After a remarkable debut album and a European tour that firmly established their name on the heavy metal scene, California’s Wings Of Steel are back, stronger and more inspired than ever. Just a few weeks before the release of their new record Winds Of Time (out October 17), we sat down with Leo Unnermark (chant) and Parker Halub (guitare) to talk about the creative process behind this new chapter, their musical evolution, and their upcoming dream tour supporting Sabaton across North America.
Between laughs, spontaneous stories, and thoughtful reflections on their craft, the two musicians opened up about their vision of heavy metal, life on the road, and the raw passion that fuels everything they do. A genuine and energetic conversation, just like Wings Of Steel themselves.
Your new album Winds Of Time gonna be released on October 17. What can you reveal about it so far?
Leo Unnermark (vocals): Well, we’ve already revealed two singles. Almost three. Soon to be three. By the time this is out, maybe it has been three, I don’t know. But, from those singles, the first one is a 10-minute something, 10 minutes 40-seconds single with- which goes through a big journey that’s fast, it’s slows down, it’s got an epic section. It’s got a little bit of everything that you might expect from Wings Of Steel.
So, just by listening to the first single, you can really hear a lot of what the album’s gonna bring.
But it doesn’t end there. There’s, a lot of stuff, that will catch you off guard in this album.
We tend to go through a lot of different journeys when we write our music, which, if you know the band, you might have heard on, on Gates Of Twilight, which has a bunch of different types of song. All kind of heavy metal, but it takes on a different life. So there’s still a lot of that to be found in this album. But you can expect a lot of what we’ve given, just amplified.
Parker Halub (guitar): Yeah. There’s eight tracks on this record. It’s only two of those songs. The other six have, definitely have their own place and their own things to say. But, the other thing I would, I can kind of mention too, with the two singles that have been released, musically, “Winds Of Time” and “We Rise”, they’re kind of pushing around the boundaries of the sound, but there’s more room to be explored, that you’ll hear on the rest of the record.
But, also, like, the messaging in the song, this record is very reflective of the world that we live in today.
And both of these songs are very strong cornerstones of the reoccurring, kind of, messages and themes that you’ll find throughout the record. It’s about the darkness that’s in society and how it’s been in the past and how it’s happening again today. But also calling to bring people together to see through that, to unify and, Yeah. So, it’s a good preview of what’s to happen. But, there’s certainly more to be offered on the rest of the record.
How did you approach the writing sections? Did you the inspiration guide you or you have something clear in your mind when you wrote this album?
Parker: Yeah. That’s a good question. The inspiration is always the underlying thing that carries us through the whole process. As a musician, just Leo and I individually, we’re always coming up with ideas. And, thankfully, we live in the day and age of cellphones where it’s super easy to just, ‘Oh, I got this Boom‘, you record it, you got it. And, so even before we get together to write music, we’ve got a huge backlog of ideas that we’re ready to work with.
So, really, the whole process starts when we just get down together and we’re like, ‘Okay. I like this. How’s this riff? Okay. That’s cool. All right. Let’s go from there and let’s see where it goes’. And, then we’ll, ‘Oh, we’ll do this section‘, then we get to another section, it’s like, ‘Oh, I got this other riff. Let’s try… Oh, okay. That’s great.‘ Or it’s like, ‘Mm, I’m not sure, but I have this idea. Oh, okay.‘ Yeah. ‘We’ll try that. Oh, but then, oh, but we try this and…‘ So it’s always a blend of, like, some ideas we had beforehand. A lot of it comes together on the spot. And It’s really the process of melding all these pieces together that, that puts together the song. And then we have the song, we have it written, we record all the parts, and then we go into, to producer mode and we say, ‘Okay. How can we make sure this sounds the best? Okay, I wanna make sure we’re hearing this part really well. I wanna emphasize a little extra effects on this part here, or put a delay or reverb‘, or, who knows, you know? And you go through that and you iron it out to make sure everything sounds really great. And then eventually, you have a finished track.
And do you have some songs, when you wrote them, you had directly the stage in mind?
Leo: Yeah. I think, given that before this album we’d just been on our first European tour, our first tour as a band, that gave us a lot of insight as to what we might want to do on the album. ‘Cause when you’re playing this stuff live… Because we’d written our debut EP and our first, full length album Gates Of Twilight, so we were playing those songs, and as we’re playing this night after night, certain things come to mind, like, ‘Oh, this works really well. We gotta remember this for the future.‘ And then you sit down to write. You remember all this stuff. And then of course, it comes to life in new ways. So just having performed the tour really helped with, writing this album. So, it’s certainly something we keep in mind when we write our material.
Parker: But I also think too, like, just individually, us doing this record, I mean, Leo and I, have both individually, grown a lot as musicians. We’ve grown a lot as musicians, we’ve grown a lot as songwriters, and we’ve gained a lot of perspective, as producers. So, I think we had a more enhanced skillset going into the writing process of this record. And so, I think we were able to do things, with an amount of detail and level of execution that we had not had previously. So you’ll hear that on the record. It’s like another step forward.
If you had to pick one song that best represent the whole album, which one would it be?
Leo: (laughs) It’s very hard to do, but I mean, I think we would both say that, “Winds Of Time” probably gives you the largest experience of all the songs, because it goes through a lot of different dynamics in there. Of course, there are other contenders in there as well. But, if I had to give you one, that would probably be it.
Parker: Yeah. I mean, it’s always hard to do this because every song on this record is integral to this record. That’s the way that we do things, you know. We don’t put songs on the record just to fill out the thing. No, every single song on this record is essential. But, you know, I agree with Leo. The title track, “Winds Of Time”, it’s the title track for a reason, I think.
Leo: It was the first single for a reason.
Parker: Yeah, it was the first single for and in fact, when we wrote the record, that was the first song that we wrote on this record. So, it really set the tone for the whole album, I think.
And it’s there a track who gave you a hard time to, writing or recording on studio?
Parker: By and large, it’s all pretty like with our writing process, some stuff is like super easy, and like, there it is ‘boom‘, it’s done. Sometimes, it’s we’ll be writing a song and we’ll get to a certain part, and it requires that you try a little more things, you experiment to get it, uh, to get it the way it’s supposed to be. We had about 10, 11 weeks to write the record. None of these songs took longer than a week to finish, or if it’s maybe, you know, eight days or something.
But it was all a pretty smooth process. And I’ll also add to that too, that’s the way that, Leo and I write, we’re gonna write the song that’s most inspiring to us at the given time that we’re writing the song. Because that’s, the only way that you can write the best stuff. I think if you have an idea and you just try to force it, that idea might not be ready. It’s not ready to be developed into a full song yet. But if you force that idea to be done, because for whatever reason, it’s not gonna be as it could have been, as good as it could have been. So, we only really write the stuff that’s inspiring to.
Leo: And I think the fact that usually when we sit down, we tend to write the album in like 10 weeks, you get a very cohesive piece as a whole. Because it’s all written within a very tight timeframe, so all the ideas, you know, they kind of, they reoccur and they take new life, new shapes, and, I think that really creates a, a nice piece as a whole.
Do you have some funny moment in the studio to share? Like an anecdote or something?
Parker: In the studio we’re pretty like just business and get it done. (laughs)
No fun in the studio. (laughs)
Parker: (laughs) But, actually, we were just talking about this. So, this was about two years ago, actually.
It was right after, or right before we released, the Get To Twilight album. We we were at my place in California, and we’d just ordered the CDs.
Leo: Which is where the studio is located.
Parker: Yeah, it’s also where our studio is located. But, anyway, we had just ordered these CDs, and the postal service guy who was delivering the CDs were there, and he talked, and I was, ‘Oh, well‘ you know, he was talking to him. He’s like, ‘Yeah, yeah, these are the CDs.’ He was, ‘Oh, cool, so you guys are a band.’ And like, ‘Yeah, yeah, it’s called Wings Of Steel‘. And he goes, ‘Oh my gosh. Well, I love your band. You guys are great‘.(laughs) So, then he came into the house and we hung out for a little bit, and he bought one of our T-shirts… I thought that was a really funny thing, that the guy delivering the CDs was a fan of the band, and he didn’t even know. (laughs)
Leo: I think the funniest thing about the studio is the studio itself. I mean, we record everything in a bomb shelter underground. I think that’s, I think that’s hilarious. (laughs)
(laughs) Yeah it is. And outside of music, what the biggest source of inspiration for this record?
Leo: Just life in general, I think.
Parker: The world. Thematically, the world, but also the individual experiences that Leo and I have gone through in our own lives. I think as artists, those are some of the most, profound sources of inspiration that you can draw from, I think on this record in particularly, that’s what really shaped a lot of the, the music.
Leo: But of course, other music as well. It is absolutely huge in shaping our narratives and our tales.
Parker: I mean, we listen to a lot of, vast, vast range of different kinds of music, and we’ll hear little things here and there. ‘Oh, that’s really cool‘. But it’s a lot of things. It’s really our music, us, Leo and I as individuals, I mean, we’re musicians, we’re artists, and the things that influence our art is, is the lives that we live around it. So really, it’s kind of a product of everything.
Maybe this one gonna be a tough one, but if you have just, one word for describe the whole album, what will it be?
(a long pause from them for reflexion)
Leo: (laughs) I would just say ‘journey‘. I just think it’s ‘journey‘. One big journey. That’s it.
Parker: I mean, that’s an ‘experience’. ‘Experience’, yeah. (laughs)
So, you’re gonna hit the road with Sabaton, which is a huge band. What was your reaction when you got the news that you’re gonna be a support for Sabaton?
Parker: Uh, disbelief. (laughs) Yeah. I mean, it’s really an incredible thing, and it’s still kind of hard for us to grasp it. It’s super, super, super exciting. Such a great tour. We have, for us, you know, with being the band we are, Sabaton, the band we have so much in common. We have a shared love for the old school styles of rock and metal. And, to get the opportunity to go all around our main, or our base country, in the US and Canada, go to all these places that we’ve been dying to go to, and do it on that scale, in all these arenas is just, it’s really, yeah. It’s mind-blowing. It’s really, really cool.
Leo: It’s a blessing. It’s what you dreamt of when you were a kid to go around and play all these places that’s on the bill. And, yeah. We’re very honored to have been the chosen ones for this tour. (laughs)
Have you ever met Sabaton before knowing that you’re gonna be their support?
Parker: Not yet. (laughs)
What does this opportunity means to you, like, personally or artistically?
Leo: I mean, one thing it means for Wings Of Steel and for our fan base is that we will finally get to go out in North America, which we’ve only played three shows, all in L.A.. And we have a large audience in the US and Canada. So the fact that we’re able to get out there on scale, across, 31 dates, and share our music, not only with our fans but also with just a broad audience in general who all love heavy metal, it’s quite extreme. It’s really crazy.
Parker: I mean, this is the dream. Our goal as musicians and what this band really is to share our music with as many people as possible. And this is just like an incredible opportunity to do that. But I’ll say for me personally, it’s really cool because on this tour we’re playing in Los Angeles, and, the venue that we’re playing in Los Angeles is the Kia Forum. The Forum is a big famous, arena there in L.A.. And I saw, Iron Maiden for the first time there, I don’t know, maybe like 10 years ago or something like that. And I remember sitting there and I just like thinking like, ‘Wow, fuck, it would be really cool to go and play on that stage.‘ And now I have the opportunity to do that. And with this band that we’ve created ourselves, and we’ve built up from the ground and it’s pretty incredible.
So this is your specific city or venue that you are very look forward for playing there, the one you just said?
Parker: Yeah. I mean, for me personally because I’ve been there and I grew up there, I mean, that’s very special. But there’s a lot of, just looking at the tour and there’s a lot of really cool venues and interesting places that we get to play, so in all honesty I’m excited for, to play all these places, really.
Leo: And I looked into some of them but I don’t even want to. I want like the surprise of going there, that kind of like shock factor and like rolling up like, ‘Holy shit, this is where we’re gonna play?‘
Parker: Yeah, but, seeing the list like, okay, I know this venue, this is a cool place. (laughs)
Leo: Yeah. I knew that venue too. It is a really, really cool place.
Do you feel more excited or pressured by playing in front of such a huge crowd and people who don’t know you?
Leo: I think the only pressure has nothing to do with the actual performing of our music. I think it’s just playing this, doing this tour comes with a mountain of logistics to take on. (laughs) We’re an independent band, so we do everything ourselves. We gotta make sure everything is in place for us to simply just go up there and deliver kick-ass heavy metal to the best of our ability- every single night. So that’s the pressure side of things. But other than that it’s just pure excitement.
Parker: Yeah. To go out there and play, that’s just fucking excitement. (laughs)
Leo: That’s what we wish we got to do all the time. (laughs)
Parker: Yeah. We have to do the business too.
And how do you prepare yourself for that tour?
Parker: Well, we have to pick the songs and we have to, get individually, have all the guys in the band, including ourselves, practice, get everything as tight and as well-refined as possible. And figure out the stage set-up, figure out the gear, figure out how we’re gonna get our sound for that stage, figure out if we’re gonna bring any props or anything like that. And then I guess make sure we pack enough clothes. Other than the business stuff. (laughs)
Leo: Amongst all those things, I think the best way to prepare is just to focus on the fact that you’re super lucky to get a chance like this and it’s your duty to, more so than anything, just enjoy the opportunity.
Parker: Yeah. But for us I think, this, for the people coming out to this show, you will not be disappointed in the first part of the evening when you see us. You know, it will certainly be a memorable moment for you.
What do you hope to take away from this experience for your future as a band?
Leo: Yeah, I think for us personally, it’ll certainly develop our live shows a lot. Because these stages are pretty big and we’ll get to develop our live show that much more. And, because we always envisioned Wings Of Steel playing big shows, so now we finally get to enact on that. The other thing too is that an opportunity like this comes with more opportunities attached to it down the line. So, with this will certainly be able to leverage it so we can get more opportunities, in the US and Europe and across the world. That the cool thing about opportunities like this as well.
Now let’s talk about band life and behind the scene. So, on tour, who’s the most laid back and the most hyper?
Leo: Laid-back is… Probably Stefan, right? What do you think?
Parker: Yeah, he’s a pretty easy-going guy.
Leo: Yeah, our rhythm guitar player.
Parker: Just goes with the flow. Yeah. I mean- Always nice.
Leo: We’re always fucking stressed because we’re doing all this shit, but yeah.
Parker: I mean, I think in the grand scheme of things, I think everybody in our band is actually very, very mellow people. There’s no fights, there’s no screaming.
Leo: We save the hyper for the stage.
And who’s in charge for the tour bus playlist and what is the most unexpected track, you can put on?
Leo: Unexpected track? Is a great question
Parker: Unexpected… Well, we don’t constantly listen, because we drive a lot. So sometimes people just want to sleep and the silence is a beautiful thing too, you know. (laughs)
Leo: I think we’re all really good at reading the room. Like, sometimes we need to bring some more energy.
We’ll throw on ’70s and ’80s rock and heavy metal and all that good stuff. Sometimes we’ll just play like blues. Sometimes it’ll just be like acoustic instrumental stuff.
Parker: I’m a big fan of history, and sometimes, I’ll listen to like a history lecture at the university or whatever as I’m driving, And everybody’s sleeping, so it’s great. Everybody falls asleep. I get something that’s interesting, you know? (laughs)
Leo: (laughs) We all have our headphones too. So I think it’s really up to each and every one what they prefer and whatever gets them in the best base- and makes them feel the most comfortable on the road.
Parker: But yeah. We listen to whatever. And if somebody wants to listen to somebody or something or whatever, we say, ‘Yeah, sure.‘ So it’s pretty cool.
What has been your worst gig disaster so far?
Parker: Well, actually. I will not name names, but we recently did a gig and, somebody at the venue got up on stage and he spilled beer on my guitar. (laughs) That was unfortunate. So I think for me personally, I think it was still a great show. It’s all cool, but I think for me, that was probably the most unfortunate thing that happened. I mean, by and large, we’ve had some pretty smooth experiences, so I can’t really speak to much of that.
Leo: I remember last tour, there was a gig where like the microphone, like for me, it cut out for like, 40 seconds or something, which kind of sucks, you know. But, stuff like that happens. I’m not gonna be pissed about it, everyone runs into issues at some point, I think like Parker said, by and large, I think everything has been, it’s been great.
And your most unforgettable live memory, during your past tour?
Leo: I absolutly love when we sell out our shows. When people are singing and screaming the lyrics back at us. That is absolutely insane. We just did a show in Madrid and it was like super loud. People were just screaming the entire show. But, I think the most memorable one for me, from this tour, was probably when we played, Heavy Weekend, in France.
Parker: That’s what I was gonna say. (laughs)
Leo: Yeah. Absolutely massive, place, capacity of 25,000 people. We opened up for Europe and Dream Theater. That’s another, instance in which it’s like a dream come true. So that was super cool. Biggest show we’ve done to date, and, yeah, true honor.
Parker: Yeah. You don’t believe it’s happening. No. It’s crazy. I still don’t
And do you have any rituals, before going on stage ?
Parker: I don’t know. I mean, we’re all pretty mellow people. I think we just get together and we warm up, make sure everybody’s ready to go. I throw on my leather pants, I take off my shirt, and then I’m, I go plug in my guitar and we play. (laughs) I wish there was something more interesting. And who knows, maybe we’ll, we’ll figure something out eventually.
Leo: I think for me, being the vocalist, I got a little more of a thing to do in order to get prepared.
And it’s about an hour or so before the show, I try to do like a, more of a warmup. It’s not very long, but I’ll do it for like seven minutes or something, just testing out my range and stuff. Wanna make sure that my body is a little bit warmed up, ’cause when we get up on stage, start running around, if you go from your pulse being like a resting pulse to just 100, it’s really hard to sing. Like if you’ve ever been like running on the treadmill and you try and sing, like it, it’s hard to be controlled. So just getting your pulse up before the show, letting it come down right before, and then going on, that really helps.
But I also like to have a little bit of my own space right before, ’cause you’re gonna go on stage and you’re gonna be open to sharing the experience, not just with the band but with everyone in the venue. So for me it really helps to just get in my own space a little bit before. So I usually do that with headphones and some stuff like that.
And after the show, do you prefer, like, calm down on tour bus or something, or do a after-party?
Leo: Shower and sleep. (laughs) Usually for us, the next day is a gig or a long drive to another city. So, I think that’s the most important thing. I mean, there are definitely instances in which like if we have a couple of days off and we’re just hanging out in the city and we have friends coming out, family coming out and stuff like that, we can definitely hang out, you know, for sure. But, usually I would say that we try to get back to the hotel, get on to the next thing, so that our performance is 100% the next day as well.
Parker: But, I will say too though, like, immediately after the show, I usually, pack up the gear really quick, and then we try to say hi to the fans and then talk and meet with everybody as much as we can. I mean, sometimes we only have a little bit of time and then we have to leave the venue or whatever.
Leo: Because a lot of the shows we’ve done, it’s still on kind of a smaller scale.
Parker: So sometimes harder with the festivals. But, we really try to connect with our fans, as much as we can when we can, you know.
Leo: But it’s also kind of a tough balance, you know. And it’s something I struggle with personally because I want to, if possible, I would like to shake everybody’s hand and thank them personally and have a conversation. But I also have to be, like, really careful. We all have to be very careful that we don’t, like, get sick and stuff like that. Because things like that can mean that we have to cancel the next show, which means we can’t even see the fans for the next show. So, it’s like a balancing act. But we do usually try to, make sure that we can sign, people’s stuff, take some pictures and things like that, yeah.
Speaking of fans, what is the strangest or the most memorable gifts a fan ever gave you?
Parker: Oh. Somebody made… Who was it that like made you a shirt with like your face on it?
Leo: Dude, that was my girlfriend, man.
Parker: Oh. Yeah, but she’s a big fan. And that was a bit strange. (laughs)
Leo: (laughs) No, but remember: one of our fans gave us, like these bracelets that she made. Didn’t Jayna give something too?
Parker: No, no, no. That… there was a bracelet. But actually, I had another fan that gave me some like cool necklaces and gemstones and stuff. I remember that was cool.
Leo: We had a fan who sent us a picture who got a Wings Of Steel tattoo, and that was really crazy.
Parker: Oh, yeah. That was Jayna. Yeah, man. That was cool. There’s been a few little things like that.
Leo: And also like a fan-written letter with like how much the band means to you. Like, stuff like that is super cool.
Parker: Oh, we’ve got like handwritten letters and stuff like that from people who have sent us letters and stuff. And they’re always so cute. They’re always so cool. There’s been a few things like that. that’s like really, really sweet, you know.
So nothing weird?
Leo: Nothing weird. We have to be a little careful with like sharing our address and stuff like that. (laughs). But, our fanbase is super cool. So thankfully nothing’s like, super strange, yet.
That’s cool too. (laughs) So we’re gonna talk a little bit about your perspective from your band. So what artist or band would you dream to collaborate with in the future, if you have one?
Leo: Would love to do something with Bruce Dickinson, if possible. It would be really cool. (laughs) Like, it would be cool to do some unexpected collaborations too, with people, I’m trying to think of someone.
Parker: Maybe, like, a little bit stylistically different, but they still kinda come from the same background. They still understand, like, the old school stuff, and they still have that. ‘Cause that’s cool. You know, when you collab with somebody, like, you hear… When you go out and you do something different, but it’s really showcases your own personality, I think. So yeah, getting to any opportunity like that to do something is always a really cool thing.
Leo: I would love to collaborate with Saxon. That would be a dream too,
Parker: Yeah. That would be cool. I mean, there’s a lot. We could probably list several people.
Leo: I could just mention all of my influences who are still alive. And it would be cool to do anything with anyone.
If you could take only three items, with you on tour, and no instrument allowed with this selection, what are you gonna pick?
Leo: Okay. If, I think it’s easier for you. You can probably say first.
Parker: Okay. Well, I mean, the instrument, that’s all I really need. (laughs) I’ll go naked if I have to. That’s fine.
(laughs) Could be fun.
Parker: What do I bring? I mean, I’m actually a very simple guy. I just bring my stuff. I bring my clothes. I wish I could give you a more interesting answer. I would bring something that’s maybe not legal in parts of Europe still. (laughs)
Leo: I’d totally bring my headphones ’cause, being able to have music wherever you go is massive, you know? I’d do that. I’d probably bring, a pair of shorts so I can, like, go to the gym. That would be great. And, a toothbrush is very important.
Parker: Yeah. Okay. I think Leo won.
Leo: I just thought you would say leather pants, man. Come on.
Parker: If I bring my guitar as part, I can just, like, assume that stuff’s all there.
Leo: No, no. You just said three items. That’s assuming three, that you’re naked, you know. So, I have my shorts. I have my toothbrush, and I have my headphones.
Parker: Okay. If I have no boots, then I think shorts is maybe a more appropriate look. (laughs) Yeah. ‘Cause leather pants but no shoes is maybe a little strange. But maybe instead of the toothbrush, although I care very much about my dental hygiene, I’d bring my own my special conditioner and shampoo for my hair because my hair is very specific. (laughs)
To finish, as our media is called RockUrLife, so what rocks your life?
Leo: Being together.
Oh, that’s cute. (laughs)
Parker: (laughs) I think Leo and I, our whole thing is we write… this music is everything for us. This is the most important thing, we write the most kick-ass music. And, it’s the most rewarding thing for us, getting to go write this music and then go out and perform this music live, in front of people all around the world. Yes. It’s the most incredible thing.
Leo: Yeah. I mean it sounds cheesy, but literally, the way to rock your life is to do it…It needs to come from the heart. It needs to be authentic, and it needs to be shared.That’s, what music’s all about.
Parker: Yeah. As long as you do what you love, that’s the most important thing.
Website: wingsofsteelband.com
