Wings Denied – RichardThinks Band Of The Week (10/15/13)

Getting back into the swing of things, this week we bring you Washington D.C. progressive metal band, Wings Denied! Having the genesis of the band begin back in 2011, the band solidified it’s lineup in 2012 and released their first EP, ‘Awake’ in May of last year. We sat down with Alec of Wings Denied who gave us a bit of insight on the band’s origins, writing for their full length, working with producer Jamie King (Between The Buried And Me, Scale The Summit, The Human Abstact) and the future. Check out the complete chat below, and be sure to tune in every Tuesday for a new RichardThinks Band Of The Week!

For more information on Wings Denied, please be sure to check them out on their Facebook and Twitter!

Wings Denied is:
Luka Kerecin- Vocals
Zach Dresher- Guitars
Jackson Smith- Guitars/Vocals
Alec Kossoff- Drums
Rob Moore- Bass Guitars/Vocals

1. First, can you please introduce yourself & tell us your role in the band.
   Hey I’m Alec and I play drums in Wings Denied.

2. With so many bands emerging in today’s scene, how do you believe Wings Denied stands out?
   The music we write isn’t designed to be the craziest, most complicated, or heaviest out there, especially compared to so many bands coming out nowadays. We jokingly say that we write progressive music that is accessible to not only the musicians out there, but to their girlfriends as well- or, the people who wouldn’t normally listen to bands in our style.

    

3. Can you give us a brief history on Wings Denied?Wings Denied was formed by two roommates freshman year at American University. They contacted me to play in the band and I brought in my friend Luka who does vocals. After several lineup changes and some initial setbacks we gained a new guitarist and a full-time bassist in Jackson and Rob.
4. How did you pick the name for the band?The band name comes from an Alice in Chains song entitled “Down In a Hole”. Our vocalist, being a huge fan, was listening to the song and decided that it was a great band name. We all agreed!
5. If you could pick three words to describe your band, what words would you pick?
   We had a review of our first EP once, where the reviewer said “Balls, Personal Courage, and Wings Denied are interchangeable phrases.” I think we’re gonna have to go with that.  
6. What has been the biggest accomplishment for the band to date?
   I think our most recent headlining tour was our biggest accomplishment. We played in 17 states in 30 days and it was crazy to see people come out that heard us online or had seen us before and loved it. It was a huge accomplishment for us as a band.

    

7. The band recently went on tour this past summer, how was the experience like as it was the first tour for the band?
   This actually wasn’t our first tour. We’ve had two previous smaller tours. One, two summers ago with a Canadian band called The Isosceles Project and another last winter with As Oceans, Aether Realm, and Escher. This tour however was the most demanding one we’ve had. It had its ups and downs, but it was a lot of fun and all of us cannot wait to do it again.

    

8. What would be your advice you would give to bands that are about to embark on their first tour?
   Make sure you are financially stable enough to go on tour. Touring is a VERY expensive process, from the van, to the merch, to gas, to god forbid if anything breaks (and it will). Make sure you are more than ready to pay for things on the road!

    

9. The band is currently writing for it’ first full-length album, how is it going so far?
   The full-length album has actually already been tracked and it sounds absolutely AMAZING.

    

10. Jamie King (Between The Buried and Me, Scale The Summit, The Human Abstract) is producing the effort, what is it like working with him?
    Jamie King is a wizard magician. Honestly, he’s the best producer I’ve ever worked with and the quality of his recordings is unmatched. I definitely recommend him to anyone looking to record anything.
11. Joe Lester from Intronaut is also contributing to the album as well, how did the collaboration go about?
    When Zach was in high school, his old band opened for Intronaut. After that show he, Sacha, and Joe became friends.  At the same show, before Zach and Jackson really knew each other, Jackson and Joe talked and became friends as well. Everyone stayed in contact over the next few years, and they’d run into each other at shows, one of which was this past May, when they talked about collaborating on something, and Joe offered to play on the album!

     

12. What’s next for Wings Denied in 2013 and beyond?
    As of right now our plan is to shop this record out to labels and see if we can get some backing and tour support to continue doing the band full time. We are already writing new music and planning new tours. However, most of our focus is promoting this album and seeing if we can get label support.

     

13. Anything else you would like to add?
    Thank you to all the fans that have supported us all this way. Without the people who routinely come to shows, buy merch, buy albums, say hi, tell us a bad joke, etc…are the lifeblood of not only our band, but also every single band out there. Thanks so much because without you guys we’d be nothing.