The independent symphonic metal band Upon Wings is back and ready for the rock community to take notice. The Michigan based band released their first EP Afterlife in 2012 with songs “The Afterlife” and “You Are My Weapon” instantly becoming fan favorites.
The female-fronted band is fueled by the powerful vocals and emotional lyrics of Anne Erickson with a strong supporting cast that includes Kevin Jardine (guitars), Peter Tzaferis (drums) and Brett Hestla (multiple instruments).
Music Madness Magazine caught up with Anne to discuss the bands upcoming EP and what else they have in store for us.
Music Madness: What does 2020 have in store for Upon Wings?
Anne: Well, first of all, thanks for doing this interview. I definitely dig your site. Yes, we’re wrapping up a new EP and that’ll be out hopefully in the spring. Our focus right now is just wrapping up the new music and getting more people to discover Upon Wings.
Music Madness: Thank you! So once the new EP drops, is touring in the cards if everything goes well.
Anne: Yep! Hopefully.
Music Madness: During the writing and recording schedule will the band play any local or regional shows or is it solely working on the new music?
Anne: It is solely writing music right now. We have been working on it a long time. Our debut EP, Afterlife, came out back in 2013 and then we took some time off and came back doing holiday singles.
We have been working little by little on the new EP and now we’re finally getting it all wrapped up. It’s really exciting because it’s kind of, I don’t want to say a comeback for Upon Wings, but it kind of is because we had taken a break and so I’m excited for people to hear new music that’s not Christmas music.
Music Madness: Speaking of the break…it appeared that Upon Wings had gained some momentum in 2013 with some airplay and recognition then it seemed to fade. Was the band not quite prepared for all of that?
Anne: I was hoping that if people heard the music that they would like it and I was hoping for some momentum. I don’t know because a lot of people said we had more of that European sound like a Nightwish or something. I wasn’t sure how it was going to be accepted in the States and wasn’t sure what to expect.
It was more like once everything was over with that first EP, everything was out, and the quote unquote album cycle had wrapped up. We needed a little break from that and then we just took a few years and slowly came back. We had been working on a new single and then decided, “Well let’s make a part of the upcoming EP,” which delayed things. I thought about releasing just a new original track in between everything, but then decided to put it all on the EP.
We were excited with the response that we got from the songs “Afterlife” and “You Are My Weapon,” but then we just had to take time off. Life happened. That’s why we’re excited to get out there, get back at it, and finally get some new original music out there to everyone who’s been so patient.
Music Madness: Very cool. Well we love that amazing voice of yours and are looking forward to hearing new music.
Anne: Thank you so much. I appreciate that.
Music Madness: Earlier you eluded to having more of a European sound and unsure how it would be received in the metal community. That Symphonic Metal sub-genre keeps growing and branching out to where you are seeing bands like Evanescence playing key slots at these big rock festivals. Even more female fronted metal bands are coming to the forefront.
Anne: Oh wow, that is so cool and great to hear. I’m really grateful to those bands that have made it more popular here in the States.
Music Madness: Absolutely. I think social media has made a huge impact on all of that. The times have definitely changed even from when Upon Wings first put out its first EP.
Anne: Oh, I totally agree. It’s funny, people find us online every week, they’ll hear a song from a few years ago, and it’s new to them. It’s neat to see how with social media growing that suddenly people all over the world are finding us who did not have the means to find us even five years ago.
Music Madness: Maybe Upon Wings can reintroduce those songs to everyone and build some momentum for the new EP.
Anne: Thank you so much. I’m so happy to hear you say that, as it’s kind of, what we are doing. Those two songs, “The Afterlife” and “You Are My Weapon,” we’ve kind of tried to bring them out and promote them a little bit right now to bring new people on for the new music.
Music Madness: You are very welcome. Your voice sounds like you were classically trained.
Anne: Yeah. I started singing when I was four… it’s so funny because I’m so into hard rock and metal, but growing up my family didn’t really listen to any of that. So it was all opera and musical theater, which I really loved.
In high school, I heard rock music and I was like, “What is this? This is amazing.” So that’s when I started to get into rock and metal. But I grew up with that opera and musical theater influence and I studied voice in high school and then I studied in college.
I never really thought that I could sing in a rock or metal band until I started to hear bands like Iron Maiden and Judas Priest where the singer was very operatic and was like, “Oh my gosh, maybe I can do this and not have to change my voice and sound… “ Like I could never sound like Joan Jett if I tried.
Music Madness: Do you remember what your favorite band was growing up?
Anne: Phantom of the Opera was big. I learned every single song from Christine. Same with Les Mis. I learned every single song.
As a little kid, I liked The Monkees for some reason. They were on Nick at Nite but I actually remember as a little kid going to see The Monkees and really liking them. I liked grunge a lot when I got older and I am shameless at admitting that I loved post-grunge. I really got into Staind, Shinedown, Tool and A Perfect Circle.
Music Madness: Nice. I know you have been busy writing new music…how many songs can we expect to see on the new EP.
Anne: Yeah, probably four or five and then we might include something that’s already been out. Maybe like a remake or remix, something like that. We really want a smaller amount of songs that we really love and are proud of versus a larger number.
Music Madness: What kind of vibe can we expect from the new EP? I know your previous works dealt with loss… is that an ongoing vision or theme or are you changing it up at all?
Anne: That’s a good question. I mean the sound of the band is always going to be Upon Wings. It’s not like I’m going to come out with a rap song or something. As far as the subject matter, for the first time I wrote about something that wasn’t loss and death. I never set out to write about that in the first place. It was what I was dealing with at the time.
So the new music…part of it deals with relationships, which is something I never thought I would write about with Upon Wings because I never saw us as having a theme of either a breakup song or a love song. I just didn’t think it would be us. Again, it was what I was going through at the time and so I just ended up writing more about relationship stuff on this EP.
Music Madness: When writing, are you one of those that scribble random thoughts in a notebook, take notes on your phone or do you prefer to sit down and just start writing.
Anne: That’s a good question. It depends… for this album, I even woke up in the middle of the night and would write down lyrics, which can work both ways. You can wake up the next morning, look, and be like, “What was I thinking? That’s sounds crazy.” Or you can wake up. “Oh wow. You know that really fits perfectly.” So some of it I would just wake up and I would just be thinking about something and just write down lyrics.
Usually I can’t really force it. It’s not like I’m going, “Oh I’m going to the studio today. I’m going to sit here and write lyrics.” It’s not like I walk around and lyrics just come to my mind or something.
Music Madness: Is the band still intact after the extended period of time off or are there new pieces in place?
Anne: All the same people are there; we still work with Brett Hestla who is down in Tennessee. Kevin, my guitarist, who also does a lot of the production, is still there. He’s done all the Christmas songs and everything. It’s not like we’ve gone and gotten new people or anything. It’s pretty much been the same core group from the beginning.
Music Madness: Right on. At least you will still have that chemistry and cohesion, which is always one less thing to worry about when you are recording and trying to come up with new material.
Anne: Yeah, yeah. I 100% agree.
Music Madness: What would Upon Wings mission statement be; what do you want everyone to know about the band.
Anne: I would say that we write all our own music and everything really does come from our heart as cliché as that might sound. I really hope that the music in some way helps people. Like the stuff that I’ve written so far, which is about loss, I’ve had a lot of people write us and say that, “Wow, it really helped me with dealing with this or with that.” And believing that I’ll still see my loved one eventually and that sort of thing.
I hope in some way that Upon Wings helps people. I would also like it to entertain people and just be fun for people. I think that something about most music is that it’s supposed be an escape to from reality. I would just say that I hope that Upon Wings in some way helps people and in some way gives them enjoyment. If that makes sense.
Music Madness: Absolutely. Like inspiration.
Anne: Yeah, yeah.
Music Madness: Let’s say we have this conversation again at the end of 2020. What do you want out of this whole music deal? Do you want play some music occasionally, or are you ready to get on the road and do some serious touring?
Anne: I feel like sometimes it’s hard to set goals because when I stopped setting goals is when good things started happening. I try not to be very rigid with like, “This is what I want.” You know. However, I would say that I would love for Upon Wings within the next year to get on a festival like a Mayhem, to get on a touring festival because they have all different kinds of bands on those tours.
I would love for Upon Wings within the next year to get booked on one of the festivals and get around the U.S. Even get around the world playing to different kinds of people.
Music Madness: Do you remember your first concert, who it was and how old you were?
Anne: Ooh, that is a good one. I’m trying to think back to… I remember my first musical. I was four years old and it was Cats the musical in Toronto. I just remember being in the audience and the lights going down and this amazing music from Andrew Lloyd Weber playing and just loving it.
Catch Up with Upon Wings at: