In a new interview with Classic Rock, Kip Winger and Reb Beach discuss Winger's new Seven album, that call from James Hetfield, supporting Spinal Tap, and more. An excerpt follows...

Classic Rock: Do you feel any sense of injustice in opening for the parody-metal band Steel Panther on their May UK tour?

Kip Winter: "It’s an interesting question. But I’m fine with it. In fact I was the one that texted [Panther vocalist] Michael Starr, saying: 'Let’s do some shows.' One day later they made the offer. I don’t have any ego about it. Okay, they’re a spoof band, but we’re the ones they’re spoofing on. At our age we’re happy to be off stage at eight-thirty [both laugh]. The mentality with Winger is: look… we’re like a beaten dog, we’ve had the shit kicked out of us, but we know we’re good musicians."

Classic Rock: The proof is your parallel career in classical music which brought a Grammy nomination in 2017.

Kip: "Yeah. I’m extremely proud of that. It felt very vindicating. I felt like it set the record straight."

Classic Rock: Didn’t James Hetfield eventually apologize for the part he played in Winger’s downfall?

Kip: "James called me about a year and a half ago and he was very sincere. I’m paraphrasing, but he said: 'We were dumb kids back then and I’m sorry if we hurt your career.' He’s texted a couple of times since. In another life maybe we could have been good friends."

Read more at Classic Rock.

Winger's new album, Seven, was produced by Kip Winger and recorded in Nashville, distributed worldwide by Frontiers Records. Order on CD/LP/Digital here.

Seven tracklisting:

"Proud Desperado"
"Heaven’s Falling"
"Tears Of Blood"
"Resurrect Me"
"Voodoo Fire"
"Broken Glass"
"It’s Okay"
"Stick The Knife In And Twist"
"One Light To Burn"
"Do Or Die"
"Time Bomb"
"It All Comes Back Around"

"Tears Of Blood" video:

"It All Comes Back Around" video:

"Proud Desperado" video: