Do you guys mainly work on songs independently and then brainstorm when it comes time to put songs together? I’m sure with one of the members living in the US and I believe most of the others living in Norway it might hurt the process a little bit. Is a lot of stuff sent from person to person?

Andy Winter: Yes, we send the material from person to person. Each member has a very defined role in the band so this process is quite structured and organized. Anyone in the band can come up with basic ideas but usually I will make the basic ideas, then when I feel they are ready I send them to Carl who writes guitars, then they go to Lars who arranges bass lines and fine tunes the string arrangements. In many cases there are parts that aren’t finished so each person will arrange those parts according to what we have a mutual understanding and agreement of that the song needs. We also communicate a lot in this process, through the phone, email, etc. With myself in the US, Carl and Jan Axel in Norway and Lars in Finland, this is really only the way to do it. But needless to say we travel a lot for the recording so I’ve been present on almost everything. Carl was present for almost everything too, and Lars and Jan Axel were present for much of it, but again for practical reasons, not for everything. This is also strictly not necessary as everyone in the band would be able to handle their own parts without additional input, but we like to work together because this adds a different dimension to it that it wouldn’t have if everyone worked alone.

UN: Does it feel satisfying when the complete picture comes together and every track is recorded? A lot of thought goes into the music, so it must be exciting when each new track is laid down and the songs begin to take the shape of what you had in mind.

Andy Winter: It’s great when you actually have all the tracks recorded and you get an idea what it’s going to be like. But this usually doesn’t happen until quite late in the process as I have not even heard the final string arrangements until we enter the studio to record it. Actually nobody has heard them at all because they are only on paper, and even though we have a musical understanding of what goes on, it’s not the same as hearing the sound that comes out of the speakers at the end of the day. But we also record each instrument one after another so we slowly start to see it taking shape quite early and we get to spend a lot of time perfecting our ideas. Even though we always work on the arrangements underway, how it turns out exactly isn’t known until in the mix where we decide what to keep and what to cut, if anything, and how things should come together.

UN: When the deal with your former record label had been fulfilled, what brought about the decision to stay on with The End for the entire world? Is it safe to say you were more then happy with the work then did when licensing your albums for North America?

Andy Winter: We were very happy with The End’s job and the way this came about was that they offered to sign us for North America for another album in addition to the one they licensed. We agreed to this, and when the time came to find a label for Europe, The End suggested we sign to them for worldwide for three albums. They put an offer on the table and we agreed to sign. The album will be distributed by Plastic Head in Europe as The End has a distribution agreement with them for those territories.

UN: Would you say that the overall picture is more important then the individual song? Let me explain a little. It seems that with Winds everything flows incredibly well from beginning to end, and while there are contrasting sections, that only reinforces the classical nature of the band. Many symphonies had contrasting sections, that’s what makes them interesting.

Andy Winter: We are definitely more concerned with and interested in how the album presents itself as a whole rather than thinking about individual songs. Our song writing structure isn’t a typical one as it’s more in the vein of how classical music is arranged. The flow of the entire album is therefore more important than each song.

UN: If the possibility presented itself, could you see Winds ever embarking on any tours? I’m not exactly sure how you’d manage to re-create all of the layers. You might have to trigger some of the sounds I guess. Is playing live even something you guys want to do with Winds?

Andy Winter: We are open to the possibility and we’ll do it if we can find someone willing to embark on it. We will always find a way to solve the technical challenges of how to transform the music from record to stage, but we have decided that the “playback of certain tracks” route is not for us, so either we go on stage with a full fledged band with session players and the philharmonics and the whole works, or we stay at home and concentrate on writing more quality music for our fans. After all, that is what we enjoy the most with what we do.