Attention to acoustic technicality and big dreams of rock-stardom make up the singing/songwriting project of Northern-Illinois suburban Bill Russell. Playing under the moniker Winter Eternal, Russell has grown from his early roots of Metal, Punk, and Ska to create a more intuitive, precise, and thoughtful style of writing, citing influences from such musicians as Elliott Smith and Andy McKee. Doing his best to just be honest, himself, and make music with meaning.
Winter Eternal has a sound that is very much “guy with guitar”, but what sets it apart from the rest of the angsty acoustic world full of songs about girls is that our friend Bill is also doing his best to keep things positive. Everyone has their dark days, and while Winter Eternal certainly covers some of that in its songs, Russell is a just the kind of stand up, ‘roll with the punches’ guy that you just can’t help but like. With vocals that take as shine to people like Kind of Like Spitting’s Ben Barnett and American Music Club frontman Mark Eitzel, there’s an imperfection in the intonation of Winter Eternal that may rub some the wrong way, but we find endearing if not just for its simple presentation of “this is what I’ve got, I hope you like it. If not, well, it means something to me, and that’s what matters.”
Roughly six years into its start, his craft as a musician is still growing, and Russell will be the first to admit to it, as well as accept your criticisms, saying “I critique myself way harsher and irrationally than you ever could, so don’t be shy, you can tell me what you think.” in the ‘About Me’ section of his myspace. Though he hasn’t quite hit it big or come out with a lavishly produced top record just
yet, Russell has his mind made up, with all sights set on stardom-and we’ve got a feeling this twenty-something has just the right amount of gusto to get somewhere.
Bill took the time out to talk with us about his music goals, dream tour, and justhow the moniker Winter Eternal came to be.
Telegram Sam: Can you give us a recap of what Winter Eternal has been up to recently?
Bill Russell- I’ve been recording and rerecording and rererecording a lot, experimenting with different techniques and trying to get my mixing chops down. Most of these techniques haven’t really worked out but every new result (whether it works or not) feels like another piece added to the puzzle.
Also I’ve been trying to branch out and connect with more people who enjoy my style of acoustic writing, and people can help me with what I’m doing.
T.S: What are three of your favorite places to play?
B.R: SWING STATE! The oasis, and anybodies living room
T.S: If you could book a tour with any 3 bands/musicians past or present, who would they be and why?
B.R: First off id have to say that my buddy Moko would be right next to me every mile of the way. He’s my main mang, mang. Psyopus is one of the many bands I’ve heard that just takes every notion of ‘conventional’ music and shreds it like nobodies business. To most, I guess it sounds like a bunch of random noise, but I’ve noticed that most people who think that are people who don’t play any instrument or have no music theory knowledge whatsoever. They’re amusing, brutal, funny as hell at times, and one of the most original bands to emerge this millenium so far.
Lil Wayne is just the shit haha I love how he can consistently put out new material and it always delivers. He plays with words like I play with myself, you dig? He’s a natural. It takes these rap ‘artists’ months and months just to have an EP, but Lil Wayne will put out four records of fresh shit a year, come on.
Motion city soundtrack has been one of my fave bands for years, and I really dig their melodic tendencies, especially the vocal and synth melodies. For me, they’re good old fashioned drink-and-dance music ha. The music is catchier than a fisherman, and I love how Justin Pierre almost wrote a soundtrack to my teenage years without even trying
But genres aside, the reason I picked these three bands is because they have that ever-elusive raw energy that makes you tap your foot without realizing it (except Psyopus, they seem more like a soundtrack to spontaneous combustion in a fireworks factory, its really hard to tap your foot to haha but amazing nontheless)
(Also, if possible, Taylor Swift should come out with us, cause she’s like nerdy-adorable)
T.S: Tell us about some of the songs you include in your set. Is there a specific creative direction behind them?
B.R: I try to have a new song done every time I play publicly, and though I do have a few staples, my set generally is different every show. I always play “inferno a-go-go”, “rooftops and parking lots”, “let me, if you want’, ‘I hate the holidays’, assorted instrumental medleys, and of course, ‘the “fuck you, I hate you’ song’”.
‘Inferno a-go-go’ is pretty straightforward, its all about bein proud of who you are and keeping your head up. It’s the first song i wrote that i thought was Really good. i wrote it back in early ’08 and i still have people requesting it =]] That’s a fucking righteous feeling. ‘Rooftops and parking lots’ is a an attempt to write an acoustic metal song haha its pretty technical and noodly, and the lyrics are some of my favorites.
‘Let me, if you want’ is storyline song, it starts off all nice and sexually suggestive haha and then morphs into a more vindictive type of spiel, you know? Yea. The music reminds me of riding a horse drawn carriage through like a wide-open meadow or something.
‘I hate the holidays’ is an instrumental that took me a long time to finish, and I’m still not totally happy with the ending so whenever I play it live, the last half is pretty much improvised. I was staying at my mom’s house for a bit in late ’08, and on Christmas morning I woke up and everyone was gone haha so I was like damn… and the whole song warped, twisted on itself and oozed out into this opus of open strings and anger, but alas, that is the reason for the title .I really do hate the holidays though lol i cant stand the end of the year.
I’m not really aiming at any specific musical direction, I’m kinda winging it, just doing what feels natural, and taking simple things and complicating the hell out of them, then taking it back again.
I love all forms of music as long as you can hear that the artist is speaking to you, not just going through the motions, cause anybody can do that. Look at motley crue.
T.S: Who are your top three musical influences?
B.R: Andy Mckee, Elliott Smith, and Casey Kirby.
Andy Mckee makes some of the most beautiful music I have ever heard, the type of shit that makes you want to cry. All his stuff just flows so naturally. It’s very organic, almost meditative.
Elliott Smith is the reason I started playing acoustic guitar, his songs opened up my eyes to chords and subtle melodies at a time where all I listened to was stuff like Slayer, Lamb of God, Satch and Metallica.
Ever since then I’ve been obsessed with the amount of discipline and control needed to fluently play acoustic, which brought me to guys like Andy Mckee, Erik Mongraine, Dylan and Slightly Stoopid.
Casey Kirby is one of my best friends and THE best bassist I have ever met. He’s phenomenal at everything he tries, and I’m not gonna lie it pisses me off sometimes watching him do all this crazy stuff. I guess the biggest reason he’s a main influence on me is because he’s helpful, humbling, and there are no limits to our conversations to just how ridiculous or sobering the topics we talk about are. He’s the only person I’ve ever showed a certain piece of music to and actually understood it. Not just the theory behind it, but like actually understood why I was playing what I was playing, what I was feeling and all that.
So here are three cheers for innovators! whoo!
T.S: What’s the story behind Winter Eternal- how did it get ot be what it is today?
BR: My mom has told me stories of when I was younger, I used to rock out on this little plastic toy guitar, I used to dance and sing and everything since before I can remember. I’ve always known what I wanted to do with my life, and that was to be a fucking rockstar haha
My goals have changed slightly over the years, but essentially I still want to be the dude up on stage with all the bright lights singing anthems with the crowd and just hanging out, living it up, you know?
So that stewed inside me for years until I actually started playing guitar at 14, that night I looked up tabs for ‘Wish you were here’, and had it down by the time I went to sleep three days late. That was it, after that I didn’t have a social life, all I wanted to do was play, and I was totally okay with living a hermit lifestyle. Well like all fairy tales, my story also has some not so greats twists in the plot. Some led to heartbreak, others to triumph. I was homeless for the better part of 16 to 20. I’m 21 now, and looking back, that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. I feel like a 40 year old man in a strapping young lads body haha, but I now have the smarts, cognitive abilities, coping strategies, and all that mental preparation to handle whatever life throws my way. If you read my lyrics, I’m sure you can see that, too. I learned the real world actually is nothing the way they portray it in high school, with all its gritty unpolished glory. I feel like I’ve got something to prove to everyone who said I couldn’t do it, so I’m trying to be the best. In that respect, throughout the years I went from writing simple songs about girls and skating to truly introspective topics. Nowadays, I’d rather write a solid paragraph of substance rather than writing a novel of bullshit. The kids can see bullshit from a mile away.
T.S: What are your plans for music in the future?
B.R: My future plans are pretty simple.
Get signed.
Get paid.
Help deliver anguished souls from the depths of their pessimistic brains.
I like happy, I thrive on positivity. None of that bitching and moaning, please
I know what my future is, I just don’t know when its going to kick off to the magnitude I’ve always dreamt of.
T.S: Is there any instrument you don’t play already, but wish you did?
B.R: Oh man, piano is tops. Drums. The accordion. Bavarian cheese whistle. Violin. Cello. Saxophone or maybe the trombone. Lute. The didgeridoo, the didgeriDont. I’m not sure if this is a legit ‘instrument’, but it’d be cool to master the art of water and crystal glasses. You know, the usual.
T.S: What other bands/projects have you been a part of?
B.R: My first band ever was originally called ‘Morbidity’, and we were a righteous little melodic death metal band, we broke up because of things outside of our control, but remained friends, thankfully.After that I flirted with punk and ska projects, but nothing too serious. Then came Purge. Purge started as Bernardo Mendia (lead guitar, vocals), Josh Wheelock (rhythm guitar), Rob Martin (sexy skins), and myself as ‘lead ‘ bassist haha We played together for about 6 months before Josh was replaced by Ryan Stofferahn.
Anyway, I ended up losing my apartment and had to move back in the momma, but Purge was on its way up so I did everything in my power to still play shows and practice by myself. We were playing some decent gigs man, but eventually it became too much for me to afford. I lived in Naperville, and a train ticket to Fox Lake on a weekday was just under 14 dollars. That’s almost thirty bucks every day I went to practice. In the end, I bowed out and Bernie brought Casey Kirby in. Now, there’s a certain pride issue that comes with being replaced for something you were so deep in, but since it was Casey it really wasn’t a big deal. I loved purge, and Purge would be better with Casey anyway, hands down.
After that, I focused all my musical energies towards the acoustic project, Winter Eternal. After a while me and Casey grew closer and started free-for jamming a lot, which brought about Kumwow.
I didn’t help start Kumwow, but its freaking awesome anyway. It’s pretty much a core group of kids who book shows, don’t practice with each other, we don’t write anything, we just go and jam for hours onstage, but the chemistry is great so it seems like we actually know what we’re doing for the most part.
Just more pieces to the puzzle.
T.S: Before you decided on Winter Eternal, what other names did you come up with?
B.R: haha I was considering stupid names a lot for the shock value alone.
Things like Christ-puncher, iFuck, and Infant Incense. Just really dumb shit. I didn’t want to use my actual name. I looked at the pattern of my lyrics and how I wrote, when I wrote, etc. etc., and most of my songs are depressing, because of the times I was going through when they were conceived. I’m a very happy person, but no matter how happy or content I can be, in the back of my head there’s always going be that ‘Rogue Bill’ who is cynical and pissed off, and that is my ‘Winter Eternal’. These songs are a representation of that particular mindset and the interpretation of the world around me as seen by the ‘Rogue Bill’.
T.S: Who was the first band/musician you saw live?
B.R: My mom worked in bars a lot when I was young so I’m sure I saw bands play and stuff before my first actual concert. The first concert was AFI, Hot Water Music, and Bleeding Through in October 2005.
Greatest night of my life.
AFI was my favorite band at the time, and I was pretty much a fanatic, so that was like seeing god herself.
