Travis Bader: Over the last few weeks, I had the privilege of traveling to Finland.
Estonia, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.
What started as an invitation to hunt in Sweden quickly turned
into something much larger.
As many of you know, I'm a long time fan of Sako firearms and Norma ammunition.
With help from my friends at Stoker Canada, who are proud Silvercore
Club Brad affiliates, I was able to connect directly with both companies.
I couldn't have imagined the incredible reception we'd receive.
Both Sako in Finland and Norma Ammunition in Sweden went above and
beyond, rolling out the red carpet to show me and my wife the exacting
processes behind their brands, and, more importantly, to introduce us to the
passionate people who make it all happen.
At Saco, eight team members generously took time out of their busy schedules to
walk us through their amazing facilities.
And at Norma, two representatives drove over three hours just to stay
at our hotel and guide us through their factory tour the next day.
I was blown away, not only by the precision, the robotic automation,
the state of the art technologies, but by the human element behind it all.
Despite all the marvels of modern day automation, I discovered
something profoundly reassuring.
That human touch is still irreplaceable.
Sure, the machines were cool, but what captured my attention even more
was the passion and dedication of the people who make those machines work.
Despite the automation at the front end, there is still a heavy emphasis on
the human touch on every product that leaves a door at the end of the process.
For example, did you know that when you're checking the straightness of a barrel,
nothing has yet to surpass a human eye?
When examining ammunition, visually and physically inspecting cartridges yield
a higher level of guaranteed consistency than machines alone are able to provide.
But this trip wasn't just about touring factories, I had a chance
to hunt in Sweden with Robin and his friends in Solaron.
These incredible people didn't know me from Adam, yet they came
together to organize several days of hunting in their traditional
Swedish style on historic grounds.
These moments, the trust, the connections, the shared experiences
are what this podcast is all about.
They remind me of a couple of sayings I've shared here before.
Ones that ring even more true after this trip.
The first, it's not personal.
It's just business.
You've likely heard that phrase before, and I got to tell you, it's
one I completely disagree with.
To me, business is deeply personal.
It's built on trust, consistency, and meaningful relationships.
Separate the personal for the professional, and you'll lose a
foundation that holds it all together.
The second, show me your friends and I'll show you who you are.
The people I had the privilege of meeting on this trip are
not just great at what they do.
They're great people.
And that makes all the difference.
With that said, let's get started.
Let's get on with the podcast.
Hey, Hey.
Hey man.
Coming to you from Sigtuna, Sweden.
And I am sitting down with Sweden's hottest up and coming country music star.
He is a passionate hunter, angler, conservationist.
Welcome to the Silvercore podcast, Robin Winter.
Robin Winther: Thank you so much, Travis, an honor to be here and be in
the podcast and have you guys here as guests, it's been an awesome weekend.
Travis Bader: This is the first time that I've recorded and somebody else is running
around taking care of all the audio levels and, and all the professional stuff.
Uh, Robin is a professional singer, songwriter, um, music guy all around,
you've been, you've been doing music for what, since you've been
like, Four years old, or before?
Ha ha!
Robin Winther: Yeah, it's, it's, uh, it's been music, like, a, a really long time.
I actually started out playing trombone, out of all instruments.
The
Travis Bader: trombone?
Robin Winther: The trombone, yeah.
Was that like a school thing?
They said you gotta play it?
School thing, gotta play.
My parents are both playing instruments, and, uh, I actually
wanted to play the trumpet.
Okay.
But it was full.
So , they put me on trombone in the orchestra.
I, no, I, I didn't love it.
I, I kind of, no, it was, it was rough.
But, you know, it's, I think get me started, you know,
you have to use your ears.
'cause you know, you don't have a, it's like a slide.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: I, I don't get that.
Why?
If someone's got an interest in anything.
Right.
If you're an interest in, in hunting or fishing, if you have an interest in.
Music, why starting them off on the recorder, right?
I remember when, that's what we did in Canada.
We've got these recorders and you're playing hot cross buns
and everyone, I've never heard a professional recorder player.
Maybe they got them, but they all quit.
Yeah.
I don't think you can make it sound good.
Start it with a cool instrument and, and spark that interest.
If people from North America are listening to this and they're like a,
Swedish, country, Western music star.
I don't know if I've heard your music and I'll tell you this much.
If you've listened to any episode of the Silvercore podcast,
you've heard Robin's music.
Robin has been a part of the Silvercore podcast from day one.
I, oh yeah, I was, so I went online.
I'm putting a podcast together.
I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm figuring it out as I go.
But I want to have really cool music, sort of like Sonic brand
this and have a really cool sound.
That I can have as my intro and outro.
And I found one and it was, I licensed it.
It was an online licensing service and, and I love it.
And it's been on every single episode on the intro and outro.
But after five years, I'm looking at it.
I said, I want to have something that's unique and that not
everybody can go out and license.
And I don't want to change it up too much because I really
love the flavor and the style.
I don't know if there's any place else that I can really find this.
And I thought, well, what if I track down the artist who originally
made the song that I really liked?
And I did, it took some time of tracking down.
It was hard.
You, you, you had, I guess the different companies that you worked through had
different names associated with you.
And, and, uh, I wasn't sure if I actually found the right place,
but I was able to find you.
And here's the weird part, so you're in Sweden, and I'm like, holy crows, other
side of the world from where I'm from.
And you're like, oh yeah, yeah, my, my girlfriend, she's from Langley,
and um, she grew up in Richmond.
Yeah.
Which is like, straddling Ladner, where, where I live.
What a small world.
Robin Winther: It's insane.
You know, when I got this email, I thought it was like a spam email.
It's like, I have this podcast, you know, you get, you get this, all
these weird emails, like, I want to build you a website or whatever.
And I saw this email, I was like, is this real?
I don't know.
I'll just put it into answer lately, further down the road.
I'll look into it.
And it, it's insane.
Like, I don't know, it got a couple of weeks.
I don't remember how long you had to wait, but yeah, we were at have a small summer
like fishing cabin up in the north of Sweden and Me and my my girlfriend from
Langley were sitting out on the on the porch and we're like so I got this email
And I wonder if it's real from this guy It's like it's like a podcaster or he was
talking about a song that I did Ten years ago for this company and because those
songs that it for that company They were like non like a license free song, right?
Yeah, so everyone could use it So I thought it was like, oh you
something connected like a spam or something connected to the songs
cuz everyone could use it yeah, pretty much and So read it again.
I was like, oh, this seems legit.
So I'll answer it and like Pretty fast, got to respond,
like, Hey man, that's so fun.
Uh, can I call you on WhatsApp or something?
And you call me and here we are today.
Travis Bader: Yeah, that was, well, so a friend of mine, Carl Fox,
he says, uh, Travis, you've been doing this podcast for a while.
You love it.
You're making some amazing connections, meeting some amazing
people and people keep coming up.
They say, Oh, you should come on out hunting.
You should come out wherever it might be.
Right.
And.
And I keep saying, no, no, no, no, I'm busy.
You know, I'm running the business.
I'm doing whatever, all these other things.
He says, you gotta start saying yes.
And actually a few episodes ago, I started it off with a, be a yes man, right?
Oh, wow.
Somebody says, come on out, maybe it's outside your comfort zone.
And I got no problem pushing my comfort zone, but you know, you get
into these routines in life, right?
And you get into these areas of, you know, Work and family and friends and,
and all the rest where it's kind of well balanced, but you have to push those
boundaries if you really want to grow.
And so I just started saying, yes.
And you said, Hey.
Uh, if you're ever out in Sweden, uh, we should go for a hunt.
And I
Robin Winther: said, he said, yes.
And I thought you were the bravest man in the world.
Like you're reaching out to this guy you don't know on the other side of
the Atlantic and invites you to hunt.
And you're just like, all right, I'll book, I'll book, I'll book a plane ticket.
And I'll come over.
Yeah.
Travis Bader: So that was, that was really cool.
I mean, you don't, you Often get opportunities like this in life.
And when you do, if you just say no out of politeness or no, because you
got a busy schedule, You're missing out on, well, I would have missed out on
meeting you and all your amazing friends.
So we were in this area, am I allowed to say where we were?
Yeah,
Robin Winther: of course.
Travis Bader: All right.
So, uh, we went out to an area in Sweden called Solaron.
Yep.
Saying that right?
Yeah.
Sun Island.
In old Swedish, pretty much, that's what it means.
And you know what?
I should probably take a step back.
Cause it's kind of funny.
I'm decked out in my Fjällräven, uh, pants and Fjällräven shirt to show some homage
to Sweden and you've got your John Deere hat on, and you're wearing your Canadian
Tire hat the other day and your car heart.
And that's funny.
We, we look in the garage out here and you got a 66 Ford with an inline six on there.
And.
It's, um, it, I, we've got our roles reversed here, but so,
um, Solaron, awesome place.
So just outside of Mora, so there's a company, I use their knives.
Um, uh, Morakniv, Morakniv, am I saying that right?
Yeah.
Morakniv.
And they make affordable knives.
I use it for hunting and fishing.
They're lightweight.
I throw them in my pack and if I want to rat bag it or, or lend
it out, I don't care because it's, I'm not breaking the bank.
And anyways, Guatemala had to stop by their place, check their stuff out.
That was pretty amazing.
Coming back with a bunch of knives prior to that was in Finland
and was at the Saco factory.
That was really cool.
Did a full tour there.
What an amazing group of people out there.
I shoot SOCO, been using them for, for years and years, and I'm looking
at their, their new models and everything they're, they're putting out.
They've got a museum in there, their production line.
That, that was neat looking at all the robots and machines,
putting everything together.
And even with all the high tech automation, final step is human
eye, looking over everything, it's got the human touch and
then over to, uh, to Norma.
Yeah.
So Norma in Sweden, and we've been Got a tour of the Animal Factory and actually
they were, uh, Jonas was, uh, nice enough to provide some ammunition to use on the
recent hunt that we had here in Solar Run.
So, nice.
Yeah.
And um, so you're coming on up, it's what, few hours from here?
3, 3, 4 hours.
Three, four hours up Northwest.
Yeah.
And you are like, I got a group of people.
They're excited to meet you.
You'll like it.
It's a beautiful area.
It's a bit of a throwback for, uh, for Sweden.
Tell me about it.
Robin Winther: I would say it's, it's kind of a time capsule, uh, up there, you know,
it's, um, I live closer to Stockholm, the big city and, um, yeah, time is, I've
been standing a little more still up there and like especially a little bit more
out on this island and it's a little more old school Which I really enjoy and the
people are so warm and open hearted and generous And you know, it takes you back a
little bit and all the houses are a little more classic style They're What color?
They're all red.
Travis Bader: Everything on there is red.
It's like, if you paint your house a different color other than red,
you are going to be ostracized.
Pretty much.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
We had a short story.
We had this mine in Sweden back in the day, a copper mine that, uh, the by
product of this mine was that they did a paint, red paint called Fålurafaj.
And it became really popular and it's a really good paint because
it withstands weather great.
And.
Yeah.
It's had a big breakthrough.
And since then, I think all houses in Sweden are red.
Travis Bader: Every once in a while, you see a house that's
going to be, um, yellow.
Yellowish color or, uh, so it looks like you either have red or if you have
a large enough property and you have a secondary property, it's going to be
yellow or it's going to be red and yellow.
And some are yellow and red, which is really pushing the, uh, the envelope.
Pushing the
Robin Winther: boundaries there.
Yeah.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
You know, that it's interesting because I, one of the things I want
to talk about is some sort of the similar similarities and differences
between culture and hunting in Canada and British Columbia, where I'm from.
In Sweden, I was amazed at how welcoming everybody was, how
similar the mentality of the hunters are and the, the camaraderie.
Um, but I was also amazed at how.
Easy it was as an outsider to be able to come in and, um, uh, hunt legally within
the government framework and regulations.
And I mean, you're going to be over in BC in a little bit and, uh, you need to get
a guide if you're going to be doing any big game hunting and that's big bucks.
So there's a, there's a huge barrier to entry.
Um, and then, you know,
When I, when I looked at it with, so we go out, maybe I'll back up a little bit.
We did a driven hunt.
Tell me, tell me a bit about driven hunts, because this is something
we don't really do in Canada.
Yeah.
Robin Winther: It, we're pretty unique in that.
Cause in Sweden we have kind of pretty liberal hunting laws when
it comes to the way we hunt.
Like you can't obviously hunt from cars in Sweden and we have, there's
some, of course, a lot of laws to it.
Uh, we have a super liberal, um, way of hunting with dogs.
So pretty much our, like the most popular hunt here in Sweden is with dogs and
like driving, driving dogs, pushing dogs.
So what we usually do is we have, uh, a dog that is like, it's purposed
and it trained for the game we're going out to hunting that day.
So we were out hunting red deer.
And so we have a dog that only pushes, Red deer and, uh, boar.
Um, so, you place out shooters around the area where we're gonna hunt, and
then you have a couple of dogs going in.
Into this area that we're hunting and trying to awake the animal
and push it out to the shooters.
Great.
So that's the, like the, yeah, that's kind of how, how we do it.
And, um, So civilized, like really.
Civilized and, uh, pretty effective.
Yeah.
Goes fast.
And if there's an animal.
In the area where we're hunting, we'll most likely get it out if it's a good dog.
And, uh, well, we, we got pretty lucky.
I think within 10 minutes, we had a big, uh, female,
Travis Bader: uh, red deer.
So, okay.
Hunt's on, we're all stationed up.
We're in our areas and since you're using dogs, so the animals will be
bedded down through the day, typically.
Robin Winther: You
Travis Bader: can get up a little bit later in the day, the animals
are going to be bedded down.
Everyone gets in their positions.
They got GPS callers on the dogs.
Yeah.
The hunters are all, uh, geo located with their, their units.
There's an app that everybody uses here called We Hunt, and there's a yearly
subscription, I think it's about 50 bucks.
Is it, or?
Something like that.
Yeah.
Yearly subscription, but it, it get your hunt code.
So it shows everybody in your hunting party.
You see where you are, you see where the dogs are, you can follow it.
Like it's crazy.
And.
Effective, 10 minutes later, bang, bang, bang.
Yeah.
We hear, uh, some, Simon saw the, uh, the red deer, took some shots and,
uh, uh, was successful on that one.
I think, uh, Alex helped him out there and, uh, on the end bit.
And, um, um, then the dogs continue to do their work in case there
is more animals in the area.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: Interesting things that I, I learned.
So if the.
Dog happens to flush out a different animal than what
it is that you're targeting.
Yeah.
Um, you guys don't want to harvest that animal, uh, because you don't want to
reward the dog and turn it into a dog that now hunts that a different type of animal.
You basically.
Broke that dog.
Robin Winther: Yeah, exactly.
So it's super sensitive.
So if you have a dog, cause we did a couple of hunts we had, we were
hunting, um, red deer and boar, and then we were hunting red fox and hare.
And if you have a dog that's specialized at hunting fox, Or, um, uh, hare.
You can't hunt roe deer, for example.
We have a lot of roe deer here in Sweden.
It's like pretty, pretty, like almost invasive.
Uh, so they're spread out everywhere.
And for hunting fox and hare, you need really fast dogs.
Uh, so from early age, we start training these dogs.
Not to go for roe deer, and so it's really important that you
don't shoot a roe deer for that.
Even though it's, you're allowed to shoot roe deer during that
time we're hunting fox and stuff.
We don't shoot it because it will pretty much break the dog.
Right.
Like the training, because if it's once rewarded for a roe deer, you can't,
it will continue chasing roe deer, and that will not be a good thing.
Like it will take up a lot of time.
So like, Oh, what is this guy, a dog doing?
It's running off and chasing road here and it's following this road here for hours.
I'm just sitting waiting for Fox, you know?
So it's.
Travis Bader: Other differences that I saw, um, big one, right off the bat,
you guys use suppressors on your rifles.
We do.
And that totally makes sense.
I mean, the two most offensive things from firearms are recoil.
If it's a heavier recoiling firearm, And the noise and suppressors
help mitigate both of those.
I don't get rid of it completely, but, uh, I'm usually out there.
I use a SWAT com, uh, electronic hearing protection or like Peltor Tac 6s or, but
I got these things on all day long and they're good in some respects because
they'll amplify the sounds around you and, uh, bad in other respects.
Cause maybe it's not the sounds you want to hear.
Cause it's usually those higher end kind of sounds that rustles and crinkles.
That it amplifies, uh, hotter weather hunting.
I don't like it cause it's hot, but cold weather hunting, it's
nice to have them on, but you lose.
Um, directionality a bit,
Robin Winther: I think so too.
And also, you know, it's, it's like a little weird listening and you, you lose
also a little connection with nature.
I think I agree with this on like you, I usually have them like turned up really
high and you hear the wind and it's like, I know it tires you out a little bit.
I think
Travis Bader: I agree.
Yeah.
That's a good observation.
Uh, obviously as an audio engineer, you would, you would
notice those sort of things.
Yeah, but like it also
Robin Winther: effective like it's good to have I use them as well.
But um, so the silencer thing actually just got, uh, legal to get a silencers
without a license because before, if you bought a weapon and you wanted
to get a silencers for like a bolt action rifle, you had to apply for
a license that it would take Okay.
Eight weeks to get the silencer license as well.
And I think it was last year or the, the year before to just open it up.
So I think you still have to like, um, do something when you buy it.
Like, yeah, I have a put in, fill in some form, right?
That you have a silencer, but there's no licensing for it
anymore, which is pretty nice.
Travis Bader: Well, I mean, it, it totally makes sense.
I remember I, I've said this before in the podcast, but I think I was 19 years old.
Scotland, I was walking out from Inverness to Loch Ness and there's
a guy shooting on his property and he was using a suppressor.
And anyways, I walked up, I talked to them and I said, well,
those are illegal in Canada.
We can't have them.
He says, really?
I live so close to my neighbors.
I have to have them.
If I don't have them, then that's sound pollution and that would be illegal.
So, yeah.
That was a, um, a bit of an interesting eye opener, but to be able to hunt and not
have to worry about losing your hearing.
Yeah.
Because you're, you're popping around.
It's still loud, even with a.
Sure.
Robin Winther: Like a suppressor.
It's, it's, it's, it's loud, but you know, it's, I, I like it and it's good.
And we just got it, uh, legal for, for a month.
Uh, 22s, because before you couldn't have it, uh, for 22s.
Really?
Yeah, you could have it for anything, everything else, but like, not for
22s, so now we can have it for 22s too.
Travis Bader: Why do you think that
Robin Winther: is?
I think it's, I guess, a little too quiet, maybe?
I don't know.
You can get quiet, yeah.
Yeah, it's, I don't know, it's, it's nice because then I, I can use it in
my, because I have neighbors around here, even though I'm a little remote.
Right.
That's pretty good.
I can use it in my backyard in a little forest and practice shoot and stuff.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
So the speed of sounds are in 1, 100 feet per second, depending on
humidity and altitude and a few other things, but average around there.
And if you can keep the speed of sound on that 22 below that, it's just, all
you hear is click, click, click, click.
And as it goes, it's just the, uh, hammer falling or firing pin hitting.
If it goes above it, um, and you point the, uh, let's say
the rifle into the ground.
You can go click, click, click into the ground and then point it down range and
allow it to break that sound barrier.
It almost sounds the same as a, uh, at least out of a rifle.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: Pistols, of course, are going to have a lot of report
with a shorter barrel, but, uh, yeah, those 22s can get real quiet.
9mm can get pretty quiet too.
Robin Winther: Okay.
Yeah.
Travis Bader: Uh, I've done a little, little bit of playing with suppressors
and in the past we're licensed to manufacture and, um, develop and, and,
um, Do a few other things with, with them and what we call prohibited weapons
and prohibited devices in Canada.
Interesting.
But it never, it never made sense to me, the whole hunting aspect,
not being allowed to use something that's going to be, I don't know,
everywhere else, occupational health and safety would say, like wear a hard
hat, put eye protection on, right?
Like you protect those ears.
Yeah, that makes sense.
Maybe one day.
I think, I think it might be coming.
I don't know.
It's, uh.
I didn't
Robin Winther: see this coming in Sweden that will be licensed for you either.
So, um, that was a pretty nice surprise actually.
Yeah.
To be fighting for that though, for a while.
So it's nice that it finally.
Do you guys have like an NRA of Sweden?
Yeah, I'm, I'm not sure about that, but I guess there's some kind of a,
we have like the hunters association.
Okay.
Right.
That's doing that.
It's just working with the government a lot.
Travis Bader: What the other thing I thought was interesting was.
Uh, you guys get allotments of animals for different,
Robin Winther: is
Travis Bader: it for your group?
Robin Winther: You set up a hunting group?
It is actually for the area you're hunting.
So up where we were hunting, they get, they got five, I think red deers.
Um, so we're hunting where you're allowed to hunt with dogs from
early September to February.
Uh, that's the only time we can release a dog in the, in the forest.
Cause, or the other time, you know, you have to respect the animal.
I like the repopulation and, yeah.
Sure.
So, um.
But during that time, I think it's depending on the size of the land you
get assigned a couple of mooses, a couple of red deers, a lot of roe deers
you can shoot and for boars because boars have been coming more north.
We had a lot of them down south, but now they've reached
the place we hunted as well.
They were not there four or five years ago.
Uh, snowboards up there.
Really?
Yeah.
And so now they've changed so you can hunt them all year round.
But yes.
And day and night too, right?
Day and night too.
And also you can have like thermal and you can, you can
shoot them where you feed them.
So you can have a feeding station and you can feed them, you can have a light
there and so you can have all these.
You can't hunt them from cars, uh, but like, besides that, like, pretty
much any way you want to hunt them.
And their meat.
I've never had wild boar meat.
Travis Bader: It's really good.
Robin Winther: Yeah, I've heard that.
It's like a game, um, uh, it's, it's, it's a good flavor.
Yeah, I like it.
Travis Bader: Yeah, when I was in Finland, we trained.
Big part of traveling for me and experiencing a culture
is experiencing the food.
Yeah.
And so having some traditional food and, and, uh, and of course
you have to have the reindeer, which we call caribou and, uh Oh
Robin Winther: yeah.
Travis Bader: Um, I mean it fantastic.
And also had they called it Gray Bear, but I looked it up.
It looks like it's a, um, it looks like a brown bear.
Okay.
Basically a, like a grizzly bear.
Oh, wow.
I didn't know about that one.
Yeah.
So.
They serve that game meat in restaurants.
And in Canada, well, most of the provinces, that's illegal.
I think, I think Quebec, I was talking to, uh, to a chef about this before who hunts
and he's got a, uh, his Instagram feed.
He's the hunter chef and he's got some, A book out and he's got another
one coming out too, but there's, I think it was Quebec and maybe I
think it was, uh, uh, Newfoundland.
I think where there are certain times allowed to serve game meat.
Robin Winther: Oh, aside from that, can't do it.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, we, we do, uh, we serve a lot of game meat and you can also like sell your.
You are, you are, you're allowed to sell your game.
The problem with boar, 'cause like we had a lot of boars got super popular over
the years and they can have this, um, bacteria, I don't remember the name of it.
Trinos or Yeah, or Trino.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
TCH in Swedish.
Yeah.
Okay.
And so you have to send it to the lab first, so you get like a little
piece of the bar and send it away.
It, and it's got it fine.
But there's some ca areas where it's more and actually.
We have a little problem with boar since the Chernobyl nuclear accident.
Travis Bader: Oh, okay.
Robin Winther: So They glow now?
They glow now.
No, but since they're eating like mushrooms and like stuff, and we had
like a lot of rain of, um, nuclear waste after Chernobyl here in Sweden.
So we still, for a while, we like tested, I don't know if we tested boar
for nuclear or Like radiation and stuff.
Cause like we couldn't pick mushrooms.
We couldn't fish for a lot of years after that.
For all of Sweden?
Especially for the North East part of Sweden, where it's closer to, to the
accident, cause it was like raining.
A couple of days after that, and the places where it was raining, we got a
lot of nuclear waste in the ground and, you know, it sticks around a long time.
No kidding.
So, uh, it's, it's been affecting the bores a little bit as well.
Wow.
Yeah.
Wouldn't
Travis Bader: have thought of that.
Yeah.
That's going back quite some time, but it's, um.
Yeah.
It's like in the 80s sometimes.
Yeah.
What was the other thing that kind of stuck out?
Uh, so we will get a, a tag.
We get our hunting license and then once we have our license,
they say, what do you want to hunt?
Oh, I want to hunt moose or I want to hunt a whitetail.
And so you go buy your tags, harvest an animal, it's confirmed, it's down,
you're there, you notch your tag or you cut it out the day, the location.
And that's just one of the ways that they're able to track the animals.
Say that you're a lawful hunter, you're not a poacher.
So you've got your animal, you've got, uh, your tag notched and the
conservation officer happens to pull you over or stop you to talk to you,
you show them your paperwork and say, Hey, proper animal, close my paperwork.
So it's not like I'm going to be going out and getting more, I'm not going to sneak
this thing home real quick and then run out and say, I've got a clean tag, right?
Here, you guys don't have that.
In fact, you don't even really have conservation officers
out there pulling people
Robin Winther: over.
No, I think that's interesting.
Cause like, it feels like you guys, you have a lot of responsibility and, uh,
that responsibility in Sweden is usually put to, I think, One person, the hunting
leader, so for example, I'm in a hunting team close to Stockholm and the hunter
leader, the leader of the, of the team, he has to report to, to the government
and he's the guy keeping track on how many animals, but there's no officers out
there checking out and like making sure everything is, so he's just responsible.
So, okay, we get to shoot 10 roe deers and then he keeps track of it.
And then he fills in, and we can see like if it's, it's usually bigger
areas, so we have a couple of hunting teams around there, and for example
we can shoot five moose, and um, if the, the, the hunting team Next
us to us shoots those five moves.
We can't do it.
So it's a little bit.
We have to beat them to it
Travis Bader: Well, it makes sense from a conservation standpoint,
but you know exactly what's coming out of a certain area
Robin Winther: yeah, it's pretty easy to keep track of the population and It knows
how much we'll get for next year and.
But it's all also kind of honor system too.
It's a lot of the honor system.
Yeah.
Cause like they fill in, they had to fill in the right amount and yeah.
Yeah.
If they wanted to, they could totally
Travis Bader: lie and get away with it.
Absolutely.
But it doesn't seem to really.
be a thing that you guys do here.
You don't have to worry about people like people will break
the rules wherever you go.
Of course.
Yeah.
There's always
Robin Winther: going to be
Travis Bader: vultures.
Yeah.
But, but there's a, sort of a culture here in Sweden and I notice it.
In the hunting parties and how everyone's working together.
There's a hive mind culture and I don't know a better way
to put it than, than that.
And, uh, we're like North America.
We seem to be a culture that, uh, especially like in America,
um, a culture of individuals.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: Right.
Everyone's it's the I and the me and how do I stand out?
But that is really not prevalent in what I've seen in my stay so far in Sweden.
Everyone had their own little tasks.
They got their own little roles.
Everyone just filled in and.
They're helping out.
Robin Winther: It's a lot of teamwork.
I think it's the, like the way also we hunt.
So we have to, uh, work together super hard.
And I think it goes back so many generations that like these people
learned from their dad, it learns from their dad and the same kind of hunting
with dogs, yeah, we get more technology now, back in the day you release a dog
and maybe same day the dog will be back, you know, the dog could be back one
week later, you don't know, but now we can keep track of that, but it's still
kind of the same hunting, I think.
So, um, everyone has to have their task, you have these people with dogs,
people staying there and we all help out, pull out the animal from the
forest and like, it's just, um, it's, it's a nice teamwork, and everyone has
their own little task in, in the game.
No way.
Travis Bader: Then we go back and grab the animal at the barn, hot dogs, and,
and, uh, uh, what was that one called?
Uh, Moramist?
Robin Winther: Oh, yeah.
How about some, like, local sodas and stuff?
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's a lot about that.
You know, we have, uh, usually, when we do the Moose Hunt here in Sweden,
everyone takes a week off work.
And, you know, it's been that for all years.
So the kids in school is like, Oh no, my dad's on a moose hunt this year.
So I had to be home, you know, it's been like part of the culture so long.
So they, we get assigned the amount of moose we can shoot for the area.
And then we all take a week off and we go out.
And we hunt, uh, and just stay in a small little cabin or camping or
whatnot, you know, in this area.
And just full focus on the hunt for, uh, a week.
And it's also with dogs.
So we have a, a moose dogs that we call them and just go for it.
Travis Bader: And it's so effective.
I mean, when I was coming up from the, uh, Norma factory and Jonas, he
says, he's going out hunting in these.
I'm going to have to break the curse.
He hasn't got an animal himself in a couple of years now.
And anyways, he's like, send pictures.
If you get something, you got to send a picture.
So anyways, with the, um, the red deer down, picture of
the heart goes over to him.
And he's like, Oh, great delicacy.
And he doesn't say anything else.
I'm like, okay, am I, maybe, maybe they're not getting anything in their area.
And I said, well, how are you doing?
And he says, Oh, we had to stop on day one.
We got four.
And, uh, but he's like, I didn't get anything, but our hunting party did.
Yeah.
Like that's unheard of, really, in, in BC to go out in one day, your hunting
party has got their four animals and okay, we'll just stop and come back.
Yeah.
Um, so the, the
Robin Winther: dogs are pretty darn effective.
It is.
So we're, when we're out here in Stockholm, the, the ground, like
the area we hunt are way smaller.
But it's a lot more animals in a smaller area down here than compared to, we
were up there in Norfolk, Sweden.
So I think we're hunting down here on, um, 1500 acres or something and
up there it's, uh, 200, 000 acres or like, it's, it's, it's like not
around like hundreds, like so, so much land, you know, and, um, We can go out
and we can easily have four animals.
Like we go out on a Saturday and we have four animals by lunch.
Travis Bader: And then went out and did a, uh, did a fox hunt.
Yeah.
That was pretty cool.
What I thought was the coolest, and I don't know, maybe it's just me, but
like, I've never done a fox hunt before.
I thought it was cool that I'm standing on top of these boulders and this rock
pile that's like Viking times set up.
And there's a Frisbee golf right, right beside me and dogs are doing their thing.
It's like, when you talk about the history in, in that area, um,
you're going back hundreds and hundreds and you're going way back.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
So that area has like a lot Viking graves and, and, and stuff like that.
And you just stand on this old piles of stone.
There's like an old grave and there's like a Frisbee golf there and then
we have a dog and we're standing there with a shotgun and there's
like houses around us and I don't know, it's, it's so, I like it.
Yeah.
It's an interesting area to hunt in, I think.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
So I guess that covers a few of the differences and, and coming into it,
like obviously not everyone's going to be coming over into Sweden and being able
to have an experience like that, because.
Uh, you can't just show up and start expecting to be able to hunt.
I'm really grateful for you and for everybody there, the whole team
for, uh, taking us in and showing me and my wife how you guys do things.
It was, it was so cool.
To
Robin Winther: have you guys, it was a lot of fun.
And yeah, you did,
Travis Bader: you did great.
Well, I appreciate that.
Looking forward to when you're over in BC, cause that'll be cool.
We'll, uh.
Even though it's just going to be for a small game and migratory so fun.
Yeah, I'm excited.
I'm excited So tell me about how do how does a guy from Sweden
get into the country music scene?
I forget
Robin Winther: as I mentioned before it's always been a lot
of music around my family.
Yeah, and My dad's playing guitar and even no one has really done it professionally,
but it's been My dad lived in Nashville, uh, he moved there with his brother in the
70s, and, like, saw Johnny Cash, and he went to college there, um, he was born in
the 50s, my dad, and, uh, came back, and, like, filled with this musical experience.
So him and his brother has always been doing music and a lot of blues, a lot of
folk, Americana stuff, like a lot of Bob Dylan and also, and also the blues stuff.
So I think I got that pretty early on, uh, doing music with the, like I got the
old school and, and as soon as I started playing guitar, I think it was, yeah.
15 or 14, something like that.
It just took off for me.
It was like, okay, this is, this is what I gotta do.
Yeah.
You know, it's like I quit trombone and start playing guitar.
Travis Bader: Put the trombone down, son.
Let's get you an instrument that.
I
Robin Winther: haven't picked it up since.
Travis Bader: I love it.
Yeah.
Come in here, your recording studio is all decked out.
And you got Marty Robbins going on the, um, on the vinyl.
And I love Marty Robbins, grew up listening to his stuff.
I always loved the Ballad of the Alamo cause they had Colonel Travis in that one.
And as a kid, that was, that was pretty cool to me.
Awesome artist.
Yeah, totally.
But, um, and so you went down to Nashville yourself.
Robin Winther: Yeah, I did um, like I always want to go there.
Yeah.
Heart of country music.
So, uh, I was Visiting a friend who was, my cousin actually went to Harvard.
Okay.
He got a scholarship and went to Harvard and I went to Boston.
I was like, oh, I got it.
Yeah I have a little more time off.
So I might just do Nashville now.
So I flew down to Nashville I think I spent two weeks in Nashville out
seeing music every night and just like consuming this Transcribed
Amazing musical atmosphere.
Yeah, sir.
For everyone who's been in Nashville.
It's now it's called Nash Vegas.
It's a lot of A lot of music a lot of partying and just like a fun time Yeah,
it's a really cool city and I was there just pre corona and I remember I was
thinking, because I've been doing music and production for a long time and
doing some pop music and it's a little competitive, the pop scene, I think, I
came down there and I was a little curious on how, because it's so many musicians
in Nashville, so many people do music and like, like, how's the competition here?
Aren't you like, like, elbowing your way through?
Right.
How does it work here?
You know, and I was going with this guy in an Uber who was a drummer.
On broadway.
Yeah, and he's like, no, no, the vibe here is like you want because
country is still a bit of an underdog compared to pop music.
Sure.
So you want the other people to succeed.
You don't want the other musicians to succeed.
So we really have this, uh, Feeling of like togetherness.
Mm.
And so he said, if you only have three things, like you have to know your
stuff, you have to have your own stuff.
And you have to be a nice guy to be with.
Mm.
They have to like you.
Yeah.
If you, if you do all those three, you, you will have a wonderful time
and you will like, it will, people will wanna help you and support you.
Travis Bader: So I read, and you said that in an article before,
cause you ended up winning an award.
I forget, usually I've got my phone to refer to these things, but we're using
phones to, uh, to record this one.
But you, uh, had won an up and coming, um, country music star
award, or there's something else that you had won, but I remember
reading about the competition thing.
And I, that struck a chord with me because we see that too.
And.
In the gun community, in the outdoors community.
Yeah.
Um, and who was it that said, uh, people at the bottom compete,
people at the top collaborate.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: And that always stuck with me.
Yeah.
Because if you, if you want to have the biggest tower around, There's
a couple of ways you can do that.
You can build the biggest tower, which takes a lot of time, energy, and work.
And you're going to be working with people who know how to build towers
and do the plumbing and do the electrical and they're, they're going
to be employed and you're all working together as a team and everyone can
then turn around and look at, people can drive by years later and say, show
their kids, see that tower over there.
I helped build that.
Right.
Yeah.
Or you can tear everyone else's tower down and then you've
got the big, biggest tower.
So often I find that in these areas with a low barrier to entry industry and high
competitive levels, people's competitive nature will get ahead of them and they'll
start tearing down other people's towers to try and make theirs look bigger.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: Is that what you're finding
Robin Winther: in other areas a little bit, you know, music is it's
a hard business in a lot of ways You know, it's it's subjective.
So like what do you like it or not?
It's like always up to the person Consuming it so it's always hard to
compete in music and like you see people something blowing up on tick tock Oh,
yeah, it gets super popular and it's like it's easy to get like a little jealous
and like I've been doing You Music for a long time and you don't you want to
be heard and stuff But I think it's so important to keep reminding yourself that
like everyone you're doing your thing Mmm, like I think that like comparing
Yourself to others success is like start of a downfall, you know You have to
you have to like feel good about your thing like what you do and then just
keep Reminding yourself that like well, I'm doing my thing and if people enjoy
My thing they can they will continue with my journey now build organic Fans
or if you have a business or whatever.
So just like keep being true.
I think it's the key and just keep like Reminding yourself
that you're doing your thing.
Yeah, and you don't compete with other stuff Really like you compete
in some ways, you know, you want so you don't want to make money of it
But like if consistency and doing your own thing, I think it's the key
and you will succeed with anything
Travis Bader: If they say comparison is the thief of joy,
Robin Winther: that's the word that I was looking for.
Yeah.
Cause I remember when I was in Nashville, I, I had a friend there.
He was guitarist for Tracy Lawrence at the time.
Swedish guy, great guitarist.
Yeah.
Um, we went to see the time jumpers.
With Vince Gill.
I was playing with them at the time and he knew Vince Gill a little bit So after
the show Vince Gill was there and he was like taking like rolling his cables
putting back his pedal board and and We went up and we talked to him super
nice guy and I was thanking him for the show and like telling him like what a
good inspiration, well a big inspiration It's been to me and he was like, oh so
nice So tell me about your music and he was just like Keep asking me questions,
and I was like, ah, ah, ah, nobody.
Like, you're a guy, you're playing with the Eagles.
You have like, 40 Grammys, and you're like, selling out Ryman Auditorium the day
after, and here you go, rolling cables and wanting to know everything about my music.
Mm hmm.
And, and I thought I was so inspiring at that level.
And just, as you said, like the top tier, like they're collaborating
and he was just interested or genuinely interested in a nice guy.
Travis Bader: Yeah, because that keeps you fired when you see other people doing well
and you're able to experience that with them or experience that same kind of joy.
Or if you're even able to help contribute just a little bit to their success path.
If it's, well, I know a person, they might be a good contact for you.
I'll introduce you.
Right.
It's amazing.
Those little things that happen.
It's not that person to me, the connection or the, the reference, they,
they can't take any level of credit for your success, but they can feel.
The same excitement and, um, that, that passion and what it is you
do, I think when people start really getting hypercompetitive,
it kills the passion for it.
So fast, so fast.
It's, if you make money, your primary motivator, you're always
going to be behind the money.
I think so too.
If you make fame, your primary motivator, you're always going to be behind the fame.
You're always going to be chasing it.
Just like if you make happiness, your primary motivator, I want to be happy.
You're never going to be happy.
No, you're, you're always going to presuppose the fact that you're not
happy and you're working towards trying to be happy when all these
happy moments are happening to you and you're still looking ahead and
saying, when's this going to happen?
When am I going to be happy?
Um, I think that same thing goes for, I know in my, it goes for everything.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Yeah.
It's not music.
It's like running a business or, or, or whatever, you know, it
goes to get in everything you do.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
I, I mean, uh, for me in business, my biggest joy is the creation part of it.
Yeah.
Um, sustaining certain things.
My A DHD kicks in and I, I love doing the business.
Yeah.
But actually creating different parts of it is we're really fuels me.
And when I see other people and they're building business, I
get fueled and excited for them.
And I'll say, look, you can tell me to shut up whenever, but I've got
1,001 ideas and the different things.
I'll keep spewing it out until you say stop, right?
And it looks like, to me anyways, that was the experience that you
had over in Nashville, that these other artists are like, Excited
for you, genuinely excited for you.
They want to see you succeed.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
And I thought I was so inspiring, you know, being there and, and, uh, loving
country music since I was a kid growing up with it and being there and meeting
these like biggest stars, uh, and like feel the warmth and the community.
I don't know, it was really inspiring.
So I've been working behind the scenes a lot before.
I've been as a producer and also been out playing music as well, but not
Like putting out my own music, really.
You know, you're always like, I'm going to do it one day.
I'll, I'll start releasing my own stuff.
It's like, I've been writing songs for one day, right?
One day.
And then COVID came and I was like, fuel up with this Nashville trip.
I was like, well, you know, this day is today.
That was a push COVID.
It was a little bit, you know I lost a couple like jobs and like the clients and
you couldn't go out playing So I was doing like cover shows and stuff as a front man.
It was a lot of fun So I get like I had all the experience of being on
stage all the time and playing for people So I was like, all right,
I'll do it So I wrote my first single, and, uh, the rest is history.
Travis Bader: So does that fuel you, like, when you're out there on
stage, do you love being the star of, center of attention, out in the
crowds, dealing with everyone, or does that feel kind of, like, surreal?
Do you put on a different sort of, a persona?
Robin Winther: Um, no, not really.
I think that's with the, with the experience I've got playing
like corporate parties and, and weddings and all those stuff before.
So when I was doing my own thing, I was just like, I'm just going to be
as, you know, real as I can, you know?
And I was thought that.
It's the funniest things to watch.
Like, if I'm playing a venue, I don't like to prepare stuff.
I go out and I'm like looking out and like I'm seeing someone with a funny
hat and I'll say something or like I just like trying to take in the moment.
I think that's the best way of doing it.
Like if you're having a presentation or something.
Like, you learn, you read it, you practice so much, you go out and you think about
these things and you're not present there.
Like, it's good to know, you have to know all this, so you, I know the
songs and I know what, like, works.
That's a good point.
But you go, you go out, you just go out and you observe.
You take in the room, like, what are, what are the people here?
What do they want?
What are they thinking about?
What is like, what are their expectations?
And then you work from there and you just being calm and and then that I think is
the best shows because then if I'm calm the audience will be calm and then they
will be, be, um, able to take in my music.
Right.
Like the worst thing is like you see this artist that's super nervous
and like, and you feel nervous like, oh, this is, this is crazy.
This is not feeling very good, and you think about that, you don't
think about the music, and you just want this guy to be calm and feel
good about being on stage, you know?
But if you see this relaxed person on stage, just like taking in the
room, joking a little bit, something happening, someone, Walks in and
someone screams something and you just make a joke out of that.
Like, I think that, that's, I think that's, um, also a good way
of thinking of being on stage.
For me, it's not so much about being the center of attention, like, fueled
by this, but I guess fueled by the moment of just playing my songs.
I think that's like, I do, and I love, I love I think that's the most joy I get is
when we play together a song and I notice, I feel like, oh, this is, this is good.
Sounds good.
I like this.
And like the whole band, I feel what this guy is playing and everyone, you know,
works like this together and the audience is calm taking it in and you're doing
something with everyone in the room.
So everyone is just feeling this.
Feeling of joy and the music and the flow state in, in a way.
Yeah.
So I think that that is the, that is what drives my music passion and
like wanting me to keep doing this.
I think
Travis Bader: that is cool in the intelligence community and the
security sectors, uh, they'll refer to that as establishing a baseline.
Yeah.
They'll go in, they'll be the gray man.
They'll look around and they'll see how everything else out is, uh,
is acting and then they'll find, okay, how do we work together?
Yeah.
And then the intelligence community, it'll be like, how do I.
How do I, um, use this feeling and to be able to propel the community and
everybody else to where I want it to be.
Right.
Yeah.
And you know, when I'm, when I teach, I do the same thing.
Everyone comes in, I'll introduce myself to everybody as they come
in and hey, how are you doing?
Why are you taking this course?
What's right.
And I, and I'm, what I'm doing is I'm trying to get as much information
as I can on every single person.
Right.
And get a quick read, like, okay, where's their ability level?
Where's their passion?
What's their interest?
What are they looking at?
Then, um, uh, you know, when I'm training new instructors, I say, you
know, one of the things that I find really helpful for me is get the class
to introduce themselves one at a time.
You kind of go around, right?
So all of a sudden.
Like as, as a performer, you take that spotlight that's shining on you
and you turn it around and you're now shining it on the audience.
Right.
And all of that pressure of you having to perform is kind of off the
audience or the class feels a bit of that pressure and then they feel
good afterwards once and everyone starts to kind of mingle together.
Right.
And.
So I found for me, that's a, uh, establishing that baseline,
introducing, seeing where everybody's at and being able to turn that
spotlight around is a big part.
And all of a sudden, instead of people sitting there with their
arms crossed and their legs crossed and they're sitting back in their
chairs, like, okay, entertain me.
Right.
Like, what are you going to do?
Right.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
That's the worst.
Like, yeah.
To perform for a person like that, it's, it's terrible.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, you have to like, get under the skin on that person.
That's right.
Yeah.
Push them.
Yeah, and I think that's so important as a teacher.
And, uh, I think myself, because I grew up, both my parents, Uh, I
retired now, but they're both teachers.
Right.
I've been a teacher for 40 years.
And I, and I remember when I was a kid, like, I'll never be a teacher.
And the first job I got, I guess, was I got to be a teacher.
Ha ha ha ha.
And I got to work with kids and, and, and do that thing.
And I think, like, as a teacher, I think you have to do the same thing.
You have to, like, if someone is sitting here and like, okay, entertainment, right.
People want to take it, like, then you're like,
what does this person need?
What, what's, what's the deal?
You know, you have to think about that.
And you have to think that with an audience, if you're teaching or having
a course or whatever, you know, you have to solve that first before you can.
Travis Bader: I see similarities because a lot of, uh, teachers they'll get up
and they'll be like, I'm really smart, I know my stuff, I'm going to show you
how smart I am, and I know you're not as smart as me, but we'll get you kind of,
uh, and I'll, I'll, you know, strokes my ego a little bit, and, and it's
important to have ego, you should have some sort of personal pride, and, but,
um, As a teacher, I put the class first.
My job is to get them from point A to point B.
How do I get them from here to a point where they're comfortable, confident,
uh, proficient and safe and whatever it is that they're going to be doing.
And I'll treat the entire class as if it's one individual, essentially with a bunch
of personalities and questions and, and how do I steer it from point A to point B?
I got to wonder.
If I had just like a modicum of musical talent, which I don't, I can't sing.
I can't dance.
I can't play any musical instruments, but if I already get up and perform, if I
already use that sort of, uh, mentality, how do I get the audience from where we
are here, like they showed up and they're expecting to be entertained to, man, they
just had a fantastic time and they vibed with us and we're all in the flow state.
It's probably kind of a similar, would it be?
Robin Winther: It is like, I think that's how you do it.
You go in and you just feel it and then you have to take from it from there
because it's all going to be different.
Like a joke I did the last show.
It won't work today, you know, like, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll do like a silly
remark and like one of the guy in the band has a new shirt, like, yeah, like it was
so fun on the other day, like, uh, this guy had this, the yellow cowboy shirt and
with like fun patterns, I don't do no joke about that and give people laugh a little
bit and then you just feeling the room and Someone is screaming something, and
you just like, like, I don't know the word in English, but de weaponize, like, make
people put down their guard a little bit, you know, you know, and, and then Takes
time sometimes, like, you go out, and you do a couple songs, you still feel like,
alright, they're not really connecting with me here, and you, like, you work your
way through the set, and like, halfway in, you can feel like, okay, they're, they're
kind of starting to be included now, and then you're like, at the end, they're
like, You know, like, really connected with you and they're singing along and
you like you have their attention and like you're like okay i'm going to keep doing
like some sing alongs here and you bring it down bring the song down you extend the
sing alongs a little bit because you're like okay they seem to like this and
that's what they want yeah and we do that and then we move on and it's like okay
this is too slow let's change Speed it up.
Yeah, and I'm fortunate to have a like a great um, a really good band So they're
like they always joke with me cuz like we never know what's gonna come when
we're playing with you Robin We never know so we have to be on our toes all
the time for like, okay, let's redo this chorus Let's like extend this thing.
Let's do another solo on the verse.
Let's do this.
So I think, um,
Travis Bader: That's the audio engineering in you.
You can hear it, you can see it, you can visualize it.
Robin Winther: A little bit, but I think also, it's a lot actually from my mom.
She was like a small, uh, like a young kids teacher, like, first
grade to third grade, fourth grade or something like that.
And she always said that, like, she walked into the classroom and she, like, She's
been doing it for a lot of years, but she wouldn't plan that much and she would just
like feel what's what's the kids vibe and she was like winging it and like trying
to make up this fun games with them to make them learn and and She will always
be very creative and I think it's like the creative thing being a teacher or being
a performer like you work at a company and It's, it's, it's so important to be a
little creative, and, you know, as I said, with the band, like, they know, like,
okay, he's, I'm, I'm doing some gesture, and they know, they know exactly that,
okay, we're gonna break the song, and, and we're gonna switch it over to this.
And to be able to not like, okay, I'm doing the song the way I've been doing it
every time and then it stopped and then it works probably, but it's so much more fun.
It's like everyone's singing along in this chorus.
I will do it again.
You know?
Travis Bader: Well, what have been some, some of the largest challenges that you've
had to face in your music career so far?
And where do you see the future going with
Robin Winther: this?
Oh, that's a good question.
The challenge is obviously making a living out of music.
It's always hard and you know, people, it's different with music because
if I get someone to come here and paint my house and I will say I'll
get an estimate like, Oh, this is so much money for painting the house.
If someone asked me to come and play at their bar, and they were like, Oh,
yeah, you get free food, and you gotta entertain the crowd for two hours.
And I was like, okay, so I gotta Prepare a set list, I go to pack the van, I have to
go there, set it all up, rehearse with the boys, I gotta figure everything out, bring
all the stuff, put it up, play, entertain, take it all down, drive back home.
It's like two days, one, one, two days of work.
Travis Bader: But you got exposure, look at this, you got free food, right?
Yeah, like, and like,
Robin Winther: if someone comes to paint my house, and like, uh, and
I'll, yeah, I'll, I'll, I'll put up a sign that you're painting my house.
I'll post on Instagram, we're like, oh, whatever, you know,
it doesn't work like that.
Like, I think sometimes, you know, people view music as like, Oh,
it's a hobby, it's something fun.
And it is something fun and a hobby for a lot of people, but
you, I think that it's always a challenge to being able to get paid.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
It's funny.
Is it try trying to find that the, uh, the whole grasshopper and ant mentality when
grasshoppers playing the music and the ants working away, but the ant.
needs music.
It needs something to feed its soul as well too, right?
Robin Winther: Yeah, it's important, you know, everyone loves music in a
way, in their own way, and I think it has a impact on the heart and
soul and, and it does good stuff.
For the society, I think music is important and, uh, What about AI?
Is
Travis Bader: that a scary thing for a musician?
Robin Winther: I think it's, it's, it's still, um, yeah, in a way, but also I
think you have to view, view AI as a tool.
We were talking about this yesterday a little bit on, uh, how AI is using
It's using a music that's been already been done and just like inversions
of it in a way So I think it's we like the human Factor a lot in music.
That's why we'll use old microphones or old equipment and like we like when
it's sound Gritty and you know, it's I think it's the human touch that that
is required So I'm not super concerned with AI, but, but obviously, like, you
can do, it helps out a lot, editing, and in every, every aspect of, like,
the world now, AI is mind blowing, and we'll see where, we'll see where it
ends up, but, like, it's definitely going to replace some parts of it.
Or, and create new ones, so.
Travis Bader: From watching how you put together the new song for the
Silvercore podcast here, I have a hard time thinking that AI could ever do that.
It can get maybe broad brush strokes of, of certain things, but it can't
take into that heart and soul Of every different aspect that you put in there.
When you're talking about the old, the old musical instruments you're
using, the one, what's that one called?
That, uh,
Robin Winther: Dobro.
Dobro.
There he is.
Travis Bader: Okay.
It's, it's got scotch tape over top of the, uh, hole in it.
It's a
Robin Winther: rough instrument.
Travis Bader: Right.
It's been hanging on the wall there.
Yeah.
And, um, but it provided a sound that you couldn't find anywhere else.
Robin Winther: No.
Travis Bader: And it wasn't like, it's a normal instrument that you're using for.
Recording with it's it's a wall hanger.
It's a
Robin Winther: wall piece.
Yeah, it's just like It looks good.
And yeah, and I think that's with AI.
It's when we're creating music It's so many billions like a lot
of micro decisions like and every decisions when making music is based
on feel So this does feel good.
No, it's not feel good.
Then you move on Like you work so much with, with feelings on how you hear it
and perceive it, and I think that's hard for an AI to, like, to code that thing.
Travis Bader: Yeah, and to make that feeling come through.
Like if you're going to be sitting down with a whole crowd of people and
getting them into, You can technically play something perfectly and that
doesn't necessarily mean that you're gonna have people engage with it
Robin Winther: No, like I saw this video and someone was auto tuning
the crap out of Don't stop believing.
That was the old hit and So they made all the notes perfect and like super
straight like singing perfectly.
Mm hmm And it just killed the vibe.
I don't know.
It's not a good song anymore.
So it's like perfection Perfection It's not always the way when it comes to music.
So you want the little bit of, Whoa, it's not like, it's a little sharp and
it's a little like low on that note.
And it's just like create this like
Travis Bader: feeling, friction.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
I always go back to, uh, my story about Johnny.
Okay.
Johnny, the programmer.
A friend of mine is like, Trav, I got this programmer.
You're looking to have this new thing built up for a website
and he'll do it for you.
He's brilliant.
Really great guy and, um, affordable and Johnny comes in, he came into the
office and so I'll set you up at a table.
He's like, no, no, no.
I just need a chair.
What?
You don't need a table?
No, no.
I'll just put the laptop on my lap and I'll, okay.
He starts at, uh, nine o'clock in the morning.
He gets there a https: otter.
ai
Laptop's open, he starts working and noon, laptop closes, napkin goes on his lap.
He starts eating his food, right?
And noon's over, laptop's open, and he's working until five o'clock, whatever it
was that he, and he's like, I'll come in and you can see the hours I'm working.
So you'll pay me for the hours.
I'm like, okay, sure.
I guess this is your process.
He's like, tell me what you want.
Told him exactly what I want.
And he made me a website, exactly how I asked for it.
And it absolutely sucked.
And the reason why it sucked was because I'm not a programmer.
And, and it was exactly how I had asked for it.
And I didn't know enough to ask the right questions.
And I didn't know to, uh, uh, that what I was asking was technically not sound,
but he's like, yeah, I can build it.
Yeah, I'll do it for you.
Not a problem.
Right.
I think that maybe AI will be a little bit like Johnny, at
least that's how it is now.
Yeah.
I can build something for you, but it's not giving that feedback of,
you know, um, what you're asking for is kind of stupid, right.
Which is what he should have, he should have told me.
And in your culture, I think it's a lot more.
Normal for people to
say things straight.
Yeah.
Not sugarcoat it, not pat around it.
Yeah.
Robin Winther: The sweets are pretty, we're pretty straightforward.
Like, uh, it might come out like a impolite sometimes.
We we're very much Yes.
No, I don't like it.
I like it.
Da da da.
. Travis Bader: Yeah.
Robin Winther: Well, I like that.
Travis Bader: Does this dress make me look fat?
Robin Winther: Yes.
I
Travis Bader: like
Robin Winther: the other dress better.
Okay.
Travis Bader: Thanks.
Robin Winther: Right.
But as we said, we're also pretty like, we're a little
scared of confrontation as well.
So we're straight, but we're a little scared of confrontation.
How does that work?
I don't know.
It's, it's, that's a weird anomaly, isn't it?
It is a little weird, but you know, I guess you guys have to come
Travis Bader: here and hive mind comes in too, right?
Yeah.
It's like, I want to make sure, yeah, I'll be straight, but, Is everybody else happy?
Are we all on the same page?
Yeah.
So we always add like
Robin Winther: after sentence, like, or , what's your word?
Elsa?
Uh, LER.
Ler.
So I like this L Yeah.
I like, I like this.
Or, yeah.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
Meaning, or do you want to add something else to it?
Yeah.
Or should we, or do you think?
Or do I really like it?
Or, or No?
Yeah.
Robin Winther: Like keep it open er,
Travis Bader: yeah.
Robin Winther: Er, interesting.
Travis Bader: Yeah.
Is there anything that we haven't talked about that we should be talking about?
The song?
Have we talked about the song?
Yeah, that I'm making a new song?
You did a phenomenal job on this new song.
so much.
Holy crow.
So I, I am so stoked by it.
Uh, yeah, you, you send this over.
You're like, not a problem.
I'll make you a new song.
Yeah, this is great.
And you send over this clip and you're like, Uh, any feedback, any revisions?
And I, and I listened to it and it was just like the first part.
Robin Winther: Yeah, it was just like an intro.
So I was doing it down here and you got me a couple of references.
Then like you gave me so much freedom and I was, it was like, okay, write a song.
And I was like, Oh, I'll do it.
And then I got like a couple of references and a couple of just
notes that I could go towards.
And.
And I was just trying all this different stuff and then I was like,
ah, I'm running out of ideas here.
I have to try something else.
And then I was like, oh yeah, I have this like wall piece in the house.
This guitar that sounds, we talked about it.
It's, it's a weird sound.
Yeah.
And it's like the strings are really dead and there's, Yeah.
It's a weird sound and just put a mic in the room and, and I wrote this riff
and, uh, yeah, I did a little intro and I was like, oh, we'll see if he likes it.
I have no idea.
And I sent it over.
Yeah.
What did I say?
Well, you loved it.
Yeah.
Which was, there's nothing
Travis Bader: I could change about that.
He's like, Oh, let me know if there's anything you want to change.
I'm like, why would I change this?
Why would I step in and start trying to micromanage a creative process?
I already know.
I like your, your work.
I already know.
I like your stuff.
I've listened to your other music.
Why would I get in and try and poke my fingers in here?
Because then it becomes less your work and more like me with Johnny.
Robin Winther: Oh yeah.
Yeah.
You were, then again, like giving me a lot of freedom.
So it was, that was, I think it was the hardest part with it.
Because you liked the first part and I was like, all right, now you guys have to
do, build a whole song out of this thing.
And, uh, is that stressful?
I was, it's a little stressful.
Yeah.
It's a challenge, you know, but you know, I, I think a lot of people work
best under pressure, and I always, like, do everything last minute.
So, it's just like, working hard, last, last couple, last week.
When did it all
Travis Bader: come together?
Like, a couple days before?
Robin Winther: Yeah, like, two days before you came here,
Travis Bader: like, I sent it over there.
That's when I was done.
If it wasn't for the last minute, nothing would ever get done.
No.
So, you know, I, I'm the same way if, um, I do my best to put everything in place
so that I have some sort of structure or framework that I can work with.
But for my most creative pieces, they're all done at the very last moment.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
Travis Bader: I don't know what it is.
Maybe it's an ADHD thing.
Some people would say it is, but
Robin Winther: I think it has to do with like creativity.
You have to be able.
Like, pushed and, and whatever you created with, you know, it's, if you're,
if you're in a too safe scenario, I think you're like, I don't think it
gets too good, you know, you have to be like, this has to be really good.
You got a lot of pressure on this thing.
And like a last minute, I will just have time to make it.
Now, and, and I think that's, that's when you have to be like, all
right, I just have to make it work.
Whatever, what do I got now to just finish this thing, you know?
Travis Bader: When do you put something down and then turn your head off?
Because, I gotta imagine that After a while you'd look at, it'd be like, oh,
I could tweak this or I could do that.
Do you ever get that?
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I have to have a deadline and everything.
Or, or like, I'll tweak it through eternity.
Yeah.
Robin Winther: Yeah.
. Travis Bader: Yeah.
Well, I gotta tell you, I absolutely love this song.
It's got some, when I listened to it, the full thing coming through, I'm like,
oh, I can use the first half for this.
Or I could use this part for like, voiceover.
This part can be for a, uh, um, like YouTube and sign off, or.
And as I'm thinking about all of these things, and I talked to you,
and that was exactly what you had in your mind when you're making these
different little sections of it, it's, uh, yeah, do you, do you do a lot of
this kind of work for other people?
Like, or is it?
Robin Winther: It happens.
It happens.
Uh, but most of the time I have like artists coming in and.
We're writing songs and stuff, but every now and then I do like something special.
Not very often.
That's why I also thought it was pretty fun.
It's like, it's always a challenge to do this stuff, like to compose.
But I'm happy you liked it.
Travis Bader: Absolutely blown away by your work.
Absolutely blown away by your hospitality.
Thank you.
Beautiful place that you have here.
Really, uh, really enjoy setting up and, and filming and recording in your studio.
Robin, thank you so very much for being on the Silvercore podcast.
I thoroughly enjoy this and I really enjoyed, I should also make
sure, shout out to everybody else.
I.
I won't have all the names down right, but it, you know, everywhere, everybody
at Solaron, all the hunting crew.
Thank you so much.
What
Robin Winther: an amazing time.
Thank you, Travis.
It's been a blast having you guys here, you and your wife and
had so much fun and pleasure and an honor to be on your podcast.
I love
Travis Bader: your work.
And now two more weeks and you're going to be down on my neck of the woods and
show you what it's like to hunt out there.
I'm
looking forward to it.