Artist Spotlight – Underwing

How was the band formed?  

The band was formed after Enyeto and Joachim’s (our singer and drummer) former band named Klepp disbanded, and Magnus (me) former band Valerie also disbanded. Me and Enyeto had been friends for a long time, and found it weird that we didn’t have a musical project together..after all, the majority of time spent together we either spoke about or listened to music and different aspects of music etc.

They had actually tried out a couple of guitarists before I joined, but it didn’t quite match. Thomas is the sickest lead guitarist you’ll see in a while, so with the 4 mighty personalities that we were (still are), we started jamming out around February 2016 I think.

What’s your songwriting process like?   

Probably depends on who you ask, but we’ve recently organized a “writing day” which is set on Tuesdays every week. That’s when we record demos and stuff. Other than that, I know that myself and Enyeto are both writing music individually, and sometimes co-write when we hang out. We’re in the midst of writing an album, and it’s our debut-album too so we’re just writing and writing trying to come up with the coolest songs ever ?

What are your influences?

Everything influences me, from the weather to politics to mental aspects within myself. Same rule applies to the music I write, it’s sort of a mix where everything I’ve ever heard gets fused together to form the final result. I am a sucker for good riffs, so I love 80’s riffing like Van Halen & Extreme. I also spent a huge portion of my childhood listening to pop-punk and metalcore – so that’s definitely an element I add to my music. I love ballads and acoustic songs too, and I love the cocky attitude of a good hip hop song.

As a band though, we use to put it like this; By taking inspiration from genres such as prog, stoner and grunge, the band has made a unique musical expression.

How would you describe your music?  

If Black Sabbath and Alice in Chains had a lovechild that was adopted by Tool, who coincidentally lived next door to Soundgarden and Motorpsycho, the result would be Underwing.

What’s the one thing that makes you/your band stand out from the rest?  

We’re a genuine musical expression, and we share everything with our fans – from the creative process to the more administrative/business aspect of being in a band in 2020. We’re blending together the best music from the rock scene from the 60’s and up until now – moulding our own soundscape in the process.

We also have an acoustic project within the band called “Underswing” which is the exact same songs as Underwing, but arranged very differently. We call it Underwing’s happy go-lucky little brother.

What’s your latest release?   

Our latest release is actually a single with this aforementioned “Underswing”, and is the first song released as that group. It’s the “acoustic” version of the title track off our latest EP “Spirals” released the summer of 2019.

What are your touring plans for the next few months?

We’re actually in the midst of booking some dates for a little tour starting in February/March 2020. Other than that, we’re hoping this summer will be as hectic as our last summer.

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Jean-Frederic Vachon

By day, Jean-Frédéric is Head of Development Services at videogame developer Behaviour Interactive. Rock journalist by night, Jean-Frédéric fills every waking moment of his life with music. Diary of a Music Addict is the little corner of the Internet he's claimed for himself to share his passion with the world.

He's also a regular contributor at the excellent news site Montreal Rampage

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