Few bands have stood out in the last fifteen years like like Hinder, and even fewer voices have stood out like Austin John Winkler. Hinder was part of the soundtrack to my generation. You would be hard pressed to find someone who hadn’t heard “Lips of an Angel.” Austin left Hinder in 2013 to pursue a solo career. There were no hard feelings. He left for a reason any writer who is a true slave to his soul would understand. Instead of being tied down as a helpless passenger to his own forward momentum, he broke free of his vessel to find a new one. He had gone as far as he could with Hinder, writing wise. He recently released his first solo album, Love Sick Radio. It’s different style than his Hinder albums which was his goal, and it was a goal well achieved. The album is chock full of righteous rage, social commentary and the voice that made Hinder iconic. It was an honor to talk to a singer I had grown up listening to. I felt like I knew him, and his friendly mannerism made it feel that way, too. After we established he wasn’t my bookie Bob “The Brute” Gallo collecting money for that soccer bet, we got down to a great interview.
Austin John, thank you. I appreciate taking time for the interview. You were the soundtrack to my high school years [chuckles].
You don’t even know who this is. I’m calling to collect some money from you, dude. You didn’t even ask who this was [chuckles].
Oh darn, is this Bob?
I’m just kidding, man.
I know.
I’m sorry about the late– honestly, I’m usually very prompt.
It’s all right. Don’t worry.
I read one; she read noon. We talked about it for a minute, and then we both decided it was noon.
That’s all right. Can you refresh the readers of your early years and early days in Hinder, and what led you to be a musician?
Oh yeah, man. Let’s see, at about 14 years old, I saw somebody that was pretty phenomenal. He used a guitar, and I just pointed at it, and I was like– anything involving that. So I started playing the guitar, and I was in a cover band at the age of 17, 18. Then I started writing my own songs, and they didn’t want to play them. Then I sought out to find any musicians that would just play along with the songs I was writing at the time, and that’s how Hinder formed in 2001. And yeah man, we had a good run. We put out songs that I’m still very proud of having written and touch people’s lives with. Now, I’m doing my own thing, and I’m fortunate enough to set out on the road and play new songs and also old Hinder songs that, obviously, I wrote.
What led to you leaving Hinder?
It’s kind of the same deal. Like I was saying, when I was in a cover band, I started writing songs; I wasn’t creatively fulfilled. As an artist, that sounds like you’re a musician, you’re not an artist. But the thing is, it’s the same thing. And I felt like I was writing the same record over and over and over again, instead of pushing myself and challenging myself to become a more evolved artist. I didn’t feel like I was fulfilling that, and it worked out for the best, man. I just had to break away. It’s not about money; it’s not about anything else except for being creatively fulfilled.
Can you talk a little bit about the writing process for Love Sick Radio?
Yeah, man. There were no limits; there was no formula, so I had a lot of freedom to just kind of explore and experiment with anything I wanted to do. I’ve written 40 or 50 songs for this project, and I just wanted to give the fans a little taste of the project I’m working on and what direction I’m going in. For the most part, the songwriting, the vocals, the snarkiness, the attitude, the honesty, and the rawness are all still there. The only thing that’s different is the production mentality. It’s not like it’s that far-fetched. I mean, people are like, “Oh, it’s so different.” But the thing is, it’s just a production thing. It’s not a songwriting thing because all the songwriting and everything’s still raw and true to how I feel. And that’s what I felt like I had the connection with; whenever I was in Hinder, I would still write true life experiences, and that’s how people would connect. I’m just trying to do on a broader level to reach more people.
There’s a lot of feeling in your voice. A little, I think mostly it’s like you said, when you write angry songs, they sort of feel your anger, they feel your sorrow and happiness. Do you have to be emotionally invested in every single song, or can you just sit down and create something?
No, I definitely have to be– and yeah, that’s a good way to put it. I’m a very passionate person. So yeah, I’m going to make you– it just comes out in my voice, and it comes out because it’s true to what I feel or what has happened to me. And that’s what I think resonated so well for so many years with before records that I put out in Hinder, is like they can feel the torment, or they can feel the passion, or they can feel the happiness, and that’s kind of my thing, and that’s what people have always said about my voice, is that they believe me, and they believe me because I’m speaking from the heart or singing from the heart, whatever you say.
And what’s your opinion on modern, mainstream music, I know you took a shot at it with “Clique to Follow.”
[chuckles] Well, that was more of a mind-fuck for people, but for the most part, I was on the way to the studio, kind of in a snarky mood– that’s the thing, it’s not that I hate the term, “Sent from my iPhone”…
Where do you think pop culture took a left turn? What do you think led to that?
Pop culture? [laughter]
Mainstream, that might be a big question.
Oh, man. I think whenever it stopped being about the art, and it became about what you’re eating and what you’re– [laughter]. Like that’s the important part instead of — I think it’s kind of a cool element that fans can be so close, you know, with Instagram and stuff like that. An artist is posting, kind of whatever they want, and be like, “Oh, it’s the end of this portion of my life. Let’s end this portion of life.” There’s a cool element to that, but at the same time, it kind of loses the substance of what they’re there for in the first place. You know what I mean? Like it’s cool, I get it, but at the same time, it just– when I grew up, it’s like, you know, music, and like it was an event. It was an event for me to go to the record store and get a record, buy it, stand there and study the liner notes, and listen to the record front to back. Now it’s like, the kids go online, and they click a button, and if the song doesn’t grab them in the first ten seconds, they move on. That’s the thing: we’ve made it accessible for them to be just like, “Oops, I don’t like it.” As to where I grew up, it was like, “Hey man, I’ll buy a record based off the cover alone,” but now there’s not that option.
It’s sad they’re all–
That’s what it felt like. We kind of at least slowed the process down of them actually understanding the music instead of maybe the music being shoved down their throats. I don’t know.
It’s sad they’re [record stores] all going out of business. You used to get a story with the record.
Yeah man. It was a whole afternoon, man. You’re like, “I’m going to sit here and I’m going to–” because you can’t go on a computer. I’m going to wait until the record comes out. I’m going stand on line; I’m going to get it. I’m going to listen to it, and it’s going to solve all my problems. That’s what you think at least [chuckles]. Now it’s just like I can get anything at the click of a button. But that’s anything; it’s society. It’s not just the music. It’s anything. You don’t have to think about anything; you just sit there and push it, and if you like it, you buy it. If you don’t, you don’t. It’s in the first fifteen seconds.
Back to Love Sick Radio. What was it like–
[chuckles] I went all AWOL on the whole society thing. Sorry, go ahead.
Oh no, I enjoyed hearing it. What was it like working with Sophie Summers and Jessie James Decker?
I had worked with Jessie James Decker in the past a couple of times here and there, writing and stuff here and there. And she had asked a mutual friend – who is producer and songwriter, Ted Burner – if him, and would I write a duo? What ended up happening is that we wrote it, and it was super personal for me. Like it was kind of a no-brainer that it should go on my record. And yeah, that’s kind of the way that that happened. She came in one day and loved the track and sang it, and that’s kind of the result. She was a big fan of the song. She’s always been a big fan of mine, and it worked out well. And as far as Sophie Summers goes, she’s refreshing. She’s a new artist, up-and-coming. She’s a hard worker. She has a great voice. Our voices have a really good contrast together. She helped write “The Plague” and also “Quit the Follow”, and she’s featured on both those songs. And yeah, she’s a breath of fresh air, I think. And I’ve got nothing but positive feedback. I think people ask more about Sophie Summers than they do about Jessie James Decker, so it’s cool.
What do you have coming out next? The tours, the full album?
Yeah, we’re working on an LP; we’re working on a song that didn’t make the LP, only because I was just kind of giving everybody a variety, but I’m going to try to hopefully get “Phone Line to Heaven” out. And it was a song that I wrote from personal experience that a lot of fans are demanding. So, I think that I’m going to take some time to complete that and put that out to where they can hear it at full length. And yeah, we’re just working on a live show and putting together a tour at the moment and just working away.
Is there anything you’d like to add to the interview?
No, unless you want to plug all the social media sites, I guess that’s what the deal is today [chuckles]. You know what I mean?
Yeah. So we can find you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, all that.
Yeah, austinjohnwinkler on Instagram, IamAustinJohn on Twitter, and IamAustinJohn on Facebook, sophiesummersmusic on Instagram, and yeah, that’s all I got for now.
All right, well, I really appreciate you taking the time for the interview.
Yeah, thanks, man.
Have a good day.
Thank you, too. Later.
