The High-Flying Melodic Rock of Rising Wings
Rising Wings
The High-Flying Melodic Rock of Rising Wings
Rising Wings was founded in 2006 by Florian “Flo” Bauer as a melodic rock one-man-band. Based out of Bavaria, Germany, Rising Wings has just released an AOR masterwork entitled Reach via Pride & Joy Music. Definitely an album years in the making created on different continents, Reach features such spiraling tapestries as Lonely Is The Night, Ride On, and Remember – songs that should be all over the worldwide radio airwaves. Highwire Daze recently interviewed the maestro Florian Bauer via the magic of Zoom to find out more about the high flying melodic rock of Rising Wings. Read on…
We’re here with Florian from Rising Wings. First of all, how did you wind up signing with Pride and Joy Music?
I’ve been working on my album now for many years. I released two EPs long time ago in 2006 and 2008. After that, I really started my, I would say, professional life. I’m a civil engineer by trade and I also was overseas for a long time, but I always knew that I wanted to do a full-length CD at some point, and I always worked on my songs. I would say about two years ago, I was really finished and said, okay, this is it. What should I do now? I contacted a guy called Chris Lausmann, and he did the mixing of the album. And after this was finished, I went to a couple of labels. Pride and Joy Music is exactly what the music that I do fits to. Birgitt was also happy to sign me on. Now I’m also very happy that I’m signed on Pride and Joy because I think it fits quite well.
Is there any overall story or concept behind the album title Reach?
For me it’s just something to really reach something. You could also have called it Reached, because I’ve done and finished it. But for me, reach I think it’s a good title that fits with the album. Because many of the songs are just very positive songs – and trying to also if you have a hard time in your life to overcome this and look for the positive side of things. This is what I would say is the general agenda. So Reach is, in my opinion, a fitting name for this.
Lonely Is The Night is such an awesome song. Give us a little background behind that song and what was the inspiration behind it?
I would say, Lonely Is The Night, is one of the key songs on the album. It’s about sometimes there are people who are not that lucky in life as I would say we are, and that you also have to look at this at sometimes, and this is a little bit of the reason of Lonely Is The Night. But in the full song structure, it’s a really melodic rock song that goes all the way melodically, and this is why I also like it a lot.
Reach by Rising Wings (Pride & Joy Music)
The album opens with a song called Ride On. Tell me about that song and the inspiration behind it.
Ride On is more like a runaway story and it’s a faster song. It was partially recorded in Queens, New York at that time. One session even took place during the big earthquake that was out in Virginia in 2011, so it’s quite old already. And this is why there was also a really shaking session at that time where we did not really know what is happening, and the end, we thought it must be the speakers of the studio, but at the end it was an earthquake. So, there’s an interesting story behind that song.
Remember, give me the inspiration behind that one.
Remember is the power ballad of the album. It’s still a a heavy song. It has all the guitars and everything in the chorus that comes on, but it starts a little bit slowler than the other ones. The song was actually written for my wife for our wedding, also a long time ago. That’s when I also performed it the first time. Actually, it’s dedicated to my wife. And this is basically now the power ballad of the album, and I also like it a lot.
We’ll pick one more song, and I’m just going to go with the last song Times Of Rain, the one that closes everything. Tell me about that one.
Florian: Okay. It’s also a cool AOR Melodic Rock song with, with some nice keyboards in there but still a rocker. It was also created and recorded in the USA times. From the meaning, even if life is not always easy, there’s always a glimmer of hope, and this is why Times Of Rain has a little bit of a negative title, but it is a positive song at the end. And yeah, it gives you the full melodic rock thing at the end of the album. Again, one more time, this is why I also chose it as a finishing song for the album.
What was it like working with multiple drummers on this album?
This is just because of the time thing, because it was really recorded over many years. And yeah, it’s also people I met in this time. There’s Falco Münch (Reload) and Markus Herzinger (2nd East): I played in a cover rock band with them in my hometown here in Bavaria. So, I asked them at that time to play the drums. Then I went to the US and I met Bobby Santiago from the band Bloodwork in New York, and he was happy to do some drumming on those tracks. Then I came back to my hometown and there was a guy called Franz Raßhofer (Joe Leila), and with him, I’m still in the band together. It was quite some drummers that were recording on this album, but it is all friends of mine and I’m happy that I have those four drummer buddies with me on that thing.
The album was co-produced by Chris Lausmann who you told me earlier. He’s worked with the likes of Bonfire. What was it like working with Chris and did he have any good stories on Bonfire to tell you?
It was really nice to work with Chris, actually. It’s a friend of mine introduced me to him, and I was then at his studio. I met him many times and it was really cool working with him. He’s a full melodic rock specialist, so he knows how this stuff has to sound, and this is also what I wanted for the album, and that’s what he also brought in. Yeah, it was actually very interesting because it was still in end COVID times, I would say. So, it was not easy to have this all brought together at the end and have it all ready, but we met several times and it was really cool. And yeah, he also has some cool Bonfire stories. I think he even used one little sample in there at some point. So it’s very interesting just to be part of that.
Rising Wings via the magic of Zoom
Has Rising Wings ever played live or is that something you’d like to do sometime in the future?
Unfortunately, Rising Wings is just, I would say a one man show. It’s my Melodic Rock project, so there is not really a plan to have a big live concert tour or something like this. I played a couple of times acoustic versions, but this is always a compromise. This is perhaps what I continue to do, but there will not be a big Rising Wings live tour unfortunately. But there are ideas how the story will go on then.
If Rising Wings was a band that played out live and you could open for any other band, either now or from the past. Who would it be and why?
I would like to open up for Journey. I have seen them many times actually. Also, I’m a big music fan and I’m a big fan of Neal Schon. I met Neal Schon one time, but just as a fan. But this would be a dream, I would say, opening up for Journey. From the quality, I’m not there yet, but perhaps this is in the future, there’s still something to live up to.
So your last EP came out in 2008 and it is now 2023. Will it take 15 years for the next Rising Wings album to arrive?
I hope not. As I said, I’m working on songs and I’m always continuing. It’s something that I always want to bring forward and push. There will be more stuff in the future, perhaps. If it’s a re-release of those EPs the next step, or it’s new songs. I don’t know completely yet, but there will be more Rising Wings stuff coming out in the future.
Do you have any messages for melodic rock fans out here in the States who are reading this right now?
I hope that they like the Rising Wings release because it’s pure melodic rock, and I’m very happy that this kind of music is still out there. There are many choices nowadays of music that you can listen to, and I’m not the guy who’s listening to the normal radio stuff. I am into the old stuff in the 80s. I’m also following up all the bands that are bringing out this kind of music also nowadays. Now Rising Wings is one of the choices and just hope that the guys out there like the Rising Wings melodic rock album.
(Interview by Ken Morton)
Rising Wings on Facebook
