PropertyOfZack got a chance to interview Evan Winiker of Steel Train. The band is releasing their new, self-titled, album today, so definitely check it out. In the interview Evan talks about the band being independent, release week, and Terrible Thrills.

For the record could you state your name and role in Steel Train?

Evan Winiker and I play bass.

Steel Train comes out on Tuesday. The band put up the album to stream this week, how has the feedback been so far? Is the release week at all nerve-wracking? 

The reaction has been beyond our expectations, it feels good to put something out there and get great feedback on it. Release week is definitely a little nervewracking, but that stuff is out of our hands. We did our best, released it into the world, and now all that we can do is hope people to appreciate it.

Steel Train left Drive-Thru Records in 2009 and this is your first self-released record. How is it being independent of a label now? Was putting out the record at all difficult without label support?

It’s funny cuz in a way we named the record “Steel Train” because it was sort of a rebirth, going back to who we were before labels and stuff…a return to our roots. Luckily the process of putting out the record has been pretty easy, but if you asked our manager Marc Allan, I’m sure he’d give you a different answer. 

It was announced that you guys would be releasing Terrible Thrills Vol. 1 as a companion album to Steel Train. How did that idea come into fruition?

Jack thought of it a couple years ago but we couldn’t do it because of label stuff, now not being on a label we’re able to do all those things we were restricted from.

Was it at all difficult to assemble the list of artists you guys put together for Terrible Thrills?

We’re lucky enough to have a great group of friends, we reached out and virtually everyone said yes.

What was the writing process for this like compared to Trampoline?

Similar, Jack had most of the songs beforehand. We worked on them a bit at practice and then brought them to the studio in LA. It was mostly Jack and I out there…great times. I fell in love with LA.

What were some of the larger influences on this record compared to the past?

Tegan and Sara, La Roux, etc.

This year the band participated in both Coachella and at Bamboozle. How were the two festivals? You guys performed on the main stages for both of them.

Amazing experiences, we’ve always wanted to be a part of Coachella, it was such a blast playing. Bamboozle was also great, it was the end of a three-month tour and we were literally playing outside of Giants Stadium, ten minutes from where we grew up.

Steel Train is currently out on tour and playing new songs. How’s it been out on the road so far for this tour? 

Lots of fun, tour just started a couple days ago. We’re gonna play a lot of basketball in the morning, I’m really excited.

The tour ends in late July. Should we expect to see some fall tour dates announced in the upcoming month or two?

We’ll be on the road for a while, more dates to be announced soon.

Thank you so much for your time, is there anything you’d like to add?
Play our song “turnpike ghost” in rock band