Band of the Day: Scorching Winter

scorching-winter-logo-192Australia has been chucking a few bands our way recently and it’s time to introduce another one. Female-fronted hard rock act Scorching Winter played “pass the parcel” with our list of questions and guitarist Rafael Katigbak won the prize…

Simple things first – where are you guys from?

We are from Melbourne, Australia.

How did you meet?

Nick (drummer) used to work at the same place I did. We started the band in 2012. The other guys we found through the local online music community.

How long have you been playing together as a band?

The band started in 2012 but the current lineup is around 2 years old. If you look at our catalogue, you can see the evolution of our sound as the lineups changed. I think the current lineup is the most cohesive group we’ve ever had and we’ve become really good friends outside the band as well.

Before you get sick of being asked… where does the band name come from?

We wanted a name that is ironic because our music and our artworks are somewhat like that. It is heavy music with melodic female vocals, beautiful and evil, brutal and elegant.

What are your influences – individually or as a band?

We all love metal so there are bands like Dream Theater, Metallica and Iron Maiden who are a common influence among us. Individually however each one has a more specific genre /style that they are in to. Tina (singer) is into shock rock and theatrical groups like Theatres des Vampires, Marilyn Manson and Slipknot so she brings a certain theatre to our music. Glenn (bass) is a full pledged prog man so mostly Rush, Ayreon, and Yes.  Nick (drummer) listens to a wide variety of music but is mostly an old school rock/metal fan so bands like megadeth, Iron maiden.  I like epic sounding bands like Dream Theater and Kamelot.  Natalie is different because she is a classical pianist / musician so most of her influences, we have never heard of. However, she is still a metalhead and is into Opeth, DT and Tool.

Describe your music. What makes you unique?

As a one line response, our music is hard rock/heavy metal with melodic female vocals. I can’t tell you what exact genre we play though, we’ve been called prog, symphonic metal, old school metal, etc. I think we’re unique in that I can’t really name a band that sounds exactly like us. We have been compared to Evanescence and Lacuna Coil for obvious reasons but I think everyone will agree that the music is totally different.

Do you have any particular lyrical themes?

SW Rafael Katigbak: Our songs all start out as instrumentals and I let the singers have as much freedom with lyrics as possible. Our previous releases were pretty much about their personal experiences.  Our new record however is a concept album so the lyrics were written based on the story line.

What’s your live show like? How many shows have you played?

Our setlist is quite dynamic. We arrange the songs so we take our audience on a journey from start to finish instead of staying at one level throughout. We like to start with something a bit soft and eerie to get the mood going and then come in loud and heavy to let everyone know this is the start of a rock show. It then goes through different levels throughout the show. I think we’ve only played over a dozen shows to date.

What’s the wildest thing you’ve seen or done at a live show?

Hmm..We once played with this band and their bass player decided to climb up and play on top of the guitar stack. He stayed there for a couple of songs and I think everyone in the audience was sort of waiting for him to fall down instead of listening to them play. The stack was quite wobbly. He did get down safely eventually which was a bit anti-climactic. J

What kit do you use / guitars do you play / etc.?

I have a handful of Ibanez Guitars all of which I have given female names starting with “L”. :-) The main ones I use are Lyka (Ibanez Dark Stone) and Lavigna (Ibanez RG 7 string). I had Dimarzio pickups installed on both of those guitars. The Crunch Lab on the bridge I use for my main rhythm sound and the Air Classic for the neck which I use for my solos. For my amp, I use a Blackstar ID Series Amp head with a Blackstar HT Boost pedal. Sorry for going on about my gear. You shouldn’t have asked a guitarist about gear! J

What are your plans for 2016?

2016 is really about writing, recording and releasing the new album for us. Next year will look to play shows again.

If you could be part of any 3-band line-up (as support or headlining) who else would you have on the bill?

I think it would be cool to play with Avenged Sevenfold and Kamelot. Should be a good lineup I think.

Scorching Winter: official | facebook | instagram | soundcloud | youtube

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