Name: VINTERSEA
Members: Avienne Kiuttu (vocals), Riley Nix (guitar), Jorma Spaziano (guitar), Karl Whinnery (bass), Jeremy Spencer (drums)
Interviewees: Avienne, Riley Nix
Nationality: American
Current release: VINTERSEA's "At the Gloaming Void" is out now via M-Theory Audio. An as yet unnamed full length is scheduled for release on May 5th 2023.

If you enjoyed this VINTERSEA interview and would like to stay up to date with the band, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, and twitter.  



Where does the impulse to create something come from for you? What role do often-quoted sources of inspiration like dreams, other forms of art, personal relationships, politics etc play?

Avienne: I’ve always had an innate need to perform in front of others and to share my craft. Growing up in a conservative environment hasn’t always been easy, and I felt less isolated and more understood when I listened to my favorite heavy bands.

Playing in VINTERSEA has given me an opportunity to share strong feelings and emotions with our listeners, not only as a mode of self-expression, but also to connect with our listeners in a very unique way.

Riley: I have always had the drive to create. I started writing when I was a very young child and whether creating stories, movies, or music I feel most like myself when I can create. Today, I am most inspired by the natural world and by the creative people that I get to work with all the time!

Most of the melodies and riffs that begin with me begin when I’m hiking in nature. Take “Crevasse” and “Mirror Lake”, from our first album The Gravity of Fall.



Many of the riffs in those songs were things I started humming while hiking that summer, and that natural overtone flowed through the veins of the completed songs.

For you to get started, do there need to be concrete ideas – or what some have called a 'visualisation' of the finished work? What does the balance between planning and chance look like for you?

Avienne: There is always a balance between spontaneous inspiration and dedicated grinding effort when it comes to building our songs. Some songs may lean towards one or the other side.

A lot of our songs start with smaller bits and pieces of melodies or ideas that we like. We then either piece things together, or let the idea expand from the initial melodic seedling.

Riley: Absolutely agreed with Avienne. Some songs come together so quickly with spontaneity and feel great right away. Others take months of brutal, emotionally devastating work. Both of those can result in something beautiful.

‘Illuminated’, the title track from our second album, came together musically in one night while trying to mine for gold in the band room.



Other songs, like ‘Crack of Light’, were pieced together over a period of months and actually started as two separate tracks.  



Is there a preparation phase for your process? Do you require your tools to be laid out in a particular way, for example, do you need to do 'research' or create 'early versions'?

Avienne: Before and during the lyric writing process, I do quite a bit of research when building my concepts and ideas. I am drawn towards historical and religious topics, and not only like to reference them but also provide my own interpretation of my findings.

There have been times where I’ve looked up articles, videos, poetry, and art to really delve myself into the topic I am looking to write for.

Do you have certain rituals to get you into the right mindset for creating? What role do certain foods or stimulants like coffee, lighting, scents, exercise or reading poetry play?

Avienne: Lyric-writing, whether it be by myself or with fellow bandmate and VINTERSEA guitarist Riley Nix, is often a very focused task. We wrote many lyrics together. It’s usually us, a couple of notebooks, a speaker to play the music from, and a couple glasses of water.

However, we have written an entire song from our upcoming album in a single session after we each had a beer!

What do you start with? How difficult is that first line of text, the first note?

Avienne: The most important thing is to just start, and to be unafraid to fumble and come up with something that could end up sucking. I like to generate many ideas and filter out the ones that don’t work.

Riley: Sometimes, the path forward is clear and unambiguous, and we just get to work. When things aren’t coming naturally, I usually stand up and start brainstorming on the whiteboard or on a yellow legal pad. I’ll ask questions like “what is the emotional significance of this song?” or “where does this song need to end up?” Depending on the song, I might draw a path or just start throwing words on the board.

When writing the music (which usually begins with Jeremy, Jorma, and I), the most important thing is to just begin. We get together, plug in, and start rolling through ideas we’ve been working on until something sticks. It’s usually my role to stop the riff-and-beat train and begin the process of piecing things together. Everything we do is very collaborative, first and foremost.

When do the lyrics enter the picture? Where do they come from? Do lyrics need to grow together with the music or can they emerge from a place of their own?

Riley: It absolutely depends on the song. We typically have a conceptual framework, which later informs the lyrics, before we even start putting the music together.

For me personally, I try to create an idea in my mind of what I want the song to look like when it's finished, and then start working toward that goal. Usually, this means taking the lyrical concept and writing or finding riffs, melodies, and progressions that serve that concept.

Once the music is more or less written, we usually come back around to write specific lyrics. But, sometimes this all goes backwards!

What makes lyrics good in your opinion? What are your own ambitions and challenges in this regard?

Avienne: What makes lyrics good is when people can make their own interpretation from it and relate to it in one way or another. I love lyrics that illustrate an idea or imagery, and something that can make people think, and hope that comes across in the words that we write!

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control over the process or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Avienne: I like keeping an open mind when it comes to the creative process. At the end of the day, I want to produce something awesome, and I know and trust my bandmates want the same thing as well. So I am open to changing my frame of thought especially if it's for the greater good.

Often, while writing, new ideas and alternative roads will open themselves up, pulling and pushing the creator in a different direction. Does this happen to you, too, and how do you deal with it? What do you do with these ideas?

Riley: Absolutely. As I said earlier, I tend to start by envisioning my end goal and then work my way toward it through the writing, lyrics, and arrangement processes. Even so, it happens all the time that the song takes on a whole new life late in the process.

On our new album, the song “Parallel Duality” was a fairly straight-forward track until Jeremy and Jorma got a wild hair to add a funky, progressive, and breathtaking middle section. We try to just go with the flow and figure out what serves the song best.

There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Riley: Personally, I find a lot of inspiration in moments of solitude, where a lot of my ideas take shape. But the magic happens in the context of the band, where the creative space is mostly one that I share with my band family.

When we get in the zone and are creating the kind of music we all want to hear, it does border on spiritual. Ideas come to me in quiet, but creative accomplishment comes in a hail of drums, riffs, and screams!

Especially in the digital age, the writing and production process tends towards the infinite. What marks the end of the process? How do you finish a work?

Riley: This is a great question, and it is something we struggle with and debate over in the band.

We all have a perfectionist streak, and want to work on music until it is “right.” Sometimes, that means many many iterations and alternatives before we settle on the proper skeleton - and even then we want to give the song enough time to breathe so that we can find those little spots to stick moments of nuance or surprise. The saxophone solo in “Crack of Light”, for example, didn’t come until late in the lyric-writing process.

That said, we do think it's important that once the song is done, it's done. We want to let our music stand as it is once it has been released, even if we later think we could do something better. Onward and upward, and we stand behind all of our work.

Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece? What does this process look like in practise?

Riley: While it is important to eventually call a song done and move on, it is also important to give each song proper time to marinate and to give us all time to think about ways to innovate or vary our parts.

“Old Ones” didn’t get that great synth line during the second verse until the 11th hour, which was a great reminder that we want to keep our options open and allow ourselves to innovate until we are in the studio.



In the writing process, though, it is all free-game! I’ve worked on riffs for years that progress and vary and get more complex every time I revisit it, until it is finally ready.

What's your take on the role and importance of production, including mixing and mastering for you personally? How involved do you get in this?

Riley: Because our music is so densely layered and intricate, mixing and production is a crucial element to our sound.

Gabe Johnston recorded and mixed Illuminated, and he returned to record this album. We have a great workflow with him and it was a pleasure to work through the parts with him again on this new record.

This time though, we turned to Grant McFarland and Carson Slovak at Atrium Audio (Rivers of Nihil, Black Crown Initiate, August Burns Red) to mix. They brought a fresh perspective to the music and were great about working with our feedback to bring our music to life in a way we couldn’t have imagined.

And, just like on the last record, Troy Glessner (Devin Townsend) gave the album the final sheen in the mastering room. We really appreciate our team and the opportunity to work with them all.

After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Riley: I have felt that emptiness in the past, especially with other projects, but VINTERSEA has so many incredible fans and opportunities that the post-release endorphin rush just continues on and on for years!

All of the amazing reaction videos and new music videos and tours keep our music fresh for a long time, and we are always reaching new people. Seeing them react to our music is a thrill each and every time. That encourages me to get back in the band room and write more music!

Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Riley: We are all creative in different ways. Karl is an incredible filmmaker who has worked on some serious film projects, and in addition to music and working on movies and short stories, I love to cook. Cooking is a way that I can be creative and show people how much I care about them on a daily basis.

But, nothing compares to the way that I can connect to people through music. When people reach out to us and tell us that our music helped them through a hard time, or saved them in some way, it means the world to us.

Only music can convey that depth of emotion and intensity, and I am so grateful that I get to create it with these people!