Introducing: Windshelter

Swiss band Windshelter have honed an intoxicating sound that fuses the intensity of post-hardcore with more melodic, almost emo elements that they describe as “deep, energetic and mindful.”

The band, who hail from the French-speaking part of Switzerland, was started by guitarist Arnaud Schreyer and drummer Elliot Scherrer in 2015 with musicians from the Nyon region. They recorded and produced debut EP Closure in 2016 then added a new singer and bassist, which brought new energy ahead of releasing Reflection at the end of 2019 and a first tour.

The pandemic cut short a strong start to 2020, which saw the band lock themselves away in the studio to record a series of six new singles. And now, with the lineup completed by Sébastien Poli (vocals), Dylan Sauty (guitar) and Cédric Petitjean (bass) and tracks mastered by English producer Lewis Johns (Employed To Serve and Rolo Tomassi), they’re ready to unleash this new music on the world.

And on the sound they’ve honed, Sébastien tells us: “We categorize ourselves as a post-hardcore band, melodic-hardcore whatever you want to call it. A mix of raw emotion, anger and hope with a modern sound.”

Our most recent taste of this is Love // Hate, which is the sixth and final track in their current batch of singles and was released at the end of September. It goes hard from the off with intense vocals and driving drums giving way to more mellow vocals and light guitars. It soon bursts into a return of the lively chorus, which ends on stabbing guitars and heavy drums, then huge vocals and doomy drums. The pace drops with light guitars bringing the track to a calm conclusion.

On the track, Sébastien says: “At our level, the reaction has been great so far, but in the future we would like to take our band to the next level. Regarding Love//Hate, people should expect a spoon of anger, a spoon of breakup story, mixed with nostalgic clean vocals. Emo is not a phase mom y’know?”

That follows a string of impressive singles, which include enjoyable guitars and engaging vocals in previous track Echoes and the atmospheric Tidal Waves. But a personal favourite is Erase The Pain, which opens up with a deliciously heavy guitar riff then cool high notes as vicious vocals take over. It flows into soaring clean vocals and another intense verse supported by, which ends on more delicious combinations of heavy chords and soaring high-pitched guitars. Heavy vocals continue alongside powerful instrumentals to bring the track to a close. Check it out here:

Those tracks were preceded by the slightly more laid-back Bloom and the brutal first single in the current series, Same Blood. Give it a listen here:

The Windshelter sound is influenced by band members coming from different worlds musically speaking. They try to blend punk-rock, melodic-hardcore, post-hardcore and metalcore as much as possible, with their biggest influences including Counterparts, Static Dress, Landmvrks and While She Sleeps.

And on what inspires them to write music, Sébastien explains: “Mostly what’s going on in the world and our lives. Past/present experiences with an uplifting twist. We want to be transparent through our music and express ourselves openly.”

It’s been a little while since we featured any Swiss bands (more than two years), so we asked the guys for their thoughts on their local scene. Sébastien told us: “I’d say the rock, metal, hardcore scene is quite strong. Switzerland is separated into four different language regions, so it’s difficult to make yourself a name across the whole country. Our lyrics are in English, but it’s hard to connect with a fanbase throughout different cultures and languages.

“I’d say there’s more going on in the hardcore/metal scene in the German part of Switzerland. Maybe because it has more German influences, and Germany has a huge hardcore/metal scene. I’ve been to many concerts in Zurich. I’m not saying there’s nothing in the French part of Switzerland, but the culture is more ‘French’  influenced with rap, pop etc…

“It’s hard to blend both worlds but I do think we’re on the right path and the support for new Swiss artists is stronger every day. For example, Paleface is doing pretty well and a punk-rock band called Mamba Bites too. We’re proud of the Swiss scene.”

With their set of six singles completed, Windshelter are now hard at work producing and recording a double EP to follow it. They’re also always on the lookout for new gigs and opportunities to play outside of Switzerland.

And as Sébastien adds: “We just want to share as much as we can of ourselves so people can relate to it. We want to connect people through our music and especially at our shows, a safe space, where you can be yourself, and respected for who you are.”

You can follow Windshelter on Facebook and Instagram, and check out their music on Spotify, Bandcamp and YouTube.