# Classic Music Saved Me A Man on the Brink Saved by Music-Austin John Winkler

An episode of [Music Saved Me Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1703080557), 1 Nov 2025, 22 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/ee29bc0a-f712-47d6-a49c-b25700f0582e/6bdef8c8-ff8a-4364-b193-b388014ae52a/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=dfceda02-3624-42c7-b522-b25700f0584c

Music Saved Me: Austin John Winkler Episode Description Rock Legend Austin John Winkler Opens Up About Addiction, Recovery, and Finding Redemption Through Music In this powerful episode of Music Saved Me, host Lynn Hoffman sits down with Austin John Winkler, the iconic former lead vocalist of multi-platinum hard rock band Hinder. Known for chart-topping hits like “Lips of an Angel” and “Get Stoned,” Winkler shares his raw, unfiltered journey from rock stardom to hitting rock bottom, and his inspiring comeback story through sobriety and musical rebirth. This deeply emotional conversation explores Winkler’s battle with substance abuse, alcohol addiction, and the destructive lifestyle that nearly cost him everything. The Grammy-nominated singer candidly discusses his departure from Hinder, the dark years of addiction recovery, and how songwriting became his lifeline during the darkest moments of rehabilitation and mental health struggles. Hoffman and Winkler dive into the therapeutic power of music, the challenges of maintaining sobriety in the music industry, and the vulnerable process of rebuilding a solo career after fame. Winkler shares behind-the-scenes stories from the height of Hinder’s success, touring with rock legends, and the personal demons that plagued him during sold-out arena performances. This episode offers hope and inspiration for anyone struggling with addiction, depression, or life-altering setbacks. Discover how creative expression, authentic vulnerability, and the healing power of rock and roll literally saved Austin John Winkler’s life. Support the show: https://musicsavedme.net/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Music Saved Me.
[0:01] Speaker 2: I think that being vulnerable is a very important part
[0:05] Speaker 2: of an artist's job. If you're sending, if you're writing
[0:08] Speaker 2: songs about your life, even you know, like be honest,
[0:11] Speaker 2: Be as honest as you can, because deep down you
[0:14] Speaker 2: know you're human. Everybody's human on this on this earth,
[0:17] Speaker 2: and somebody's gonna feel the exact same way if you're
[0:21] Speaker 2: just honest with yourself.
[0:24] Speaker 1: I'm Lynn Hoffman, the host of the Music Saved Me podcast,
[0:27] Speaker 1: the podcast that goes behind the scenes with musicians and
[0:30] Speaker 1: entertainers and explores the healing power of music.
[0:34] Speaker 2: Now.
[0:34] Speaker 1: If you like this podcast, thank you, and please follow
[0:36] Speaker 1: our companion podcast hosted by the incredible buzz Night, called
[0:40] Speaker 1: Taken a Walk, which is available wherever you get your
[0:43] Speaker 1: podcasts now. Like most celebrities from the days of MTV,
[0:47] Speaker 1: my next guest is a multi platinum selling rock star
[0:51] Speaker 1: and former frontman who is no stranger to the temptations
[0:55] Speaker 1: of addiction. After a decade of fighting for his own survival,
[0:59] Speaker 1: Austin Winkler, formerly of the band Hinder, has done the
[1:03] Speaker 1: hard work of finding his footing and rekindling his lost
[1:07] Speaker 1: love of music. Can you believe lost Love? I can't
[1:09] Speaker 1: even believe I'm saying that. With a brand new musical
[1:12] Speaker 1: entity he created called The Founder, which symbolizes his artistic rebirth.
[1:17] Speaker 1: He also has a brand new six track EP called
[1:20] Speaker 1: Walking Dead, which we'll talk about, and eagerness to use
[1:23] Speaker 1: his new found freedom to help others who are working
[1:26] Speaker 1: through those same demons by letting them all know that
[1:29] Speaker 1: they are not alone in their fight. Just the perfect
[1:32] Speaker 1: guest for Music Saved Me, Austin John Winkler. Welcome to
[1:35] Speaker 1: the show. It is so good to see you and
[1:37] Speaker 1: have you here.
[1:38] Speaker 2: Thank you so much, Lean and it's good to be it.
[1:41] Speaker 1: Well, first, let's just talk a little bit about this
[1:43] Speaker 1: new entity, the Founder. It's a sanctuary for where you're
[1:48] Speaker 1: creating all of your new musical creations. Can you tell
[1:52] Speaker 1: me a little bit about that.
[1:53] Speaker 2: And when that started, Yeah, I wanted to just get
[1:57] Speaker 2: in and I just have this one song, it's actually
[2:01] Speaker 2: the title track Walking Dead, and I was just like,
[2:05] Speaker 2: all right, I'm just gonna do one song and just
[2:07] Speaker 2: do a single, and it kind of it really turned
[2:10] Speaker 2: out like know to me, really raw, a lot more
[2:16] Speaker 2: raw than than kind of my polished stuff that I've
[2:18] Speaker 2: done in the past. And and the lyrics are a
[2:20] Speaker 2: little more raw, and I was like, Okay, well I'm
[2:23] Speaker 2: gonna do another one. I'm gonna do another one. And
[2:25] Speaker 2: so I just I kept on recording him, and it
[2:27] Speaker 2: just I saw this body of work, and I saw
[2:30] Speaker 2: this whole kind of new approach to to recording, and
[2:35] Speaker 2: you know, I didn't want to ever put out anything
[2:39] Speaker 2: again that I wasn't going to be in full control of.
[2:44] Speaker 2: And so that's kind of how the Founder Was was born,
[2:49] Speaker 2: is that I I was able to put my whole
[2:55] Speaker 2: heart into something again, you know, for the first time
[2:58] Speaker 2: in a while. And I told myself, if I ever
[3:02] Speaker 2: do that again, I'm going to make sure that I'm
[3:04] Speaker 2: only putting in all the creative into it. So can
[3:08] Speaker 2: can you.
[3:09] Speaker 1: Share that moment? Was that? Was there a moment like
[3:11] Speaker 1: that epiphany that you realize that music was going to
[3:14] Speaker 1: be this this lifeline during your darkest times considering your
[3:18] Speaker 1: past with music.
[3:20] Speaker 2: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, to be honest, that means we have
[3:25] Speaker 2: to go back even further to like to twenty twenty.
[3:28] Speaker 2: And I had just I was I was on dialysis
[3:34] Speaker 2: because my liver and kidney had failed due to a
[3:38] Speaker 2: excess of years of partying. I was. I was what
[3:41] Speaker 2: you'd call a disposal. I would whatever I can get
[3:44] Speaker 2: my hands done. I was going to do. And I
[3:49] Speaker 2: was like nine months on dialysis, and I was strumming
[3:53] Speaker 2: the guitar and I was just I hadn't I hadn't
[3:55] Speaker 2: been in love with music for a while, just just
[3:58] Speaker 2: because I've been through so much in this industry. And
[4:03] Speaker 2: I started writing a song called super Jaded, and I
[4:07] Speaker 2: like hit a C chord on a chorus, And that
[4:11] Speaker 2: was the moment, at least for me, that I fell
[4:14] Speaker 2: back in love with music. I after I had written
[4:17] Speaker 2: that song and heard it back, like I cried in
[4:24] Speaker 2: my hotel room at like two am, just like I
[4:27] Speaker 2: could feel myself just like my body releasing and from
[4:30] Speaker 2: this music healing vibration, like me hearing myself going, you
[4:34] Speaker 2: know what, I think I still got this thing in
[4:36] Speaker 2: me And yeah, that's that. That just like started like
[4:43] Speaker 2: a complete new love for music and for me, going,
[4:48] Speaker 2: you know what, I'm I'm I may give this thing
[4:49] Speaker 2: another go.
[4:51] Speaker 1: Well, I mean, you have spoken very openly as you
[4:53] Speaker 1: are now about your battle with the addiction and the
[4:55] Speaker 1: dialysis was you know, so young. It just it blew
[4:59] Speaker 1: me way that you were able to. I mean that
[5:02] Speaker 1: truly is a low moment. Yeah, for someone sitting there
[5:06] Speaker 1: thinking about their life. I mean it's right in the
[5:08] Speaker 1: palm of your hands. Yeah, to do with it's pretty incredible.
[5:11] Speaker 2: What thank you?
[5:12] Speaker 1: How did those experiences change your perspective on life and music?
[5:17] Speaker 2: Man, I'll tell you, like, I'm still processing it. It's
[5:21] Speaker 2: still something that was just so crazy. It's like somebody
[5:26] Speaker 2: picked me up and shook me and then set me
[5:28] Speaker 2: back down. And I still I'm still processing it, Like
[5:32] Speaker 2: even this is this is me processing it. Because as
[5:36] Speaker 2: soon as I found out that what happens, I was
[5:41] Speaker 2: I was alloted. The doctor said, okay, you know what,
[5:43] Speaker 2: We're going to take you off the Alisis for two weeks,
[5:46] Speaker 2: and my brain didn't even think about it. I'm like,
[5:49] Speaker 2: I gotta go record this song. So he took me
[5:51] Speaker 2: off the Alisis for two weeks. I flew to Nashville.
[5:54] Speaker 2: We recorded Super Jaded in this like tiny shed of
[5:58] Speaker 2: my guitar players now is crazy as that sounds. And
[6:02] Speaker 2: then I go back. I fly back. It's affecting him
[6:05] Speaker 2: to get back on dialysis. And he was like, you
[6:08] Speaker 2: know what, We're good. We're gonna we're gonna keep you
[6:10] Speaker 2: off of it for two months or three months or
[6:13] Speaker 2: whatever it was. And I was like, okay, crazy, So
[6:17] Speaker 2: I haven't even still had time to process all of
[6:20] Speaker 2: that crazy stuff. But I mean, I will tell you
[6:22] Speaker 2: what it's like to walk in to dialysis, like a
[6:26] Speaker 2: dialysis center at five am, four days a week, five
[6:30] Speaker 2: hours at a time, and I'm you're thirty seven years
[6:35] Speaker 2: old at the time, thirty eight years or sold the time,
[6:39] Speaker 2: and I'm everybody else is seventy and the only way
[6:42] Speaker 2: I'm the youngest guy in there, and everybody's just in there,
[6:44] Speaker 2: just kind of sitting like this, you know. And I
[6:47] Speaker 2: was like, is this I had accepted it. I'd accepted
[6:50] Speaker 2: this is my life now, I guess. But I was
[6:54] Speaker 2: diligent and what the doctors told me to do. And
[6:56] Speaker 2: whenever he said two weeks off, I my book, my
[7:00] Speaker 2: flight the next day and I was out and hit
[7:03] Speaker 2: the ground. Role.
[7:04] Speaker 1: Yeah, that is just so powerful what you just said.
[7:07] Speaker 1: I mean, literally, you're cleaning your blood, which is what
[7:12] Speaker 1: we need to live the rest of our lives. And
[7:14] Speaker 1: you got that one moment of clarity where maybe you
[7:17] Speaker 1: could turn this around. So do you think music had
[7:21] Speaker 1: an impact as well in your healing. When you got
[7:24] Speaker 1: to performing that after you left for a couple of weeks.
[7:28] Speaker 2: Oh, absolutely, absolutely. I mean it's it's more therapy now
[7:32] Speaker 2: than it's ever been, even when I first started. I
[7:35] Speaker 2: feel much more connected to what I'm putting out now,
[7:41] Speaker 2: And not that I wasn't connected to it. I was
[7:43] Speaker 2: just I was literally a different person than I mean
[7:46] Speaker 2: coming out at twenty four years old. I was that
[7:49] Speaker 2: party guy. I was everything on those records, like that's
[7:52] Speaker 2: who I was at the time, and I've always been
[7:55] Speaker 2: attached to it.
[7:56] Speaker 1: It was like a machine, it was.
[7:57] Speaker 2: Yeah.
[7:58] Speaker 1: Absolutely, I'm curious about Music Cares and in other support
[8:03] Speaker 1: systems that sort of played a role in your recovery.
[8:07] Speaker 1: How did they work and how important do you think
[8:09] Speaker 1: it is for artists, especially artists to have access to
[8:12] Speaker 1: these types of resources.
[8:13] Speaker 2: And Music Cares has done so much for me whenever
[8:18] Speaker 2: I was really in need of a lot of help
[8:21] Speaker 2: and they took me in, they took care of like
[8:27] Speaker 2: my entire give me a scholarship for my rehab ninety days.
[8:33] Speaker 2: I mean, they really take care of their own and
[8:36] Speaker 2: I'd love to do anything if they ever have anything
[8:39] Speaker 2: to do, I'd love to volunteer my time to help
[8:42] Speaker 2: them out. I mean they truly help, really help people out.
[8:46] Speaker 1: How did you find out about them?
[8:49] Speaker 2: My therapists at the time was connected to them in
[8:57] Speaker 2: Malibu and she hooked me up with them.
[9:01] Speaker 1: Wow, there has to be I mean, being in this
[9:04] Speaker 1: industry as long as you have and I have on
[9:06] Speaker 1: on my role, it's amazing how little there is put
[9:11] Speaker 1: out for artists, you know, when they're the ones entertaining
[9:16] Speaker 1: the masses who need it so badly. They're providing this therapy,
[9:20] Speaker 1: but they don't have any access to it or understanding
[9:23] Speaker 1: that it's even out there for them.
[9:24] Speaker 2: You know, I'll tell you this, Like my therapist now,
[9:28] Speaker 2: who does amazing work, she's, uh, she's started to have
[9:33] Speaker 2: to go to like Coachella and these big festivals and
[9:37] Speaker 2: she'll have a tent and she's like, well, these artists,
[9:39] Speaker 2: these artists are too big, they're they're they're they're not
[9:41] Speaker 2: going to have any time. And she is booked solid.
[9:44] Speaker 2: Like she'll go in and she'll be booked from the
[9:47] Speaker 2: time she gets there. Because these because people nowadays, I
[9:49] Speaker 2: mean they're actually they are starting to wake up and
[9:52] Speaker 2: realize that, hey, this business is designed to isolate you,
[9:58] Speaker 2: like no matter the bigger you get, the smaller your
[10:01] Speaker 2: world kits. And she's providing safe space for big artists
[10:07] Speaker 2: to go in and be like, you know what, this
[10:09] Speaker 2: is what I'm dealing with on the road, and this
[10:10] Speaker 2: is what I can't deal with and stuff like that,
[10:12] Speaker 2: and it's really quite remarkable to see that. I love
[10:15] Speaker 2: seeing that.
[10:16] Speaker 1: Yeah, me too. Was there a specific song or like
[10:19] Speaker 1: a moment that you felt that music truly saved you?
[10:25] Speaker 2: You know, like I said, I think it was that
[10:27] Speaker 2: super jaded song. I mean when I say save, I
[10:30] Speaker 2: mean like music saves me in general. Right when I
[10:34] Speaker 2: say save, I mean that made me fall in love
[10:37] Speaker 2: with music again, meaning that I needed that to fall
[10:41] Speaker 2: back in line with something that saved my whole life.
[10:44] Speaker 2: Like I mean, before I even started hinder at nineteen,
[10:48] Speaker 2: I was getting arrested and I was like I was,
[10:52] Speaker 2: I was a train wreck of a nineteen year old kid.
[10:55] Speaker 2: And a couple of weeks later I started Hindering, I
[10:59] Speaker 2: got on line. You know, I felt like I found
[11:01] Speaker 2: my calling of stick to in music. Yeah you're or
[11:07] Speaker 2: you're going to get off track. And that's what happened,
[11:10] Speaker 2: you know, whenever I let whenever I ended up leaving
[11:12] Speaker 2: the band in twenty thirteen is that I didn't have
[11:16] Speaker 2: that main thing is my support anymore, I felt and
[11:22] Speaker 2: I got off the rails man, like seven years of
[11:27] Speaker 2: some pretty dark stuff that I ended up getting into.
[11:29] Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, I mean, and it's true you don't
[11:32] Speaker 1: even realize you know, how vulnerable you are and how
[11:36] Speaker 1: much you give that you don't check yourself like it
[11:39] Speaker 1: brings meaning to the word, you know, oxygen mask on
[11:42] Speaker 1: you first and then you can help others. But right
[11:45] Speaker 1: sometimes you.
[11:47] Speaker 2: So much to me.
[11:49] Speaker 1: Yeah, how does vulnerability play into your songwriting and help
[11:53] Speaker 1: you with your process with healing or with pain?
[11:57] Speaker 2: Man, It's it's something that that I feel like I'm getting,
[12:01] Speaker 2: I mean even more, I'm getting even more personal, I
[12:04] Speaker 2: feel like with especially with this founder stuff, because I
[12:07] Speaker 2: think that being vulnerable is a very important part of
[12:11] Speaker 2: an artist's job. If you're sending, if you're writing songs
[12:14] Speaker 2: about your life, even you know, like be honest, be
[12:17] Speaker 2: as honest as you can, because deep down you know
[12:20] Speaker 2: you're human. Everybody's human on this on this earth, and
[12:24] Speaker 2: somebody's going to feel the exact same way. If you're
[12:27] Speaker 2: just honest with yourself. I mean, look at lips of
[12:32] Speaker 2: an Angel. To be honest, like that that happened to me,
[12:34] Speaker 2: and I wrote it the next day, like and it
[12:37] Speaker 2: was just fifteen twenty minutes, but it was something so
[12:40] Speaker 2: true and very vulnerable. I mean it ended up actually
[12:43] Speaker 2: causing me a lot of files with my personal life.
[12:46] Speaker 1: But how crazy is that? You know something, So.
[12:49] Speaker 2: I've been vulnerable since day one, you know.
[12:52] Speaker 1: Just trying to figure out how to work it so
[12:55] Speaker 1: that you're protected. You know. It's funny. I was reading
[12:59] Speaker 1: after stepping away from Hinder that you had mentioned this.
[13:02] Speaker 1: I couldn't believe this. I said it in the open
[13:04] Speaker 1: that you you sort of fell out of love with music,
[13:06] Speaker 1: which is incredible. So you must have really been really
[13:11] Speaker 1: in a tough spot. What helped you rekindle that passion?
[13:14] Speaker 1: I think the quote was something like I learned how
[13:16] Speaker 1: to be from MTV but then it almost that almost
[13:19] Speaker 1: ruined you.
[13:20] Speaker 2: Really, Yeah, that was that was something that I mean,
[13:24] Speaker 2: it's I'm kind of half kidding but kind of not.
[13:26] Speaker 2: Like I loved watching MTV as a kid, and I
[13:31] Speaker 2: wanted to be a part of that world. And you know,
[13:34] Speaker 2: I read the dirt right before I went out on
[13:38] Speaker 2: tour like it was. It was all kind of playing
[13:41] Speaker 2: out exactly there, I think, you know what I mean.
[13:43] Speaker 2: And I went down all the steps so you know,
[13:45] Speaker 2: I married the girl in the music video, like I
[13:47] Speaker 2: did every thing you shouldn't do. I mean, as wrong,
[13:50] Speaker 2: as as crazy as that sounds like, that's kind of
[13:53] Speaker 2: how I feel like that in TV raised me kind
[13:56] Speaker 2: of thing, you know.
[13:58] Speaker 1: Yeah, but how like it's amazing to me that you
[14:02] Speaker 1: even went back well to begin with. But but in
[14:06] Speaker 1: twenty three though, you released Lips of an Angel again
[14:08] Speaker 1: as a duet and there was like three million downloads
[14:12] Speaker 1: and you had been off the scene for quite a while.
[14:15] Speaker 1: That must have been an incredible feeling to know that
[14:18] Speaker 1: your fans are still out there craving for more.
[14:20] Speaker 2: No, that's that was. That was a surreal experience. I mean,
[14:22] Speaker 2: I couldn't believe that I was back in the booth
[14:25] Speaker 2: with the producer Brian House, who did the first one,
[14:28] Speaker 2: and it was you know, Shalns did an amazing job,
[14:31] Speaker 2: and it was it was surreal. It's it's it's amazing
[14:35] Speaker 2: to know that there's still people out there that are
[14:38] Speaker 2: digging the music.
[14:40] Speaker 1: Has your approach changed it all? In terms of how
[14:42] Speaker 1: you write songs since you're entered recovery.
[14:48] Speaker 2: No, like I said, it's like with this founder stuff,
[14:51] Speaker 2: it's just a little more raw and you know it's
[14:54] Speaker 2: it's very personal. It's it hasn't changed, like I said.
[14:59] Speaker 2: I mean, I've been since day one, like I've I've
[15:03] Speaker 2: laid it out there as as clear as day, as
[15:05] Speaker 2: long as I as long as I've been writing songs.
[15:08] Speaker 1: How important is it for you to help others who
[15:12] Speaker 1: are challenged?
[15:14] Speaker 2: Man? I read every single comment uh that that people
[15:19] Speaker 2: write on songs that I'm a part of, and it's
[15:23] Speaker 2: very important to me because I know I've been on
[15:27] Speaker 2: the other side of that, and I still I'm always
[15:29] Speaker 2: on the other side of that. Like music, music helps
[15:31] Speaker 2: me all the time daily. And to be able to
[15:35] Speaker 2: write something that connects with somebody who is going through
[15:40] Speaker 2: the same thing as you, and to be able to
[15:42] Speaker 2: go on stage and sing that and then sing it
[15:44] Speaker 2: back to you is an indescribable feeling. Like that is
[15:48] Speaker 2: more rewarding than any amount of numbers in a bank
[15:51] Speaker 2: account or any anything I can own. Like that is
[15:56] Speaker 2: something I share with the fans, and that is something
[15:58] Speaker 2: that is sacred to me.
[16:00] Speaker 1: It's so special that you do that and also that
[16:03] Speaker 1: you care enough that you want to do that through
[16:07] Speaker 1: your music to help others, and is it's a therapy
[16:10] Speaker 1: for everyone involved. Really it lifts everybody up.
[16:13] Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, Like you go to the show and it's like, Okay,
[16:16] Speaker 2: it's like a little church or whatever for people who
[16:20] Speaker 2: are going through heavy shit. Like that's what that's what
[16:22] Speaker 2: it is.
[16:23] Speaker 1: It's pretty amazing. How do you think that the music industry?
[16:27] Speaker 1: I know we talked about this earlier in terms of
[16:29] Speaker 1: charitable organizations that are out there, but what do you
[16:33] Speaker 1: think that the music industry as a whole could do
[16:35] Speaker 1: to better support its artists. I mean, we're in a
[16:39] Speaker 1: whole new world. It's a lot different than before where
[16:42] Speaker 1: we were just apples and oranges represented by agencies, and
[16:46] Speaker 1: now it's really you know, you can pick and choose
[16:49] Speaker 1: who you want to represent you, what message you want
[16:51] Speaker 1: to put out there.
[16:52] Speaker 2: That's it for sure. I Mean my advice that I
[16:55] Speaker 2: would even tell my younger self would be like, dude,
[16:59] Speaker 2: it's it's okay to say no, you know what I mean, Like,
[17:02] Speaker 2: you don't have to do every single thing that gets
[17:06] Speaker 2: thrown into your lap. I mean that that drains you.
[17:09] Speaker 2: It doesn't matter what kind of line of work you're
[17:11] Speaker 2: in if you're just saying yes to everything, especially if
[17:13] Speaker 2: you're doing something you love and it starts to get
[17:16] Speaker 2: tarnished with with so much that they pile on your plate.
[17:19] Speaker 2: I mean, the bigger you get, the busier you get.
[17:21] Speaker 2: And I mean I would, I would tell my younger
[17:24] Speaker 2: I tell my younger self to be like dude, say
[17:26] Speaker 2: no to once in a while, like get some rest,
[17:28] Speaker 2: like like it's important for you to take care of
[17:31] Speaker 2: you before you can take care of you know, the
[17:34] Speaker 2: person on stage. So I mean, I think, like I said,
[17:39] Speaker 2: them having you know, therapy tints instead of you know,
[17:43] Speaker 2: schwag tints. I think we'll play, will go a long
[17:47] Speaker 2: way and keep keep big artists you know or small waters,
[17:51] Speaker 2: it doesn't matter who it is, keep them in line
[17:53] Speaker 2: and keep them grounded from the small success you know
[17:57] Speaker 2: that we have had. It was sking crazy out there.
[18:02] Speaker 2: It was crazy.
[18:05] Speaker 1: I remember. I mean I was working actually at a
[18:07] Speaker 1: radio station not long before your first real big hit
[18:11] Speaker 1: song came on about twenty years ago up in Boston,
[18:14] Speaker 1: and I just remember you were on heavy rotation. Lips
[18:18] Speaker 1: of an Angel was just a smash, but you had
[18:20] Speaker 1: a lot of other songs as well. You were, you know,
[18:23] Speaker 1: rising up, and just as I was leaving town heading
[18:26] Speaker 1: to New York, and it was exciting to see that
[18:31] Speaker 1: you've been able to really turn this whole thing around,
[18:33] Speaker 1: because it really is inspiring, and that you're willing to
[18:36] Speaker 1: put yourself out there for your fans, as vulnerable as
[18:39] Speaker 1: you are, to show them that even people like yourself
[18:44] Speaker 1: has issues that you have to work through. And it's
[18:47] Speaker 1: you know, the biggest thing for me is when people
[18:51] Speaker 1: who rise to the big levels have such a responsibility,
[18:56] Speaker 1: and I always felt like you should never squander that
[18:59] Speaker 1: responsibility to help others when you have forged your own
[19:03] Speaker 1: path like that, because there's so many who don't know how.
[19:06] Speaker 2: Right right, No, it's it's definitely you know, and you
[19:09] Speaker 2: don't I mean, you don't realize the responsibility you have obviously,
[19:12] Speaker 2: I I you know, it was hard for me to
[19:15] Speaker 2: see that until I was out of.
[19:17] Speaker 1: How can you honestly, when you've got the machine behind
[19:20] Speaker 1: you like that, You're like, what stage am I? What
[19:23] Speaker 1: town am I at?
[19:25] Speaker 2: You're definitely somewhat of a robot in some sense. Is
[19:29] Speaker 2: the arrows pointing you. You're just you're following a path
[19:34] Speaker 2: and you don't even know you're just following the person
[19:36] Speaker 2: to the stage, or you're following the person to the
[19:38] Speaker 2: radio station or the hotel or whatever. Like you're just
[19:42] Speaker 2: you're you're an autopilot sometimes and it's really really good
[19:45] Speaker 2: to not do that. And if you can do some
[19:47] Speaker 2: things to break that up, that would be great.
[19:50] Speaker 1: What would you like your legacy to be, not just
[19:52] Speaker 1: as a musician, but as someone who's overcome significant personal challenges.
[19:58] Speaker 2: Just to be honest, be just somebody that that fights
[20:02] Speaker 2: for what he loves, Like I love music again, and
[20:06] Speaker 2: you know, I have days where I'm like, am I
[20:09] Speaker 2: still so good? Or is this is this worthy of
[20:14] Speaker 2: of of going out and touring and stuff like that?
[20:17] Speaker 2: And it's you know, I think it's just it's going
[20:21] Speaker 2: to be this legacy or whatever, just somebody that obviously
[20:27] Speaker 2: you loved music and wanted to share his music with
[20:30] Speaker 2: the world and wanted to connect with people. Because this
[20:34] Speaker 2: this rock or whatever that we're spinning on there or
[20:38] Speaker 2: is insanely malicious. I mean, it can it can be
[20:43] Speaker 2: a beautiful, beautiful place, and it can be so malicious.
[20:46] Speaker 2: And I just want to be known from maybe taking
[20:51] Speaker 2: time whatever. I come to this city and it just
[20:54] Speaker 2: kind of pushes everything. Everything's on pause for a minute
[20:57] Speaker 2: and you can sit and scream your head up off
[21:01] Speaker 2: to rock and roll songs.
[21:03] Speaker 1: I love it, and I love your videos especially, they're
[21:07] Speaker 1: really great. Austin John Winkler. Congratulations on getting to where
[21:12] Speaker 1: you are in life and your successes. Thank you for
[21:15] Speaker 1: sharing them with us on music. Save me and good
[21:19] Speaker 1: luck and everything that you do in the future, and
[21:22] Speaker 1: please come back and see us again when you have
[21:24] Speaker 1: your next EP or I dare I say album, but
[21:26] Speaker 1: everything's coming back so you never know.
[21:28] Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you so much then,

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