WINGER Frontman: 'I Don't Try To Live On My Laurels Of The Past'

WINGER frontman Kip Winger has confirmed to "Rock Talk With Mitch Lafon" that there are tentative plans for the band to work on new material in August. The disc will be the follow-up to "Better Days Comin'", which came out in 2014.

Asked about the importance of WINGER producing fresh music more than three decades after the release of the group's platinum-certified debut album, Kip said: "I don't try to live on my laurels of the past; I try to keep growing and not only getting to become a better songwriter, but also developing the sound of the band as it goes. I say that because a lot of people are attached to the first album still, and some people never went beyond the first album.

"The answer is yes, we will keep coming with new music," he continued. "It's fewer and farther between, only because the band is so busy. I'm doing so many other projects. Reb's [Beach, guitar] been doing the WHITESNAKE thing for years now. John [Roth, rhythm guitar] does STARSHIP. Rod [Morgenstein, drums] teaches as well; he just finished teaching at Berklee. So we're not a band that only has this band as the nucleus for our creativity. We source from a lot of different places. So when we come together as a band, we feel like this is our main home and the place we all furthered ourselves out of, so there is a very special bond between the bandmembers there, because we all made it together and this was the beginning. So the WINGER albums remain to be ground zero for all of us in our hearts."

Asked if new WINGER music has to stay true to the band's sound, Kip said: "I think it does. And I think we stay well within that. The place that I save for the most experimentation is my solo albums, like 'This Conversation Seems Like A Dream' and 'Songs From The Ocean Floor'. Those are the ones where I really knock the fence down and let all of it go in any direction that I see fit. And now I'm actually assembling parts for a new solo album as well. I should mention that Nashville Symphony has commissioned me for an album, which is probably the greatest musical honor of my entire life. Giancarlo Guerrero commissioned me for a symphony number one and a violin concerto. So I'm currently working on my symphony number one, and trust me, it's a big task — scary. And I'm doing that while I'm assembling parts for a solo album and thinking about a new WINGER album and making sure all the rewrites on [the] 'Get Jack' [musical] are together. So, to say the least, I'm overwhelmed with the time it takes to get this stuff together.

"When Reb and I get together and write with WINGER, that creates the sound of WINGER," he explained. "I think just by merit of the fact that we're both in the same room creates the sound. We don't have to be too careful about, 'Oh, that's not the WINGER sound.' We push the boundaries, but just because it's him and I, it does sound like the band."

WINGER formed in the late 1980s and soared to immediate success with its 1988 self-titled release. The album spawned the hit singles "Seventeen" and "Headed For A Heartbreak" and achieved platinum sales status. "Winger" also stayed on The Billboard 200 chart for over 60 weeks where it peaked at #21. Their next album, "In The Heart Of The Young", also achieved platinum status behind the singles "Can't Get Enuff" and "Miles Away". The change in musical climate of the mid-'90s, compounded with unprovoked ridicule on MTV's popular "Beavis And Butt-Head" show, led the band to go on hiatus in 1994. In 2001, WINGER reunited and has not looked back since.

Kip also earned a 2016 Grammy nomination for the classical album "C.F. Kip Winger: Conversations With Nijinsky", recorded with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra.