Interview with Kip Winger - Sweetwater Minute Vol. 216 

Kip Winger should be in the rock & roll hall of fame.

King Winger and his band Winger one of the most underrated bands of the 80's the music and lyrics musicianship speak for themselves I wish fans of other bands would open their minds up

I never get tired of Kip's music. Winger is so fun to jam to.

Just the way he speaks he's very intelligent and profoundly knowledgeable

Kip Winger is one the greatest rockstars of all time. Incredible talent. Such an amazing voice, and what great lyrics. A true spirited musical hero of our time. What a joy to be alive during his era.

This was such a great interview. What a musican, and a person. Seems very kind and humble.

He's an amazing guy he came to my college in Las Vegas last night and talked to us and the orchestra played Windrunner. He's very talented!

Winger has always been a great band, each has such huge talents. They combined are just perfect together

Kip is one of the best of that era but will never get enough credit

He studied for 15 years before he put out any classical music..... that's solid dedication!

A true Musician, always learning and moving forward musically!

Kip seems so chill n relaxed ❤

It's amazing how intelligent and well-spoken/laid back Kip Winger is. He studies classical music, educates himself further and further on music, and gives lessons to young hopefuls who need some good help. Kip is a gentleman and a very loving person. I am very impressed with Mitch too he is a wonderful interviewer. I would love to meet both him and Kip Winger. We'd have a lot to talk about. I educated myself on how to sing, took guitar lessons back a long time ago and am self-taught after that, but I never have mastered songwriting. I really could use a lot of help with that. I write really epic stuff that's almost like opera and I simply can't do it all myself. There's no such thing as a one man opera. Kip would be a great teacher. I should get in touch with him.

Great interview!! A mature, talented rocker not into the groupie-drinking scenes and holding on to 1989!!

I LOVE that he mentions KIX! Great Baltimore, MD, Band. Those guys are still playing, too, cool stuff. Great interview.

Kip winger really is a musical savant. Seventeen is what he's known for, but Winger was a masterclass in song writing and structure. Not to mention Reb Beach is probably in the top 20 guitar players of all time. The dude is a machine. If simple minded people could over look "Beavis and Butthead" and see Winger as they truly are; they'd be able to enjoy complex amazing rock music!

Winger IV is beyond good.

winger caught a lot of crap back in the day. Never understood why because they were all great musicians and writers. Kudos to Kip. He is obviously a well schooled musician and I would welcome hearing some new music from him regardless of the genre.

Love Kip Sexy Winger : ) never realized he was such a Deep thinker. Such a talented singer and writer love love.

Great interview. The real Kip...just another Colorado guy who became a rocker back in the 80's. Glad he loves to teach! Cool!

Mitch, I don't know if you'll even see this, but I wanna tell you, as a fellow 'aging rocker' like yourself (I'm 52, unbelievable!!!) that your are quickly becoming one of my favorite musician/band interviewers. Your extremely knowledgeable (most overlooked trait IMHO), clearly respectable to both your audience and your guests, flawlessly professional, etc. You ask the BEST questions that often surprise and intrigue your guests & myself, and also show you did your homework pre-show. You also are one of the very few personalities that LETS THE GUEST SPEAK!!! Your not constantly interrupting them in the middle of an answer and throwin off the 'cadence'/rhythm/flow of the interview, and are intelligent enough to know that you don't have to constantly keep saying "uh-huh, uh-huh" every 10-15 seconds while the artist is replying. That in itself is most refreshing Mitch!!! I could go on and on, but that would make this compliment start heading down into Gaysville Fla. and I'm not planning on taking that trip anytime soon, heh. :) So, to put it simply, thank you Mitch, I really appreciate your hard work and effort, gotta new hard won fan here . . . .

Winger IV is a KILLER record...haven't listened to the new one yet (but just ordered the vinyl from Amazon today), but IV is my favorite Winger release so far...

Great interview! It's cool to hear some history from a musical legend

Kip Winger is a musical genius. Self developed. Beyond Rock 'n Roll. Brilliant.

Kip Winger had the bluest of eyes so beautiful I loved Can't Get Enough Miles away and Easy Come and Easy Go and I am glad that he is still making music I love his voice ❤️

Saw winger a bunch from 89-94 !!! Loved them great band !!!!!!! Kips the man !!!!

Terrific interview! I too have a parallel interest in rock and classical and love to put them together. Great to see a successful rocker like Kip with the discipline and focus to seek out further music education.

This interview made Kip Winger much more personal to me.

Nice interview, always been a fan of Kip Winger

Kip Winger is awesome. I had no idea he was to deep and so talented. Terrific interview! Very humble and introspective for a guy that incredibly good looking that I think caused people to not see his real talent. Wow!

I love to listen to Kip Winger speak of his talents. The new music is fantastic.

Gonna confirm not what I expected at all. Looking sophisticated and so mellow.

omg he looks so differnt now. I wouldnt have recognized him at ALL..he was so smokin hot back in the day. Still a great musician

What an absolutely amazing talent and monster musician! I've been a fan since the early Winger years. Some of the Winger albums are among my all-time best sounding favs.

I got Winger IV, my favorite followed by Pull

This dude is truly a modern renaissance man.. unexpected really!

It's funny how some stupid cartoon almost killed this really Awesome band. I'm Glad Winger are still standing strong! They are one of my favorite bands of all time!!! Hope they make another album soon. 2014's "Better days comin" was another Amazing album they made.

I survived so many years to the songs/lyrics of WINGER!! Hope WINGER Will tour in FLAGSTAFF/PHOENIX ARIZONA, at some point!! My brother/lives-Henderson,TN-Nashville! WISH could meet you again!!

LOVE Sweetwater. Best customer service on the planet. Great segment here as well. Subscribed for sure.

Good stuff. Glad to see this. Thank you.

I’ve liked Kip’s and Winger’s work for years, and even recently introduced them to my grand children, my kids were introduced years ago. Because of the complexities in their songs, you can listen for years and years and always enjoy it, love driving to their songs. Really like Reb guitar work along with Paul. For me great rock is not about the glamor and fame but about the quality of the work in the music, ZIP keep doing what you do, you have a solid 58 year old fan here!!

He is one beautiful soul,

Kip seems to be a really cool dude and! Very knowledgeable when it comes to music

Have always loved Winger from the start them live was even better, Kip is a class act all the way everything music and beyond.

He seems like a really nice intelligent guy and more talented and diverse than I knew. I though he was just another pretty boy hair band rocker but nothing could be farther from the truth.

A wonderful and very talented musician.

Winger and Firehouse are coming to my hometown in a week. So excited!

What made the (mostly British) progressive rock bands of the 60’s and 70’s so great was their classical music influences. Kip is intelligent and a true artist and appreciator of the mystery of music. He has matured into more complex music, a deeper thinker. Very cool. Oh, and he’s still really nice looking.

Kip is actually pretty cool it seems and I have respect bc he thinks before speaking and while I'm not going out buying his opera album I suppose there is something to be said for taking a different path but again he seems like a good guy

Seems like a solid guy all around.

Winger is so underrated ! Reb and Kip are great Musicians!

Great interview!

Love Lip Winger. Saw Winger in 89 or 90.

Kip is so chilled and seems a even a little awkward as far as eye contact ( I'm the same lol) yet on stage he totally owns it! Great interview Mitch!

Winger 4 is one of the best winger albums!

I love Winger, keep it simple. Yes he is really talented , just keep it easy.

uhh wow ummm, pretty sure that was the best interview ive ever seen !!!..totally enthralled..

Wow. What an interesting interview. I like how he's into so many different things.

surreal. sur-fucking-real. as it should be. rock on, my brother.!

Incredible.... if you only knew this guy as the "She's only 17" guy you have no clue!

What a nice gentleman he is.

Classical music counterpoint and the chord progressions in classic rock are very similar. The form used prior to the romantic era of music (I forgot what it's called), is similar. I think having a classic rock influence from the time I was a baby is what made classical music and opera/choral singing appealing to me once I was 12 or 13. It took me a bachelors in music education/studies to realize this...but I really understand where Kip Winger is coming from.

Lol I don’t think I’ll ever forget that he was my piano teacher and my brothers guitar teacher back in the 80s

He has a great voice...saw them live with my fave band Poison at the house of blues around 2001. Awesome performance!! Never thought I would ever be in the front row...but thses chicks went to a concert with purses and they had to get their bags checked. I flew right by.!! Worth waiting for hours on line.

I watch one Winger video from the 80s and now my feed is full of Kip. 🤔

Winger IV is the best album.

He's far from the playboy portrayed in "17." Super mellow! I bet he doesn't treat his fans like garbage.

Been doing more shows lately. Still sounds amazing live

I love orchestra music. It’s very moving where it lets your imagination go wild. I used to go to the St Louis symphony with parents. It’s super great live!

Kip is so cool....awesome interview!!! Look close, he has five picks on his right hand.

I loved Tin soldier.. most interesting heavy rock song in a very long time . Brilliant.

OCT 11th- See Winger live in Kansas City at The Scene Rock Bar- 9PM.

Like your video on Kip Winger I'm fan of his.

HAD NO IDEA HE WAS SUCH A TALENTED MUSICIAN I MEAN THE BALKET THE COMPOSING SAW HIM AT THE HILTON POOSIDE ACOUSTIC AND HE WAS BETTER THEN

Winger IV was outstanding. I though the old Winger stuff was okay, but the comeback album was great all the way through.

It remember my best days

Lost of rock stars from the 80s are busy numbing themselves and blaming the world for their problems. . This guy becomes obsessed with orchestral music and despite his platinum albums, studies with composers to better himself musically? Wow talk about an anomaly

Kip now lives here in Phoenix

And I love that song! Wow, didn't know! #bkrninbaltimore, living in CO! DENVER KIP!!

He's cool and he is funny. Cool to hang with. Nice guy.

Love both of these guys

Love winger's heavier stuff so Pull and Karma for me, but I liked IV's progression a lot too. Had no idea about Kip's classical compositions...will have to look those up.

Smile kip..smile

Never in a million yrs, in my past life, would I have ever thought, that a good looking "bassist" with a couple top 40's on MTV, at the end of the eighties, would be a practiced beast of an arranger, songwriter, and musician, not to mention, a down to earth, almost spectrum-worthy David Byrne type of fellow who always wants to push the envelope, far outside the realm of, how you say?...Butt?...ROCK?!?!

Kip WInger seems like a humble low key nice guy

Hall of Fame he should be there he is the best.

Great interview! Very inspiring!

Very cool interview. I love Winger. I found his comments on his various styles quite interesting. I'll be honest... as a diehard Winger fan, I am not afraid to admit (even to Kip) that I am in the set that did not enjoy Winger IV as a set of songs. I would not say it is a matter of "not getting it" as he puts it... it is purely "not liking it". Too prog... if I liked prog, I would listen to more of it. I like things that are more catchy and melodic. It is a little unfortunate that Kip has felt he should keep the styles more separated, because I think there have been times where a bit of a mix worked well. On The Inside, from the Greatest Hits album was a great example... the little synth or orchestra hits in there were pretty darn cool, imo. I would LOVE to hear the band do that song live! Still, it is not like I have had any complaints with the last two albums, they are great.

Love Winger IV...was not such a fan of early yrs but Kip when he went deep..sold me..and he's def passionate..not bad on the eyes either

Kip u rock. Xo

Not sure why Kip got somewhat of a cheesy rep?? He’s the real deal and such a down to earth guy... brilliant musician in every aspect

One of the most COMATOSE interviews I've seen, in quite a while...

If you are a musician, IV is by far their best release. It's heavier, progressive and the standard pop rock formulations that many need to hold their attention are not there...which is a good thing for those whose cerebral palate is a little more evolved than "can I dance to it or tap my foot to it?". It's actually funny that he lives in Nashville because this release is basically everything Nashville - being the new center of pop music and home to a formula based commercial music industry whether it be country or Disney pop - isn't. I'm of the opinion Nashville is where music creativity and fresh ideas go to die. Don't get me wrong, lot's of music coming out of there...if Taylor Swift, pop-centric country and billboard top 100 R&B is your thing that is. To me, it reeks of predicable commercialism and the last stronghold of a music industry that by all rights died for the creative and talented musician 30 years ago when they figured out the music didn't matter, but that marketing could make anyone a star before one lame song was written.

Winger came in on the melodic rock phase and then in the 90s the rock was getting heavier with the likes of Metallica, Alice In Chains, Iron Maiden, Sepultura etc and pushed away the melodic era as soft and non manly. So that started the flak they got. But as time's gone by Winger's music seems to shine more today then ever before. A sign of great musicians pushed away by the 90s evolution of what was rock fashion. They eventually got heavier themselves but their earlier work was highly underrated.

He doesn't even talk about the new winger album. :(

it would be interesting to see if Yngwie might add🤔 I believe he's grown up.....hopefully

@13:55 Kip Winger mentions a Borders Books & Music Acoustic Tour. Here is a clip from that 1997 tour. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4ZUfyxJsn3Q.html

Mr. Winger has the Alex Skolnick thing going on. This guy is a tremendous talent and gets dismissed because of Beavis and Butthead and Lars Ulrich throwing darts at a picture of him. Classical music is the foundation for a lot of other genres of music. I can hear meal in J.S. Bach and Revelle, Beethoven and Chopin.

Man, it's hard to believe that this guy was a singer in Winger! 80's were a very, very different times, where MTV took over Rock Music, so everybody had to act like MTV wanted to. I don't blame those bands man, That wouldn't be fair.

His friend paula meredith was my vocal teacher