Into The Melodic Rock World of Winding Road

Winding Road was formed in 2018 by Jan Hedlund (Coastline) and Magnus Åkerlund (Blender). The two musicians have played in numerous bands touring all over Sweden. Their true love however was Melodic Rock and AOR. First, Winding Road recruited singer Jonas Tyskagen (Domino Drive) and began writing songs with the intention to make an album, i.e. their self-titled debut which was released in March 2021 on AOR Heaven. The follow-up release entitled Fill My Sails is now upon the horozon, being released via Pride & Joy Music, featuring such standout tracks as Close My Eyes in Tokyo, I’m Alive, and Devil’s Daughter. Highwire Daze recently caught up with founding member Magnus Åkerlund to find out more about the making of Fill My Sails, working with guest musicians such as Thomas Larsson (Glenn Hughes) and Fredrik Folkare (Unleashed), his current performances with a world-famous singer from the 70’s, and a whole lot more. Read on…

We’re here with Magnus from Winding Road.  How did you wind up on Pride & Joy Music?
We had worked a bit with Birgitt, who runs it, before our previous album was released on AOR Heaven. I think Birgitt handled the social media and stuff. So I knew her, and I sent a couple of tracks to her, and she liked them. And yeah, we decided to sign with Pride & Joy.

Let’s talk about the new album, Fill My Sails. First of all, is there any story or concept behind that title, Fill My Sails?
You’re not the first one to ask that. I have to disappoint you. There’s no real story about it. We knew that we wanted one of the album tracks to be the title of the album, and Fill My Sails just sounded the best because, yeah, that’s what we want—our sails filled. So that was the best title.

The opening track Close My Eyes in Tokyo’ is such a fantastic song.  Give me the inspiration behind that song. And have you ever been to Tokyo?
No, I have never been to Tokyo, but that’s on my bucket list for sure—to go to Tokyo. Most of a track starts with me coming up with a riff or some music. It’s basically me and Jan, the drummer, who writes like 95% of the music. So, I might do a riff, I might do some music snippets, and I send it to him, and he comes up with the melodies.

Where did you meet Jan? And how did this collaboration come about?
We met years ago, in 1996 or something, when I attended a music school. He had been to that music school a couple of years before me. So, we met up then because we both liked hard rock and melodic rock and all that stuff, but I didn’t live here then. When we met, we were saying we have to try to write a song together. But one day, we just decided, “Yes, let’s do it. Do it this time and not just talk.” So he came over to my studio, and we wrote a song in like 30 minutes. And then we just continued.

Jonas your lead vocalist is also has a band called Domino Drive. How did you meet Jonas? And what do you think of the Domino Drive album that came out on Pride & Joy?
Jonas has also been to that music school I was talking about.  He was also like a year before me, but I knew of him then. He’s actually a drummer. He has an amazing voice too.  I haven’t really listened that much to Domino Drive.  I like it. I don’t think it sounds like Winding Road. Yeah, the vocals sound the same, but the music is quite different. Since I’m the producer of Winding Road, I don’t really listen that much to other melodic rock bands while I’m producing a record because I don’t want to copy anyone.

You’ve got some pretty cool people on this album as well. You’ve got Thomas Larsson, who has worked with Glenn Hughes and Baltimoore. Tell me, how did Thomas Larsson become involved?
We got two guest guitarists doing a solo each. When I was doing the solo for the song that Thomas plays on, it’s called I’m Alive. I kept hearing in my head, “How would it sound if Thomas Larsson played this solo?” But I could never really get it myself. So, I just thought, “Why the heck not ask him?” Because he doesn’t live far from us. And he said yes. I really love that solo he did. It was just as I had imagined, but I couldn’t play it myself because I don’t have his touch on the guitar. He’s a really good guitarist.

You also have Fredrik Folkare also on the album, who’s actually been in some death metal bands, such as Unleashed and Necrophobic.  How did Fredrik become involved with ‘Winding Road’?
He also had been going to this music school. He and Jonas are childhood friends. Fredrik actually played on an album with Eclipse too.  Me and Erik from Eclipse were classmates in the music school.

I guess everybody pretty much knows everyone in the scene.
Yes, Sweden is a really small country.

Are you a fan of bands such as Unleashed and Necrophobic?
In my teens, I listened to a lot of death metal. So that’s basically what I grew up on—thrash and death. It’s not really my cup of tea these days, but I listen to a couple of Unleashed tracks. I don’t think it’s bad in any way, but it’s not my kind of music anymore.

Eclipse will be playing out here in the States next year at the Whisky a Go Go.  Is that something that Winding Road would like to do, or have you been out here to the States before?
We actually only ever played one gig. Because we’re only three people, and I’m handling all the guitars, bass, and keyboards. We could always find some session musicians or something like that, but it would be kind of a hassle. You have to get off our ordinary work, find musicians, rehearse. But I would love to do some shows with this album.

Tell me about your other band, Blender, and how it differs from Winding Road.
That, in my mind, differs a lot. In Sweden, there’s a kind of music genre that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. It’s like social dancing, and people go out and dance with each other. But the music is kind of modern country with some slight AOR touches, too. So that was that kind of band, and that was my job for like 15 years. So it’s basically just touring.  I think we did 150 shows per year.

So, you’ve already been on the road, and you toured a lot, but with Blender.
Yeah, I’ve been on the road a lot. I think I’ve slept more in tour buses than in my own bed.

If Winding Road could open for any band, either now or from the past, who would it be and why?
I would have to go with Europe because that’s mine and Jan’s favorite band. Personally, I would say Giant, too, but that’s the old Giant with Dann Huff. That would be a dream. But Europe, I’ve loved them since their first album.

Are you currently involved with any other bands outside of Winding Road?
Not really. I just do some playing here and there. I’ve actually got a show tomorrow. I very rarely play live these days, but I’ve got one gig tomorrow with a quite famous singer in Sweden. He had one Billboard number-one hit, too, with a song called Hooked on a Feeling.

What’s the name of the singer?
Magnus: His name is Björn Skifs. The group was called Blue Swede, but the song Hooked on a Feeling is quite famous.

I know Blue Swede. They played that here on the radio in the ’70s.
Yeah, and the song became a hit again with the Ally McBeal show, the song that starts with “Ooga-chaka.”

What’s it like working with him?
He’s just a professional. I think he’s nearly 80 years old, but he’s still got a good voice. He’s very professional. He’s the boss. If he says something, I play what he says.

So Winding Road has a new album that’s about to come out next month. What’s up next after the album comes out?
I hope that people, of course, listen, but also buy the record. Records these days are not what they used to be, but I hope that we gain a larger audience. There’s so much music coming out these days. I heard there’s, like, 100,000 songs per day released on Spotify. That’s insane, but it’s really hard to get people to listen.

Well, keep recording songs like Close My Eyes in Tokyo and doing albums like this one, Fill My Sails, and you’ll get listeners, that’s for sure.
Yeah, I hope so. But the melodic rock audience are quite critical, too. There’s always talk like, “This is very generic” and stuff. But it’s hard not to sound generic because the genre has its specific sound. I wouldn’t dream of putting any scream death metal vocals on it or something because that would be just stupid.

Well, yeah, so it would be like you and Unleashed can do a collab together or something.
That would be interesting, wouldn’t it?

Do you have any messages for melodic rock fans here in the States who are just beginning to discover your music?
I really hope you like it. I hope people appreciate the nuances in the music, too, because I’ve tried to put in a lot of effort into the production this time. So, there’s more stuff going on than just the same guitar riff over and over again…

Winding Road is:
Jonas Tyskhagen: Lead Vocals
Magnus Åkerlund: Guitars, Bass, Keyboards and Background Vocals
Jan Hedlund: Drums and Background Vocals

(Interview by Ken Morton)

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