Blackwood Creek Is a ‘Labor of Love’ for Kip Winger

Sometimes the best music comes unexpectedly. Kip Winger created a band called Blackwood Creek as a kid. The band broke up around 1980, but it wasn't permanent. After all, the drummer is Nate Winger, Kip's brother, and the guitarist is childhood friend Peter Fletcher. A few years ago, the Blackwood Creek guys got together to play for fun ... and something happened.

"It was a project, a labor of love," Kip Winger earnestly tells Noisecreep. "It's just one of those things where we were all talking one day and were like, 'Hey, let's jam!' So we all got together, and the chemistry was still there. It was never nothing that was planned on."

Despite the fact that Kip Winger never planned to carve out time to do a proper album with Blackwood Creek, something drew him back to the band's music. Just don't expect it to sound exactly like all your favorite Winger albums.

"The vibe was good so I decided to finish it. It was my first love," he continues. "I like the record. It's cool songs and stuff. It's fun for me to do. It may not sound like it, but my personality in that music is a little different than it is in my own band. My bass playing is a lot more free. A lot more like '70s jamming."

Blackwood Creek's self-titled debut will be released Jan. 12 on Frontiers.