Wintersbreath. Interview with Burkhard Lettner

Interview by Jay Parker

Hi this is Jay reporting from Bogota Colombia. Today I’m lucky enough to be talking to Burkhard from one man Austrian Melodic BM sensation Winter’s Breath.

Guten Tag Burkhard?? Wie gehts?

Hallo Jason, sehr gut gehts – danke!

1. Tell us about WB, where/why/ when was the band formed.

Basically, I had the idea to form a band about 20 years ago, at that time I was playing drums and tried with friends. But we didn’t come together about the style. I already was into black metal as the other guy wanted to be a grunge band. So that didn’t work out and the whole thing went into a long sleep. After moving to Vienna, I also switched from drums to guitar and I always wanted to try things, but didn’t find the time to do this. And then there was Covid – we had reduced work time for about three months and this was the starting point for Winter’s Breath. With having a lockdown and a lot of time, things start ed really quickly. And the result was the “Rising Storm EP”. Those where the first songs I have ever written... and I think they have turned out really well.

2. Describe your music in 5 words.

Atmospheric, symphonic, melodic, dark, meaningful.

3. Run us through your discography... tell our readers where they can buy your music.

To start with the easy part – the music can be bought at the bands Bandcamp store: https://wintersbreath. bandcamp.com/ and from Masters of Kaos Productions in the near future. Rising Storm: These where the first songs I have ever written. Thematically, I tried to bring in themes from that time and years before. Once I was told, if you don’t have a plan, write something about things in life. Graveyard Symphonies: After the really good feedback from Rising Storm, I wanted to give it a real try. I had still a few ideas left from Rising Storm which formed quickly into songs. Thematically, it is about life and death, meaning of life, what we achieve, what we leave behind. It was also my first try using a broader sound (including orchestra as background). The whole thing was thematically a concept album because every song has a graveyard in it in some way. The funny thing is, I had the cover and the title of the album before there was the first song – but this helped to keep the focus on the whole thing. Split with BAL Two Worlds: A while after the release of Graveyard, I was contacted by BAL if I would be interested in doing a split with him. I found the idea interesting and great and in a very short time I had two songs for the split. My input: two songs which fit together musically and thematically and work as one story. BAL already had older finished songs and we released this after a short while. Undead EP: After the release of the BAL split, I was asked more than once why the undead only rise on that day (listen to the EP or read the lyrics, than you know what I mean) and what happens next. So, the idea was born to continue the story which was started on the split and release this as EP. The story is not finished with this EP and will continue, but I don’t know if there will be another split or another EP... We will see in the future. Split with Withdraw – Zwei Stimmen: Winter’s Breath was also part of an Austrian Black and Death Metal Sampler having a lot of underground bands on it. At that time, I got to know Daniel from Withdraw and I asked him, if he wanted to do a split. We decided to have the theme “voices” and everyone had one song for the split. We realized after releasing the album, how good they fit together (we heard the songs from each other the first time, when they were finished) and I think we will do something like that in the future again. The new one: hopefully in autumn.

4. What is the inspiration behind the lyrics?

This depends on the idea I basically have. Graveyard Symphonies was all about life and death, and experiences in life. Rising Storm were about things which kept me busy at that time. The undead story came to me by accident – I started writing lyrics and they did go in that direction, so I continued with that. So basically (with the exception of Graveyard), there is no bigger plan in the lyrics before I write them. Most of the time I have an idea for the album, but that changes when I am in the progress of writing lyrics.

5. Tell us about your instruments and the recording process... How does it all come together?

As a big fan of Brendon Small (Dethklok, Galaktikon), I have two of his signature guitars from Epiphone. Those are the ones I use on all the albums. When I start recording, I mostly have the idea of a melody or a rhythm.

From that point I try to work around this melody and try combinations with other melodies. This sometimes do work out and I quickly have a basic song, or I delete what I have after 2 minutes. In the meantime, I have learned to not delete everything so quickly and maybe use it later. Drums and Bass are done with ezdrummer and ezbass. For the rest I use both free and paid instrument plugins.

6. Tell us about your future plans with WB... Are you thinking of playing live?

That is an interesting question. The first intention was to never release my music, to only do it for me – you see how this has worked out. To be honest, at the moment there are no plans to play live. Winter’s Breath is a one-man band and I want to keep it that way for now. This is easier for me to set the direction of the band and what is happening. You know, I have a normal day job and with that the time for the band is not always as much as you like. With other people in, this can be more complicate as I want it to be.

7. What music did you listen to growing up and how has it influenced your sound?

I am a kid of the 90’s – there was Amorphis with Tales from The Thousand Lakes, Samael with Ceremony of Opposites, Tiamat with Wildhoney, Dimmu Borgir with Enthone Darkness Triumphat, Theatre of Tragedy, Paradise Lost,.. to name a few. A lot of bands with a dark tone but also a lot of melody and atmosphere. If you mix all of that together, you find the basic sound of Winter’s Breath. But there are a lot of other bands who did their part as well.

8. What is your favorite album of all time and why?

That’s hard to answer, as there are a lot of albums which I like after listening to them for over 20 years. But one which also brought me through a hard time was the “Death EP” from Thy Serpent. A classic and timeless album – listen to it, then you know what I mean.

9. Tell us about the scene in Austria... Recommend some local bands for our readers to check out...

There is a big underground scene which I only know a little. You can listen to this sampler: https://runningwild productions.bandcamp. com/album/austrian-metal-news-vol-1 With that you have a great overview of the current underground scene. Very talented musicians and great songs!

10. What is your opinion of the current post-pandemic resurgence in BM?

I think the BM underground scene was very active also during the pandemic. There were no live gigs, yes – but in a creative way the scene was very active. There were a few very good albums which came out during that time...

11. What have been the best and worst moments for you as a BM musician so far?

The best moment was when the first album was released, and the first feedback came in. This was overwhelming for me – I thought maybe two or three persons listening to the album would be a success, but then they were over thousand in a very short time. The worst moment was, when realizing that I don’t have an idea of what I am doing. No idea of how to record correctly, mix or master. In the end, everything sounded awful after my tries and that kept me sleepless for days. But you grow and you gain experience over time.

12. What advice would you give to younger musicians that may be looking to follow in your footsteps?

Don’t wait, do it. Play around, it is not important to be the best and fastest guitar player (look at me hahaha), as long as you can bring the feeling into the music you want to transport to the listener. Start easy – take a simple drum beat and try to build up a rhythm and when that works out, start building up a melody. Don’t give up, when it doesn’t work out for the first time... but I think you will be impressed what can happen when you try. So never fall into the “I am not good enough” feeling – because you are.

13. Would you like to add anything for our readers?

Stay save, stay healthy, be nice to each other and support your local underground.

Danke schon mein Freund!!!